I have often wondered about indicators, that is a great solution! Pity you couldn't get a white lens with an amber globe... but all the same, much better than hanging indicators off anywhere else, or mucking up those Stude taillights.
Cut a slot for a light. And I am making polished stainless steel spacers for the ends of the cross bar. It’s not quite as bright as it looks in the picture, but enough to say, yes, I have an illuminated license plate.
Hey Tony, while I'm ass deep in non-car related projects (and my car project continues to sit on the back burner), I'm meeting my car-stuff needs vicariously through guys like you. Great work, I appreciate your efforts on the car, and in your posts.
Very ingenious on the turn indicators and well executed I might add! I also dig the plate light. I may have to copy that one.
Thanks fellas, appreciate the feedback, believe me it does help with the motivation. At the moment I'm figuring out the skirt mounting (can't drive around with clamps!) and refining the trunk opening. Pretty dry stuff.
^^ dry maybe ^^ but when done as well (as it has been!) it doesn't detract from the over all, when it doesn't snag the eye, it highlights the over all lines, stance & beauty. It's these things that will make this car stand out in the crowd!
Today I'd like to talk about trunk seals…but don’t think you’re going to see much because I didn’t take all the photos for this story. Anyway, I have had a sedan trunk seal for many years. A Drake product. It’s very nice with molded square corners and everything. Except now, I don’t have square corners! I have rounded corners. In fact, my trunk opening isn’t even the same size any more, it’s shorter than stock. Mmm, what to do? Given that I was going to need to modify the seal anyway, I thought I may as well just cut the corners out and glue the straight bits together. That way I can run it around the opening and do a final join at the bottom centre once trimmed accordingly. That’s the plan so far. In the mean time I’ve also been playing with the trunk fit and gaps. This is significant because these late 30’s and 40 model trunk seals have a habit of bulging out here and there sometimes at the sides. I hate that and wanted to make sure that whatever I changed in my modifying of the trunk seal channels wasn’t going to create problems. So curiosity got the better of me and I took out the seal from its hiding place and cut two corners to give me the longest piece which goes across the top. I then fit it down the left side and because it was the longest piece, I had enough to wrap around the top and bottom corners as well. This was looking okay so far, but would it want to bulge out? Ha -ha! I shut the lid, stood back and to my relief, no bulges. Phew. But what about the other side? That my friends will have to wait for another day. So, here is a picture of the trunk lid closed with the rubber seal on the left side as described. I misted some primer to get a better idea of how the gap was. I know, riveting isn’t it? And if that isn’t exciting enough, I’ve also been working out the million depressions in the roof. Mostly the size of your hand. I am thinking this roof is 80% depressions interconnected with little bits of crown. I’m going to metal finish it as well as my tired outstretched hammer/dolly arms will allow and filler can take care of the rest. I would also like to give credit to my shrinking disk. A fantastic tool. Speaking of exciting, here’s a picture of some of the progress to date:
Chrome, the perennial problem. I had to go and buy a couple of rolls of chain wire for fencing today. The place happened to be near a chrome shop that is under consideration to use for some sloper parts, so I figured what the heck, I'll poke my nose in and get a feel for the place. Now, I have used 3 chrome shops over the years and don't have a problem with any of them. Except they are all gone. So with another car that needs some chrome work, I have to find yet another one that will do good work, that I can trust etc. It's a fucking pain and everyone seems to go through it. Anyway, this place does a lot of car and bike work, resto work etc. so that is a plus because industrial places don't want to know about car stuff. Spoke to the owner who behaved with mild enthusiasm and that alone was good. He made all the right noises (the easy part) and showed me work they have done. He also volunteered some ballpark costs which surprised me a little and even wrote them down on a card for me. So at this stage, it's still a gamble. You ask around, some say one place is great, others say it's no good. Some places seem to be good, then go bad then come good again, for whatever reason. I just can't go to anywhere I've been happy with before and in some ways I am probably lucky I can even take stuff to a place within the city limits. Other than that, the costs he was talking weren't as scary as I thought they might be. Of course price becomes irrelevant if the work turns out less than 100%. I need bumpers, some over riders, the windshield frame and die cast 1940 radio grille done. (radio grille is RHD specific, so I can't just buy a new Drake one) Oh, and they are flat out with work so turn around would be about 4 - 5 months. Good thing I have time. Good thing I called in. Looks like I had better get everything finished up on the 'for chroming' parts sooner rather than later.
I've been through a similar sequence of experiences with chrome shops. Ultimately I found three that produced adequate or better work: one local, one in Northern California, and one in the Midwest. But there's a big bugaboo in the near future: California is going to enact environmental regulations that are going to kill all the chrome shops in the state; that means that two of the three I like will disappear.
@X38 I was stripping my right hand door the other day and I came up with a question for you. Nothing to do with strippers tho, but on your early Fords with right hand drive, is the door key lock on the right door or the left?
That's where I was. I have a friend who has a small piece in there at the moment, which should be ready in October. I will look at that with interest.
The polisher is Kevin Hartnell and he does a great job. He has association with either hot rods or maybe drag racing.
I am happy to hear the stock type trunk seal is going to work for you. The jury is still out on mine.I have chosen an aftermarket seal that I think will seal without poking out through the gap but will hang on to the stock seal just in case. As with yours the round corners complicate things on the Convertible Sedan.
So if I wanted a proper door lock on both sides of my 41 PU, I need to find an Australian left PU door A lot of shipping expense rather than a little metal work.
I think you can drill a hole and weld a little length of tube inside. Anyway, aren't you having remote central locking?
I was looking for stuff from Bob Drake and he shows a small metal tube with set screw thing for the lock cylinder as an available part. Probably worth checking into.
I thought about it but I actually don't lock my cars other than my daily. I drive 3 convertibles and locking them only ends up costing me a roof replacement. All they are going to steal is an 8 track tape or a pair of cheap sunglasses.
The Jalopy Journal
