Michael-Resurrector

This one British fellow had a story of bringing his car (RR) to the USA and going through toll booths. He would have his young daughter hand over the coins, and often they would say hey you're too young to be driving that thing. Or he would have his dog in the front seat, and it would stair at them like, what do you want, give me some food. .

Dashboards, usually on an old car like this 1964 Imperial, sitting out in the Texas sun where our summers are ones at 100 degrees all summer long, they turn into flat, wrinkled, broken eye sores. Here is how I repaired mine. Here you see what our sun and time can do to a dashboard. I then just ripped the whole thing off (see above) and then taped news paper together, and used a sharpie to outline the area of the dashboard and cut it out. (You may need to add little bits to it to make sure it is right.) Then I used that as a template on the plywood that is used as the base (for in your case) a mold for a fiberglass dash board. (I did not do this but if I had it to do over again that is what I would do, and put aluminum foil over this mold then fiberglass.) Then use material to form the curve piece on the front (for your mold). Then let's pretend I made a fiberglass dashboard base to then apply material and vinyl to this. This foam like material is used in big sheets in between the product being shipped and the pallet. Don't know what it is but it works great. On both the foam and your vinyl use an adhesive to bond them to your fiberglass base. (I used regular contact cement, I later found, on my work truck, in the Texas sun they don't get along and the vinyl detaches. Either use something else or contact cement made for heat.) Mold it to your base. And this is what it should look like when you are finished.

One of the interior items we probably all have to tackle is the steering wheel made out of Bakelite. Bakelite was called the "MATERIAL OF A THOUSAND USES". All of which today are probably either cracked or broken. This most certainly includes the steering wheel. The beginnings of Bakelite was by the inventor, Belgian-born American chemist Leo Baekeland. He was playing around (what scientist really do but call it work) with carbolic acid (a.k.a. phenol) and formaldehyde, Baekeland noted that the condensation residue left after his experiments was hard and almost impossible to remove from his test equipment. Later he formed a company in 1910 called the General Bakelite Company. Bakelite was the first commercially available synthesized plastic. Bakelite is moldable, lightweight, heat-resistant, nonconductive, noncumbustible and thermosetting material which Baekeland dubbed Bakelite in 1907. One thing I can say about bakelite is don't use Bondo on the steering wheel, it does not have enough strength, use fiberglass (or something as strong if you are trying to repair it). I went with replacing the bakelite for the most part. (To tell you the truth if I did not try to turn the wheel without the engine going the Bondo probably would not be cracking, with power steering, which there are some new cracks now.) And here is how I did it. For more historical information on bakelite see the Hemmings article. https://www.hemmings.com/blog/article/bakelite/ The broken Bakelite steering wheel. I took a hammer and broke the rest of the Bakelite off the chrome hoop. Then I made two rinds to place around the hoop. Then I cut rings of plywood to place on top of the rings. I then shaped the wood. I then put wood stain on the wood and sealed it with Polyurethane. And now the car has a new steering wheel. .

I got my truck license, CDL in Indiana. That is where the company trains new drivers. I was loaned $3000 for the training. All they taught me was by the numbers how to exactly do only what the state gave on the driving test. No more no less. And if you did it exactly as they said: pull up 5 feet, turn the wheel to the right stop, put it into reverse etc. you passed. Then they stuck me in a truck that the so called trainer had me only drive on the highway while he sat in the back talking on the cell phone. When it came time to back up, he would say get out of the seat I'll do it. So at the end of two weeks they stuck me in a truck alone and said have at it, your a driver, and handed me a black baseball cap that said Professional Driver. So of course the first stop I went to I was supposed to back into the dock to fill up. Now I have 53 feet of trailer I'm somehow supposed to get into a tight dock having not a clue how to do it. Needless to say it took me a half hour, and a lot of looks at me like, is this guy some kind of idiot or what. Some even yelled Don't you know how to drive! I yelled no they didn't teach me how to back. So some started waving their hands in some unknown sign language, and pointing this way that and circling their fingers to turn, which actually just made things worse. So Indiana does not hold fond memories for me. I try to go down I-90/I-80 just as fast as I can.

