Shop time again…
Woke up about 4:30 this a.m. and decided I needed to go to Pittsfield, the hell with work. Packed up a wide variety of stuff and decided I need to completely organize all my various parts so I know where everything is and can grap it when needed. I also wanted to see the new paint.
I did and it looks good. Not particularly striking, but I think it will be very nice and 30s-ish in an understated way when all done. Ken was blocking out the body in preparation for the last two coats and hopes to have all the individual parts painted by early next week. That's real progress!
Turns out the Ditzler Flame Capucine trim paint is still available, only now renamed Mexican Orange. I think it will look good on the brown.
I went through all the boxes of parts and hardware and sorted out those that we'll need and those that we don't. Laid them out on a table I brought for that purpose so they were all visible, then loaded up the car with several boxes of unneeded stuff.
I also fished six old hubcaps from my collection. Hubcabs are a real problem. It's near impossible to find NOS ones and no one specializes in restoring old hubcabs, the only restoration area I have found lacking a specialist. My 70 year old originals are in various conditions, with some scratched and dinged fairly noticeable. These six (of maybe 12 extras I have) were pretty straight, but quite dingy in appearance, with lots of road grime on them.
BUT, Ken has a great polishing wheel that brought their luster back quite readily, so I polished them up and now have more than 8 good ones to chose from for both cabrio and coupe. While I was at it, I also polished the two bumpers. Their chrome isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. Polished and painted with the correct black lines – the previous folks painted those red – and they'll look fine. First I had to strip the red paint off of them, which was easily done.
Tonight I tried my hand at painting the PONTIAC name red on the polished hubcaps. Managed to get two done that looked pretty good. A couple more nights and I'll have them all done. Here's me at work:
I also managed to paint the Indian head on the engine block while there, and install the battery tray. With a little luck, we'll have the body on chassis in 10 days or so, then assembly begins.
It was nice to be back in the shop again, and nice seeing Ken. Don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found him!
I did and it looks good. Not particularly striking, but I think it will be very nice and 30s-ish in an understated way when all done. Ken was blocking out the body in preparation for the last two coats and hopes to have all the individual parts painted by early next week. That's real progress!
Turns out the Ditzler Flame Capucine trim paint is still available, only now renamed Mexican Orange. I think it will look good on the brown.
I went through all the boxes of parts and hardware and sorted out those that we'll need and those that we don't. Laid them out on a table I brought for that purpose so they were all visible, then loaded up the car with several boxes of unneeded stuff.
I also fished six old hubcaps from my collection. Hubcabs are a real problem. It's near impossible to find NOS ones and no one specializes in restoring old hubcabs, the only restoration area I have found lacking a specialist. My 70 year old originals are in various conditions, with some scratched and dinged fairly noticeable. These six (of maybe 12 extras I have) were pretty straight, but quite dingy in appearance, with lots of road grime on them.
BUT, Ken has a great polishing wheel that brought their luster back quite readily, so I polished them up and now have more than 8 good ones to chose from for both cabrio and coupe. While I was at it, I also polished the two bumpers. Their chrome isn't perfect, but it's pretty good. Polished and painted with the correct black lines – the previous folks painted those red – and they'll look fine. First I had to strip the red paint off of them, which was easily done.
Tonight I tried my hand at painting the PONTIAC name red on the polished hubcaps. Managed to get two done that looked pretty good. A couple more nights and I'll have them all done. Here's me at work:
I also managed to paint the Indian head on the engine block while there, and install the battery tray. With a little luck, we'll have the body on chassis in 10 days or so, then assembly begins.
It was nice to be back in the shop again, and nice seeing Ken. Don't know what I would have done if I hadn't found him!
posted by Bob Shafto at 9:12 PM
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