Transformation Of My 1959 Casino Cream & White Squarebird
April 6, 2010-June 21, 2010
My 1959 Ford Thunderbird Hardtop ~ New Paint Job ~ "The Yellow Rose Of Texas" aka "TweetyBird"
The following will be a pictoral and verbal account of the work being done to repaint YellowRose. The process of preparing for painting started a couple of days ago. I will post pictures as the work progresses so you can watch her being made ready for painting and then, as I can, the actual painting pictures. I am told that they are finding no rust on her and that the body is straight.
If you want to see a larger picture, click on each one. Then click on your back arrow on your browser to go back to the web page to see the rest of the pictures. Otherwise, just go from picture to picture. The paint scheme on Yellow Rose will be a white top and Canary or "Tweety Bird" yellow on the body. Both colors will be done in the pearl effect paint.
On the 6th of April, Joseph from Danny's Interior shop came over and removed the Tbirds on the C Pillar, and other parts that need to come off before painting.
You will see what your roof looks like minus the Birds and those chrome base pieces. Those two chrome pieces are hard to get to and hard to get those clips off from the inside rear panels. There are four of them and the one on the rear is way back in the corner. There are four holes and they were sealed to keep out the water. When the car is painted those two areas will also be painted white and not left as you now see them. They still have some finishing work to do on the front end and then the rest of the chrome will come off and the paint process started. At least now they can drive the car to where they need it to be instead of having to push it.
You will also see that we took out the door panels, the back panels, the chromed step plates, windlace and front kick panels. We only left the seats, dash and center console in. My front seats are covered with the black covers, and the back seats and the rest of the interior will be covered and the interior sealed. Everything in the trunk came out also. It is all sitting in my garage now.
Here the work begins on taking out some dings from other peoples car doors, and smoothing out some rough spots and further prepping it.
I think that the hood has somewhat of a futuristic look to it sitting like that on a trussle! Kind of like a spaceship! Here is a view of Rose with her rear bumper off. The bumpers will be going to the chromers soon.
Today I have delivered the bumpers and grill to Southwest Chrome for re-chroming. Here you see the grill and bumpers broken down for chroming. This will give you an idea of what the back and undersides of your bumpers probably look like after 50 years. I will get new stainless bolts, nuts and washers tomorrow to replace those that were on there. I should have the pieces back a week from this coming Monday. The several pieces that Florencio polished came out looking great! I have been polishing chrome in my garage the last few days and they are looking good. I had about a six inch kibitzer in the way of a grass or garter snake fall out of my overhead while I was doing that. He was sidewinding his way towards me! I hate snakes and he was quickly dispatched to where ever snakes go when they die. I was very happy that it was not his Momma or Poppa, or I would have had a much bigger job of cleaning up other than just the chrome! I have been turning my head around alot, watching for more, as I polish! So much so, that I have a crick in it!
These pictures were taken on Thursday, the 22nd, showing the preparation work going on prior to the paint process. While they have been doing this, I have been cleaning and polishing bumper hardware with a tumbler and wire wheel/polisher wheel.
These pictures were taken when I picked up my chrome from Southwest Chrome.
I really liked the way the grill came out!
Yesterday was a day I have been waiting on for some time. The day that I got to see new paint on Rose! They painted the inside of the hood and the trunk and I think it looks beautiful! Bright, for sure! I took an interior piece of yellow and white to see how the yellow would match up with the yellow paint. I am pleased with it. It is about as close as we could get, I think.
Today, May 10th, they painted the trunk. Here is what it looks like now.
Today, May 12th, they painted the door jambs and the inside of the doors. We are getting there!
Today, May 19th, they painted the engine well with the Chrome Yellow paint. I like it!
On May 20th, they painted the top with white pearlescent paint. I am not sure how many coats of pearlescent paint they have on it. I forgot to ask, but at least one. They were talking about putting at least two pearlescent coats on it. I think it really looks nice!
Here it is June 1st, 2010 and they are painting the car body!
On the 2nd of June, they were putting on the yellow paint!
On the morning of 3 June, Joe called me to come take a look at Rose.
The painting is done and this is how she looks now!
Here are pictures taken on 4 June, 2010 in the bright sun. We think she looks lighter in color in full sunlight compared to the pictures that were taken the day before under a cloudy sky with no sun. Opening the doors also shows that the exterior paint pretty well matches the interior yellow.
Today, the 7th of June, they started the post paint process of getting the "orange peel" off the paint, scrubbing and rubbing it down. Tomorrow, they will buff the paint. On Wednesday, they will start putting the bumpers back on after they are finished with this post paint process.
Today, the 8th of June, they buffed the car and polished the car and started the process of putting the "bling" back on her. They backed her out in the sun to see how she shines. She Shines!!
Today, the 10th of June, they started putting the bumper and the chrome back on!
Wait until you see this!
The process of putting chrome back on continue over the last couple of days. Today, 15 June, they put the front bumper and the rest of the chrome on. All we lack are the C column Tbirds, and the C colomn chrome pieces which Joseph will put on. The first picture you will see is when they are about to coat the inside of the front bumper. Followed by back, front and other views with the chrome pieces back on.
The hood emblem was broken in two or three places by the crash. So it had to be replaced.
Because the mirror was originally located on the door, and was hard to use in that position, I had it moved to the location that many Squarebirds have it installed at. On the trailing end of the fender where it is much easier to use. This is the location where we have seen mirrors installed at the factory or dealer, located at. I was going to install my NOS winged Unity HL-1 spotlight until I found out it was the wrong model for the Tbird. I was told that It fits the Big Fords.
On the 16th of June, we swapped out the rims and put on my disc brake ready rims with nubs for my dog dish hubcaps. This is something that I have been waiting to see for some time. I think they look great!
On the first day of Summer, Joe and his crew did a few final things to Rose and turned her over to me! She is done! Except, she has to go back into the shop for some warranty work on the tranny. After that, I will drive her to Danny's shop for Joseph to put the interior and trunk back in. After that, I will probably do the electric windshield wiper/washer swap out. Then comes the dual mc/dual power booster/disc brake conversion sometime soon. In between, I want to drive her some and make some of the Friday night events at local drive ins and show her off.
Here are pictures taken of Yellow Rose yesterday, as I had her out and about. After I left Discount Tires to have the black side of the tires turned out, I stopped by my dentists office, which is close by. She and her staff have been wanting to see Rose for some time. People asked me several time to stop while driving through the parking lot. They wanted to see her interior and get a picture of them standing next to her. Then I went on to JD's Paint & Body for picture taking. First is a picture of Joe and his staff. Joe is on the far right with his trademark cowboy hat on. The man standing next to him did the paint job. The guys on the left are his body repair men. After that, I drove to my bank because they have been wanting to see her also. Then I drove her to Bingo so their staff could see her. Then I drove her home and put her in the garage and went back to Bingo. Everyone who sees her thinks she looks fabulous! I get a lot of horn honking, thumbs up, and yelled comments about how pretty she looks.
Created: 10 April, 2010
Last Modified: 26 September, 2021
Email me at: tweetybird"at"squarebirds.org (Replace the "at" with @)
Soaring Eagle Productions ~ Ray Clark
To Return to Squarebirds.org Forum: Click HERE>
