Paint Restoration

I was wondering if there's anything I could do, besides a new paint job, to bring back some shine to my car. The car's spent the last 20 years outdoors, uncovered, never garaged, and hardly washed. It's a very sundamaged dull red. My gf says it looks like red primer. I gave it a wash the other day, and after going over it with a terry cloth towel, I noticed that the towel was picking up the red from the car. Never really had this problem on any of my cars before, so I was wondering if there was something I could do to make it a bit more presentable.

is a cut and polish possible?? or rubbing it back and applying a clear coat?

If your paint looks white/pinkish in areas, your paint is worn down past the point of refinishing and the only way to fix it is a new coat of paint.

If the paint is thick enough still though, you can attempt to restore it. Get a container of Turtle Wax Polishing Compound to begin. It really helps if you have an orbital buffer or a really strong right arm because the stuff is hard to get off. But this polishing compound takes the top layer of paint off, which you want because the paint underneath is usually still nice. It's just that exposed layer that gets faded and waterspotted. Some people use the Rubbing Compound here, but that's pretty abraisive and there's a good chance you could burn right through your paint if you're not careful.

Once you do the car over with the polishing compound, it should just be gleaming, but it will still be rough and unprotected. Use some of your favorite car polish (Turtle Wax Color Cure is good, had a tinting agent in it to restore color) and go over the whole car. This will micro-polish the layer of paint into a nice smooth finish.

After it's been polished, you need to protect the finish so that it doesn't get faded and gross again, so get some carnuba wax and do a coat of that to the car. After the wax, your paint should be the best it can possibly look. If you get done the wax stage and it still looks crappy, it's time for a paint job.