Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

That’s cool on the clock! Another little victory! Keep it up.

 

Clock has been keeping time, ticking right along. the original clock is the (inferior) Borg Warner clock, this clock is a La Salle clock, La Salles design is WAAAY more robust than the borg warner.
strange to think that with this car " most of the time, all you will ever hear is the ticking of the clock..." was once a possibility

 

I have 2 clocks that came with my car loose in the trunk. I should play with them, they seem to be in good shape. Right now I have a clock-delete plate where it goes in the dash.

 

If you know someone who sews you know someone with sewing machine oil, i used that on the brass to brass points on the clock, which allows it to start working. so long as the solenoid/electromagnet isnt broken it should work. i had to use my finger and gently rotate it around an hours worth with the escape wheel moving, once it starts it will typically keep going once the spring engages.

do keep in mind which design you have, the la salle one is way better built than the borg warner. (brass body vs fiber body, straight main spring vs coil main spring, etc) and the escape wheel is also larger.

 

lots of finishing touches today, heater core holds to 30 psi after finding the little pinhole next to the tube. i also did what i said i would do a year ago and painted the radiator to "deuglify" it.

 

didnt mean to do this today, but my hood hinge started to crumple on one side so now i swapped the hoods.

at least i bought this one way ahead of schedule. definitely going to paint it.
also @Jeff Norwell id like to learn how to properly align this hood, as its pretty close, but one side is a just a little higher than the other, i also need to install the hood bumpers and emblem off the other hood.

(also my dad broke the mirror, again, but i probably didnt get the metal clean enough so i just need to sand, file, and clean it then try again.)

 

biggest issue is this, do you think the hood is bent?

 

i believe i found a small crease

 

i just measured, the hinge on the passenger side sits around 1/2 of an inch or so higher than the drivers side, how do i adjust the hinge?

 

im also going to replace these rubber bumpers, both the adjustable ones and ones on the hood.
the ones on the hood are just missing, hopefully itll make it not rattle once its adjusted to spec

 

darn, this hood will work well enough for now

 

with a lot of patience and a little brute force i got it to this point, im just going to keep this hood since its no longer as warped, and paint it.

 

Good job on the hood! Looks pretty close in the “after” pic.

 

once i learn to weld, i need to head down to alanp561's sons place and get learning. there isnt a whole lot i need to do, but what is there needs done.

 

I noticed how you have your front plate mounted. I’ve got a ‘57 front plate mount kicking around my shop somewhere. PM me your name and address and I’ll mail it off to you.
It’s great what you’ve done with the car. Congrats.
Allan.

 

i had no idea there was a proper plate mount! i'll pm you

 

Found it. I pulled this off the front bumper of a ‘57 Fairlane buried in a hillside on a job site I was on in 1999. I knew I grabbed it for a reason. lol
Still have the drivers side gold fender insert.

 

hm, how does it attach to the car? i see the middle mount but not how its attached

 

That I can’t remember.

Edit:
Photos from a core for sale on the auction site.

 

looking at the internet, it seems theres two or three types of bumpers? @Jeff Norwell has a massive stash of bumpers so maybe he would know the difference for all of them.
heres a couple examples.

i also discovered that theres supposed to be a rubber "stone deflector" on the underside of the rear bumper.

 

You found the same auction.

 

indeed, my bumper has the wide holes to mount the license plate directly to it, i wonder why theres different types of bumpers?

 

wait that "extra trim" isnt knockoff dealer parts that everyone stuck on it? ive always thought those extras arent factory add ons. id love to find an option sheet from a dealer to see just how many options were available.

i do plan on eventually swapping the bumper if i can get my hands on one with good chrome(or at least one that isnt peeling), would be about a thousand cheaper than rechroming my bumper. rear bumper is somehow fine.

 

today on body panel adjustment i adjusted my passenger side door latch (the one i complained rattled earlier) and now the rattle is gone! fits nice and tightly to the car.