JDTurner, you're welcome. Like I said, if you have a picture of yourself and (brave enough to ) post it here I can stick you in that picture. This is a BBQ smoker, seems an expensive way to cook a hamburger. I saw it at the Decatur Swap Meet TX (which by the way it starts Feb. 21 this year). I saw this 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 sitting in a field and I have been wanting 1958 Ford truck or car. So I went to talk to this old timer and he said it had been sitting just were it is since around 1967. I ask so would you sell it? He said no I can't, I sold it to a guy some 15 year ago for $100 and he hasn't come picked it up yet. I know I had to have had a strange look on my face and said, I think if he wanted it he would have come got it by now, I'll give you at least $200 for it. He said no I just can't. So it is still just sitting there, and will, at least until that old timer dies.

This is the cute old video that showed me you can indeed use a home sewing machine to do the job. I use two lines of stitches and a zig zag to make sure it is strong.

After the electricals were sorted out, I moved to the interior seats. Taking them all apart (take lots of pictures it will help along the way and putting them back together). Using the pieces (if there is enough left) as a template, on the vinyl. Then cut them out, and make sure to add a half inch all around to sew back together. Putting the pieces back together, I use a stapler for the job. Then sew along the lines you make that are a half inch in. Here I am using the highly specialised equipment you can only buy at a Good Will Store for $12. If you have done the job right the seam should look like this. Then when you put all the pieces back together it should look like this. And after you secure it back onto the frame with hog rings it should look like this And when you are finished it should look like this.

So after some time with someone that knows their way around Photoshop your picture went from this, To this.

I am pretty handy with Photoshop (that is why my 65 Thunderbird is popping a wheelie, there was actually a stack of wood and two hydraulic jacks holding it up after a wheel fell off my tow dolly). So if you can pose just like when you were a boy, or as you have your arm around yourself, on a dark background with the same lighting I can stick you in there. Oh I forgot I used to have a Ford like that but metallic blue.

Ok back to the electrics. For around 3 months I had my head up under the dash in usually painful positions, trying to figure out what was going on under there. As I said the wiring diagrams seemed to have no connection to this car. Someone got under the dash and just started pulling. Most all of the wires were unconnected. And there seemed to be two of everything. As it turned out they tried putting other wires in, usually just red wire to everything, and another wiring harness. That was why there seemed to be two of everything. They did not take out all of one, no, they just tried to add to it. What a nightmare. As I said I had to shoot electricity down a wire and see if something lit up. Even worse they went to each turn light and stop lights and cut them real close to the socket. It was like how am I going to get anything working again. I had never done this before. And I am sure that is why it was sitting in a junk yard waiting to rot away. So I started as best I could to get the right color wire from the diagram and hook it back up where it is supposed to go. One by one things started to light up. Dashboard lights, turn signals, stop lights. I changed out the radio because it did not work, for a modern USB capable radio, which I use the UBS to listen to lectures in physics. Oh also I took off the padded dash cover.

When I was working as a Parts Specialist I loved that lots of guys would bring in their old cars when they were buying parts. This is a Brother something maybe a Hudson?

So the first thing I do when I have a fine POS like this (which of course means Previously Owned Sweetheart) is start tearing out the cancerous items. Those that the rats have been living in and made their nests and that wonderful Texas smell they give off. Here are some more pictures of it's previous home. The place they go to Rust In Peace RIP. More pictures of it's condition. A sneak preview of things to come And in the case of this car, where almost nothing electrical worked, and I'm sure why this car ended up in a car graveyard, I needed to shoot electricity down the wires to see if something lit up or a fan whirled, or even worse nothing happened. The wiring diagram served no purpose because they decided to cut all the wire and try to rewire it without a clue what it went to, real fun job.

Here is a picture of me driving that Freightliner through Miami Beach where I used to live, and I so should not have been driving anything nearly as big as an 18 wheeler. I almost got stuck. But I knew I probably would never get the chance to see where I used to live again, so I went for it.

Victoria, "That’s a nice Porsche." You have me mistaken for someone rich. If you are talking about the black car that was a 2007 Cadillac STS. I bought it for $1400. It had a little boo boo on the front at the time, That truck is a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia Automatic, I just love automatics (old timers hate them, not me). If anyone cares I started a new thread in Restoration on my 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown:

Jeff Perkins, love your arrangement of tools, need to get around to doing that in my new garage when it is built.

