Pete 67
Well-Known Member
After the car was fully polished, it was time to turn my attention to the trim. This car has 30 pieces combined of aluminum & stainless to restore. Luckily most of it was in excellent shape, but those 6 side moldings alone are about 30 feet in total just by themselves. Ugh.
I did need to buy 3 NOS pieces, the drivers side fender eyebrow, the hood lip molding & the grille. But even they needed to be stripped and polished to match the rest of the pieces.
So this is where it begins, finding little dings & removing them all. Armed with pry tools, punches, screwdrivers, you name it...along with tiny sanding blocks & tons of elbow grease, I used a marker to outline the defects & away I went.
Here's a side by side of a fully polished molding on the right & its companion on the left after ding removal & sanding to 800.
Only 28 pieces left to go. 27 I should say. When I bought the car one of the door moldings was worn out in the front from constantly rubbing the fender molding. I found a replacement but it had a nasty ding that I didn't trust myself to remove without destroying the piece. It has all those character lines & concaves, so sent it off to Dennis Barnett to work his magic. Sent me this pic before he polished it. Great guy to deal with if you need trim restored.
Here's the box for the NOS grille I found...Dated 7/63 Older than the car which was built in 10/63. I hated to toss that box, but when I was moving it had to go.
Grille before stripping the anodizing...
I did need to buy 3 NOS pieces, the drivers side fender eyebrow, the hood lip molding & the grille. But even they needed to be stripped and polished to match the rest of the pieces.
So this is where it begins, finding little dings & removing them all. Armed with pry tools, punches, screwdrivers, you name it...along with tiny sanding blocks & tons of elbow grease, I used a marker to outline the defects & away I went.
Here's a side by side of a fully polished molding on the right & its companion on the left after ding removal & sanding to 800.
Only 28 pieces left to go. 27 I should say. When I bought the car one of the door moldings was worn out in the front from constantly rubbing the fender molding. I found a replacement but it had a nasty ding that I didn't trust myself to remove without destroying the piece. It has all those character lines & concaves, so sent it off to Dennis Barnett to work his magic. Sent me this pic before he polished it. Great guy to deal with if you need trim restored.
Here's the box for the NOS grille I found...Dated 7/63 Older than the car which was built in 10/63. I hated to toss that box, but when I was moving it had to go.
Grille before stripping the anodizing...