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There have been many activities going on with the car that are not particularly photo-worthy, but represent progress nonetheless.
The rumble seat lid had a slight warpage so that when it was in its closed position, one corner stood high by about 1/2 inch. Dan re-glued the corners (Remember, there's a wooden frame supporting the steel skin.) using corner reinforcement blocks and braced the lid in a compensating warp in the opposite direction. When the clamps were removed, the lid assumed its correct shape. It now fits perfectly.
The spacing around the doors was imperfect. Dan welded to build up certain areas of the door edge and filed other areas down so that we now have perfect gaps around each door perimeter.
The doors were imperfectly formed so that they bulged out in the center of their curvature beyond the overall contour of the side of the body. Dan heat shrunk both door skins so they are now fair to the curve of the body.
These are items that had to be done but don't exactly jump out at you when you look at the finished product. Here are a few detailed shots taken on 5-10-2013 of the kinds of body "tweaking" that take so long and are invisible in the finished product:
You can click on any of these images to see them in more detail.
And now (6-20-2013), Dan has applied high-build primer to some of the panels to start block sanding. This helps reveal imperfections that might not have been visible before. Notice the low spot in the upper right image, for example. The red color primer coat (in anticipation of some version of red as the final paint) is applied over a black 2-part epoxy primer. Any high spots will show up during the block sanding as black primer revealing itself.
8-29-2013 Dan has started working on the running boards. On the original parts, the rubber was vulcanized directly onto the steel using heat and pressure. The underlying steel panels were perforated with dozens of tiny holes to allow the air to escape and some excess rubber to flow out as the pattern was pressed into the heated rubber. After 80+ years, it takes a lot of manual effort to remove the brittle hardened rubber. I was fortunate a few years ago to find out that the Canadian Plymouth 4-Cylinder Owners Club had reproduced the running board rubber and I was able to buy one of the last available sets. After the steel is cleaned up and sandblasted and primed, we'll fasten the new tread using a superstrong contact cement.
How the car looked today (8-29-13):
10-18-2013 Got to see a little progress this week. The rear fenders are now back from the sandblaster. Dan got them primed this week. Also, he got more body filler on the running boards, having finished stripping and blasting them. He discovered that the patent stampings are still intact on the undersides of the running board panels. Quite remarkable really, considering how much these have been exposed to the elements for 81 years!
The subjects of the patents are as follows:
#1,660,307: Entitled "Running Board" -- This invention relates to running boards for automobiles, and has for one of its objects to reduce the number of parts and the number of operations in constructing, finishing and applying running boards to automobile chassis.
#1,660,308: Entitled "Runningboard or Other Tread Member" -- The subject matter of the present application embodies certain improvements, particularly in the shape of the metal body and the manner in which the rubber covering is interlocked with the body.
#1,784,781: Entitled "Composite Steel and Rubber Article" -- This invention relates to a steel and rubber article of the type wherein rubber or similar non-metallic composition is attached by vulcanization or equivalent treatment to a metal base such as a base stamped from rolled sheet metal.
#1,784,782: Entitled "Composite Running Board" -- The invention relates to running boards for motor. vehicles formed from an elongated stamped sheet metal body with a layer of rubber vulcanized and interlocked to the running board body.
Who would have thought that so much design and patenting would have gone into something that looks so simple?
11-4-2013: Today I visited the shop and noticed that many new additions had been made to the inventory of pieces in the red primer. This is the last stage of the elaborate sequence to get the surface prepared for finish painting. Each of these pieces will now be sanded with progressively finer grades of sandpaper to get them ready. I'm getting antsy...
11-8-2013 The car is resting under cover as Dan works on a station wagon project. He didn't want to get dust on my car. That's the kind of care you dream of in a restoration shop. Thanks, Dan and Deron, for caring so much.
12-1-2013 I visited the shop this week to find Dan sanding the rear fenders. He uses progressively finer grades of sandpaper as he prepares each part for final painting. It's a case of putting paint on and then removing most of it to create the smoothest possible surface. He also maintains a hand-written "spreadsheet" to keep track of his progress.
3-21-2014 All that beautiful primer you see above has been block sanded again practically down to bare metal to make the surfaces as perfect as possible. In the pictures below, you can see the final coat of primer that will bond to the final colr paint -- if I can ever make up my mind on a color! This week's favorite: 1961 Lincoln "Black Cherry Metallic."
5-14-2014 At a visit to the shop this week, I got to see more of the progress in the endless "prime, sand, prime, sand" process:
6=1-2014 I heard from Deron today, who sent me an image that "might be of interest." One issue we had run into when we went to place the front fenders in their correct position is that they collided with the exhaust pipes on both sides of the car. The inner edge of the fender is finished off with a stiffening bead that was stamped into the metal. The only answer is to cut a semicircular notch out of the fender and to extend the bead along the edge of the cutout. I knew that Dan had been thinking about this for several months. He has now begun to create the clearance cutout.
I took some additional pictures of his process and include them here:
Dan has also finished more sanding and priming on the hood sides with their modified louvers and clearance blisters.
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