Projects 53 Chevy Bel Air "Cleetus" mild custom daily driver

Between spending time after work getting $ together for the 54 and fixing a few dings on the rear door I missed I ran out of light. But still got the passenger doors primed like tonight's goal was. I'll get them in color either Thursday or Saturday. Luckily i really don't need to see while I'm painting. As long as I know where the panel is I can spray a nice coat lol. ​

 

Did notice some pretty big but thin runs after Posting. Lol. They'll get sanded out lol

 

And now all four doors have real paint lol. To keep from unmasking too early I'm going to walk to O'Reilly and grab some air fittings for the new paint guns a buddy gave me today. Same buddy I'll be helping (ie mostly lol) build that model 76 49 olds

 

Lookin good

 

From what I can tell it turned out better than the driver side. Guessing it's protected a bit by the shed at my back taking the pic

 

What you are doing is the absolute traditional way of building a hot rod back in the day. Paint it in the driveway, do engine and transmission work in the driveway, or on the street. Looking good, keep at it and keep posting.

 

I technically did the engine in a shop. But it was borrowed shop time lol. And I was going to put it in in the back yard but had trouble finding someone to haul it whose truck would fit in my backyard. Ended up being easier to haul the car to the engine than the engine to the car lol

 

Managed to find a glovebox door in my parts stash that still had a bit of shine left to the chrome. Second pic shows how much of a difference compared to the speaker grill. I need to see if I have a speaker grill with a bit of shine. Never been a fan of the "patina" fad but stuff like this makes me actually hate it lol

 

Bet some
Mothers polish paste would get that shiney pretty easy

 

Try some 0000 steel wool on the chrome, you will be amazed at how nice it will look afterword.

 

When I tried cleaning up the pictured speaker grill I found that I was actually wearing through what bit of chrome was left. Pretty sure the ratrodder that had my car sanded it

 

I probably have a nicer grill in my stash. The end of '21 a buddy that I was buying parts from almost since I bought this car(including pictured radio and bezel) retired from buying and selling 53/54 Chevy parts and moved to Daytona Beach. Before he left he had me drive to cabool where he was living where he loaded my car down with all sorts of random parts for a 53/54 Chevy lol. Found the glovebox door rummaging through said parts. Still haven't gone through all of it lol

 

Ah never thought about it being plated all the stock stuff on my ford is stainless so it just polishes up

 

Yup. On those parts it's just chrome over pot metal

 

Goal is to have the rear section in primer tomorrow. Unless I sleep in super late or the wife comes up with a bunch of honey do's (wouldn't be able to fault her considering I recently bought another car lol) it should be doable seeing as I only have a bit of touch-up sanding to do plus masking. Hope to have it in paint by Thursday.....also should be doable lol

 

Looks great

 

So got it in primer. Got to reading the PDF on the primer I'm using and supposedly you can lay color over it with a couple hours of drying without wet sanding. So I'm going to give it a try in an hour. Already checked that I had no runs in the primer. Worst case scenario is I end up wet sanding back to primer and respraying it lol. It'll likely get another paint job in a few years anyway after planned eventual repairs/modifications

 

Good day to be outside!

 

Man I'm digging the 70° weather lol

 

And now to let it dry before I rush finishing unmasking lol

 

And fully unmasked. Resisting the urge to start reassembling. Will probably put tail lights and rear bumper back on. I have a scuff guard for the gas door (along with the gas door I painted over a month ago lol) that I'll probably have to drill a hole for. Junker is starting to look presentable. I'll have to buy more primer for hood and front fenders. Also need to buy more hardener for the paint.

 

Went ahead and threw the scratch guard and tail lights on. I'll do the bumper and gas door tomorrow. Might get to some of the Bel Air trim

 

And back together with a quick rinse. Going to try to get some more primer this week to start on the front fenders but may have to wait till next week as I'll be buying an engine for the 54 this week

 

Finally got back to paint prep on this one. Paint on this fender for the most part peels off with a razor blade because I screwed up last summer and used regular por15 instead of por15 topcoat. So I spent a bit peeling a good bit of it off. Means there'll be a lot less sanding before primer. Which also means I need to get more primer.....

 

And more progress stripping the fender. Most of what's left will have to be sanded off. Thinking I'll go ahead and start sanding the grill so I can paint it too

 

And low light is when I'm really glad I shaved the trunk emblem lol. The low gleam of the paint combined with the glow of the chrome on the tail lights and bumper give it a nice sinister look

 

Man, this thread is making me really regret selling the 54 4-door I had. Looking great!

 

Im ready to get the black done so I can go on to finishing the roof lol

 

Yeah shaving the rear door handles goes a long way on looks on a four door

 

Oh snap!!! I just realized this is a more door!