Buff and polish or full repaint?

[NalgeneSF]

I have a 1973 Astral Silver (code 735) 450 SEL that is badly faded with the roof, hood, and trunk all feeling like sandpaper to the touch. I want to save the paint, but I am reading conflicting information online about the MB metallic paints and whether or not I can buff and polish this back to an acceptable level, or to simply have the whole car repainted. I would greatly prefer to save the paint, but it is faded across the body, and I am uncertain if I would be able to do a buff and polish on this. Additionally, it is cracking on the hood. Again, would love to save the paint on this as I know that a repaint would probably not reach the level that it was when it left the factory.

[Randys01]

Why don't you give it a try yourself and see if you are satisfied with  the results.?.before committing to a full workshop cut n polish n buff etc. I've had some pretty good results myself.

Find the worst section on the car. Buy a small polishing  kit that works with an electric drill. Buy 3  grades of cutting polish.
Polish  a small section with the coarsest paste. Polish the same section with the next grade. Then finish off with  an actual polish  rather than a cutting paste. It will take all steps to give  a result.
 If you are happy with the result, then consult a paint shop about the full monte. Make sure they know what they're doing as swirl/buff marks are a nightmare with  metallic paint.

Others may correct me but I dont think MB's from this era had adopted clear coat on the paint jobs.

Obviously you can't polish  a crack out but it is far more affordable to paint a panel that can't be polished than paint the whole car.

It's this simple......a whole car paint job worth  talking about is around 15 grand AUS D. A concours job is 20 to 25.  A crummy "doors closed respray" is probably 8 grand.  Your car might be worth 10--12K .
Its too easy to over capitalise.
You've got to pursue scrubbing up the existing paint job!!

[rumb]

Astral Silver is most likely a metallic paint with clear coat. I cant really tell from the photos, but it looks like you have lost a lot of clear coat as well as some base in areas. Nothing wrong with giving a small section a buffing, but I wouldnt expect strong results.

I dont know 100% about Astral Silver but my Anthracite is metallic and base/clear.