I was a truck driver and as an over the road driver I went to most parts of the USA. Some 5 years ago I kept going down I-35 into Dallas Texas where I would pass Junkyards along the way. I kept saying to myself man I should be restoring those old cars instead of this job. So finally I quit and moved to Texas. (I had given up my apartment and sold my car because I never made it home anyway.) I found a 3 bay garage that was commercial property and at the time it only had a toilet a sink and an office. I still just live in the office, but part of the building was turned (with my help) into a kitchenette, it cost to much to heat and cool it so I am still in the office, but now I have a shower. First thing I did with my savings was go to one of those junkyards to buy a 1941 Packard. We had all the papers signed I handed over my $5000 to buy it and a lady came back and said, I can't find the title for it, are you sure we have one for it. (It was bought in a lot at auction with other cars.) No title, no sale. So there was 5 other cars I wanted maybe, no titles. Finally I got them to sale me this 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown and a 1965 Thunderbird for the same price. That is how and why I own this Imperial Crown. So for me this is more than a hobby it is now a way of life. Some history of a 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown. The Imperial line after 1955 was to be a rivals with the Lincoln and Cadillac. It was designed by Elwood Engel who designed the 1961 Lincoln Continental, and why the back of the 1964 Imperial looks like a Continental. In 1964 only 23,295 Imperials were made (their second best year so far). It came with a padded dash, power seats, power steering, power brakes, power windows, electric antenna, two air conditioners (front and back), an AM/FM radio, a reverb delay system to mimic stereo, a Telephone, and a small 45 record player. A 129 inch wheelbase with a 413 ci V-8. This was a Top of the line car in it's day. Here is the 41 Packard (and my logo is my concept of it finished), the 64 Imperial, and the 65 Thunderbird. I will post more later since there is a limit to posts here.

Also another trick I use to get rid of the lines is just let it get dusty, then use the dust with a rag to buff the surface and just that takes my lines out, then a gentle buff. Rattle can is not as thick, so don't over buff it, just a light buff.

When I was a boy I got a present of a pretty big Jaguar XKE that ran on a giant battery in the control and turned and everything. I love it and Jaguar XKEs. Also I liked our Volvo P544 black. Well, up until we were turning and some guy ran the stop light and hit us so hard it lifted the car up on my side, it was like in slow motion. Anyway I was just thinking today about a Volvo P544 has about the same shape as the back of a Jaguar XKE, and if one were to put a (fiber glass) XKE front on that volvo it would kind of be a poor mans XKE. Both cars I love into one (weird, I know). Also I want to make a fiberglass car the one below these cars. And some big toys not around anymore below that.

If you google images with, Dave Holls concept cars , a lot of wacky stuff come up along with this thread.

In my rented commercial property I can only use rattle can paint, I doubt anyone can tell the difference. I have gotten very good at it.

Electric cars were around before internal combustion cars. But I can never see them over coming the problem of miles to time spent in charging. You can take off in a car with gasoline and go indefinite miles with a 5 minute fill up here and there. With an electric car you have to wait and wait and wait. Fine in the city where your work is 3 miles away. Hydrogen can be 100% green. And with larger engines that are very energy efficient, they will preform as well as gasoline. No down side of what to do with the batteries afterward, and electricity made from coal etc. Hydrogen can be made from water and solar or wind power. I see a time when you make it at home. At many truck stops now, natural gas is already in the infrastructure. It is not that easy to convert a car to hydrogen as natural gas, hydrogen just does not have the same bang for the buck as gasoline or natural gas (propane). When hydrogen burns what come out the back is water H2O. No smog, no batteries, no need for coal. Sure if you want to wait and wait and wait for your Tesla, or new Corvette to charge up, it can be as fun a ride, as long as it is pretty near or you go from hotel to hotel to get where you are going. I personally prefer the concept of hydrogen and a 5 minute fill up over electric.

I would love to take my 1964 Chrysler Imperial Crown to an auction, but I suck at getting these old car running well enough to make it on and off the stage. Maybe I need as much money as Don Draper (Mad Men).