'59 convertible restoration progress

[pkingco]

Making headway with the '59 convertible 3-speed with overdrive. I've cleaned, primed and painted a zillion removed parts. Almost done with the instrument panel and glove box. Body is being blasted today, doors, hood, trunk, diff and suspension parts all blasted and primed.

[p38fighter]

That all looks great. What did you use for the dash and glove box cover?

[pkingco]

Thanks. It's a satin clear. Photo here. I removed all the original coating with 0000 steel wool and cleaned with alcohol and dust-off, then applied a couple of coats then a couple more in 15 minutes. Then cured fully (48 hours), lightly sanded with 800 grit, cleaned and re-sprayed a couple of coats. Definitely improved to do the sanding and second application. The first couple lay down a bit egg-shell (still has a bit of that). I masked all the bright chrome. I've attached a couple of before images here. You can see that the pitting still shows, but overall a pretty big improvement, and very close to the original surface effect.

[pkingco]

That last photo of the glove box is actually before I did the sanding and second application. I made sure to spray at angles and from above to cover the ribbed surfaces.

[bird 60]

Looking very good. Keep up the good work.

Chris.....From OZ.

[simplyconnected]

Your paint looks fabulous!

[YellowRose]

I agree with Chris and Dave! That is some fantastic paint work!

[pkingco]

Thanks, Gents! I'm handling all the small stuff, but credit for the big stuff goes to my friend, Louis, who has a body shop near me.

[pkingco]

Fun discovery today. Little script FoMoCo stamps under layers of paint on two blades of the fan.

[pkingco]

Body came back from the blaster today, epoxy primer going on after a bit of clean-up. Have to remove the seam sealer by hand and get at the surface rust under it—media just bounces off it. A little Swiss cheese perforation in a few spots, but remarkably solid overall.

[pkingco]

Primer on!

[bird 60]

looks like your not cutting corners Peter. It's looking really good. Keep up the excellent work mate.

Chris.....From OZ.

[YellowRose]

Thanks for posting pix! It is looking great, Peter! Can't wait to see the finished results!

[pkingco]

More progress photos here. all rot and pinholes opened up by sandblasting replaced with new metal, smoothed and seam sealer applied on all seams. Entire car sanded and undercarriage sprayed with Monster liner. Amazing stuff. While waiting for that to cure, masking my tail light surrounds for filling, sanding and painting the flat black areas. All pits removed and exposed chrome areas look great, but the flat black areas have some filling to do before I can finish. I masked the valleys first (blue) to get parallel lines, now masking the high surfaces (green).

IMG_5234.jpg IMG_0352.jpg IMG_0364.jpg IMG_0353.jpg IMG_0363.jpg IMG_0442.jpg IMG_0444.jpg IMG_0469.jpg
IMG_0474.jpg

[bird 60]

Not cutting any corners. Way to go Peter, she's coming along nicely.

Chris.....From OZ.