It's coming together!
Spent the day Ken's actually assembling parts of the car. He has everything painted and the body loosely attached to the frame awaiting alignment, no simple process as it turns out. To be sure everything fits correctly, especially the doors on this car, the body has to be properly shimmed and body bolts tightened or not so tightened to insure that fit. It wasn't a particularly difficult process on this car, but did take a little doing. Here's Ken working a shim into the middle of the door area:
More fun was actually bolting on parts. The radiator shell was assembled first, with the grill and side vent inserts mounted with small sheet metal screws. Next the Pontiac 6 emblem was mounted, then the headlight stantions, the radiator then inserted and bolted down. The bottom fender brace was loosely assembled, fit to the radiator shell, then bolted in place. Then the whole assembly was mounted to the front frame crosspiece, with three metal spacers on top of a rubber pad, and three more on the bottom, also cushioned with a rubber pad. Voila, we had the nose!
Here's Ken cupping the lower front grill piece to fit the radiator shell:
Here's me fitting the top grill section to the car. Before that, I had mounted the horns directly below them and we install the crossed tie rods that connect firewall to radiator shell. The result is a very solid unit.
I must say I really like the Martini Brown color and am very glad it was my final choice. I think it is going to look VERY good when the car is complete. It is really a beautiful paint job, very durable and lusterous.
We ordered 8 yards of the vinyl (leatherette) upholstery material to do the back of the seat area, the rumbleseat cushions and the rumbleseat compartment. It comes from Hampton Coach. You can't get the original style oilskin fabric used to cover the compartments behind the front seat, so it will be a good substitute.
Ken will do that part of the upholstery job; Leo's Upholstery in Auburn will do the front seat and door panels in the original Brown Bedford Cloth, also from Hampton Coach.
Assembly is a very slow process, but it feels good to be on that side of the project at last. I wish I could spent one solid week working at it, but that's not to be. Also, I'm still waiting for runningboards and the firewall pad, both of which are needed before other things can be assembled.
A very good day!
More fun was actually bolting on parts. The radiator shell was assembled first, with the grill and side vent inserts mounted with small sheet metal screws. Next the Pontiac 6 emblem was mounted, then the headlight stantions, the radiator then inserted and bolted down. The bottom fender brace was loosely assembled, fit to the radiator shell, then bolted in place. Then the whole assembly was mounted to the front frame crosspiece, with three metal spacers on top of a rubber pad, and three more on the bottom, also cushioned with a rubber pad. Voila, we had the nose!
Here's Ken cupping the lower front grill piece to fit the radiator shell:
Here's me fitting the top grill section to the car. Before that, I had mounted the horns directly below them and we install the crossed tie rods that connect firewall to radiator shell. The result is a very solid unit.
I must say I really like the Martini Brown color and am very glad it was my final choice. I think it is going to look VERY good when the car is complete. It is really a beautiful paint job, very durable and lusterous.
We ordered 8 yards of the vinyl (leatherette) upholstery material to do the back of the seat area, the rumbleseat cushions and the rumbleseat compartment. It comes from Hampton Coach. You can't get the original style oilskin fabric used to cover the compartments behind the front seat, so it will be a good substitute.
Ken will do that part of the upholstery job; Leo's Upholstery in Auburn will do the front seat and door panels in the original Brown Bedford Cloth, also from Hampton Coach.
Assembly is a very slow process, but it feels good to be on that side of the project at last. I wish I could spent one solid week working at it, but that's not to be. Also, I'm still waiting for runningboards and the firewall pad, both of which are needed before other things can be assembled.
A very good day!
posted by Bob Shafto at 8:38 PM
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