[57 Plymouth Savoy worth the effort]

It’s funny how when someone shows just a shell of a pre-war car everyone gets super excited and says spend whatever you can to get it fixed. But a 50s car everyone says junk it.. 🤔

[Kent Moore tool.]

Could it be a type of drum tool like these?

[Uvira for headlight reflectors]

[What Is The Longest You Have Waited On A Part?]

I gave the rebuilder my engine from my Cadillac in March, 2021. I went up there last week and took this picture of my parts still sitting where I left them in March. His excuse is always “we’re waiting on parts.” I don’t know..

[So Ed is banned?]

Not only are they poison but they are multiplying. Ok, we get it, California is pretending they will stop selling new gasoline cars in 13 years. Reality is, they won’t. Why do we need 3-4 threads on the first page about it? Let’s be real, the electric vehicle is a political topic. And it’s just a topic that is brought into society so that people in power feel powerful and they can cause conversation and unknown uneasy feelings to the rest of us. We all know it, let’s stop pretending. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

Look at the mess they did to the coils. Pretty much doomed the upholstery.

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

If I could start the car and move it they wouldn’t be inclined to get in it. However, my engine rebuilder is giving me excuse after excuse to give me no information. Month 15 of him having it. When I rebuild my Dodge Meadowbrook engine I will have someone bore the cylinder and do the machining and then I will do the rest. It’s gotten a little frustrating waiting. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

The damn mice won’t get out of this car. I got rid of the headliner thinking it would help with that. I added an electric mouse repellent and they laughed at it. So I decided to remove the seats to keep the mice from them. I took the bottom seat out of the rear seat and put it in the garage. Now my garage smells like the mice so I had to spray it. And look at the mess they made under it.  I will continue to remove the seats and that will allow me to rewire what needs to be rewired and hopefully the mice will feel no need to be in there.

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

I have finished the bed liner protectant on the underside of the fender. I had put 2 coats on a couple of weeks ago and then stopped working all together on it until tonight when I put the third and final coat on. It looks pretty great and should be protected from rocks and mud. The rear piece really completes the fender. I will cut the bolts that are used to attach it to be more flush with the welded nuts that show on the inside and then paint the final color coat on the outside. Then it’s on to the other fender that I had started working on. The heat and humidity has made it impossible to work, the shop being 80 degrees and about 70% humidity. 

 

[Dodge meadowbrook 1952 door lock]

I can’t offer you a picture of my ignition because I have aftermarket wires going to the switch but perhaps this will help. The ignition switch is the second circle up from the word “wiring” in the middle of the page on the bottom. 

[To Buy An Edsel?]

Wayne, that thought did cross my mind. Sometimes things happen when they are supposed to and right now it wasn’t supposed to happen. I had a feeling it was an easy fix in that engine and with his local mechanic fixing it, it shows it didn’t need a rebuild like close friends of mine said they thought it needed. Let him enjoy it for a while and we will see if I get a random email from him. I wasn’t looking for a new car at the moment, this one just happened to show up so when the time is right another will. 

[To Buy An Edsel?]

I got an email the other day. I hate when jackasses put a car up for sale just for the sake of it. He sent this very short message to me: “Michael: It looks like the shop saved the car so I'm keeping it. Good luck!”

[Dodge meadowbrook 1952 door lock]

I have a ‘51 Meadowbrook and the inside door handle unlocks the door. When you want to lock it you push the handle towards the dashboard. When you want to unlock it you pull it back towards you like you are opening the door. It unlocks and unlatches the door. The outside door lock cylinders should be the same key as the ignition switch. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

My temporary hot rod.

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

The other fender is off and on the bench. I know the car was in an accident but the fenders are like night and day. The passenger’s side had a huge repair with undercoating in the fender well. The driver’s side had a small repair with no undercoating in the fender well, with the exception of the rear piece of the fender well that had undercoating on the inside and out. And the paint was under the chrome belt on the passenger’s side but as you see in the picture they didn’t paint under the driver’s side chrome belt. It’s black but the car was never black so it makes me wonder if maybe this was a replacement fender prior to it coming off the road in the early 1970s. With no undercoating on the inside it makes things easier except I’m battling major rust scale. The bracket on the fender is for a vacuum brake booster that had failed. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

I was using way too low of a pressure in my hvlp gun. Once I put it up to 30 it started working beautifully. I just sprayed the inner fender piece and after 2 coats it looks as good as the main fender that had 5 coats.

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

I didn’t like the texture of the paint so I had to wet sand it per instructions and did it again. And something landed in it so I will have to touch up a spot but it’s smoother now. The instructions call for clear coat for shine so once I get the other piece of the fender painted and attached I’ll clear coat it and hide it somewhere so it won’t get damaged while I work on the other fender and hood. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

4 coats of paint using my spray gun. Looking pretty good but I haven’t seen it in the daylight yet. Looks like the color I was looking for. Not bad for my first time using a spray gun. 

 

 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

I tend to think that without a little blood how do you know you did anything? I applied a little blue to the inside of the fender. It’s about what I want it to look like so I ordered some paint and it should be here soon. Then I’ll finish the inside of the fender and move out to where it will show. In the meantime I have begun cleaning up the rest of the wheel well that gets bolted into the inside of the fender. 

[Material between fender pieces]

The front fenders of my ‘52 Cadillac have a piece of metal that completes the back of the wheel well. There is fender welting on one side of it where it touches the inside of the fender. Between that piece and where it bolts to the fender is a piece of material. I dont know what it is made of but I’m assuming it is an anti-squeak material. What is it and where do I get it? 

[1955 Packard 400 Slow Resto Thread]

Kanter says they are selling new gas tanks, straps, and filler neck for $349. 

[Today’s Lacquer Paint, Better Than Before?]

I wasn’t necessarily asking just for the fenders. I was just setting the scene. I was wondering if lacquers paints have gotten to be less maintenance and more resilient to the sun’s uv rays as they are notoriously linked. 

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]

First coat of primer on the outside. It’s almost ready for a little color.

 

[Today’s Lacquer Paint, Better Than Before?]

I am looking at repainting the newly stripped fender on my Cadillac, the one in the restoration section of this site. I am planning to paint the car blue and while I am taking everything apart and cleaning it up I want to paint a color layer onto the areas I have repaired so they are protected. This will not be the final paint as I will more than likely be sending it out to be done. I found a product that Rust-oleum makes called Custom Lacquer. They say it is “50% more durable.” The debate of what type of paint to use has been brought up and when I think of lacquer I think of the paint jobs that have cracks in them and the sun’s uv rays destroy them. Not to mention having to cut and buff them constantly. Are today’s lacquers different than that? If I like this color enough to want it as my final color would it withstand the elements?

[1952 Cadillac Series 75]