'39 Plastic colour

[cxgvd]

I have a 1939 Century, good car except for a few problem areas.  The car needs wiring and I have a new harness from Rhode Island, the speedometer jams and will not read fast than 45 MPH and the steering wheel plastic had voids and other cracks.  I filled the rim with JB Weld, primed, sanded and painted with the darkest burgundy the paint store had but it too dark.  I tried to match the cigarette lighter maybe I should have used the horn center cap.  Now I plan to use the wheel as is for a time and then perhaps some other year use it for a pattern to cast a rim.  Take the dash board out, repair or replace the malfunctioning speedo and install the new harness by May 21st.  Colour is the proper spelling of colour in Canada and I may re-finish the wheel a few shades lighter, in the picture it looks black but it is not.  What do you think?   Thanks for listening, Gary

[39BuickEight]

Not bad at all for a quick fix, a little dark, but not awful, works for me!

[Matt Harwood]

I think it looks great! Anything is better than cracked and broken and I applaud your efforts to make it look right rather than just covering it with one of those awful leather wraps. Nice job!

[Dynaflash8]

It looks really good to me.  Early '39 wheels were a pale color, almost pink and you could barely see the metal center.  That was soon changed to a dark mahogany maroon.  Those early wheels look awful to me and didn't match anything.  I've collected 1939 Buicks since 1955 and looked at them as far back as I can remember.  I've seen the wheels both ways over these many years.

[cxgvd]

Thanks men, I will scuff the existing paint and spray two coats of clear.  Saves sanding time too.  Gary

[Barney Eaton]

I am no expert but have owned a '39 Century for 9 years.   I have looked at lots of '39's at national meets, comparing what I have with much better cars.

Hard to describe but to me the correct wheel is slightly translucent.....a condition that would be impossible to create with paint......even if you get the color correct.

[Glassesguy]

Looks good from here. My 39 wheel is the darker maroon as  Earl stated.

[Dynaflash8]

19 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

I am no expert but have owned a '39 Century for 9 years.   I have looked at lots of '39's at national meets, comparing what I have with much better cars.

Hard to describe but to me the correct wheel is slightly translucent.....a condition that would be impossible to create with paint......even if you get the color correct.

I was looking for that word......................translucent...................when I wrote my comment.  The early wheels that looked almost pink were definitely translucent.  The darker wheels "usually" were not.  However, the use of plastic at the time was still sort of a trial and error thing from what I can tell.  It didn't always turn out exactly the same.  And, it wasn't always good enough to be practical with the 1939 Chrysler dash the best example of that as it cracked and curled often before the car was two  years old.  Most Buick wheels cracked and shrunk after a few years, but yet some never did.  The wheel in my blue car is an original wheel with no cracks and I found it on a junkyard car about 30 years ago.....maybe one in 5,000 or something.  Lewis Jenkins put in a NOS wheel in my convertible sedan while he owned it and it has never cracked, but the car has never been in the sun that often.  I owned that car 15  years, Lewis owned it 15 years, and since I bought it back I've owned it another 18 years.  When I sell my trailer after the next Sentimental Tour in November, I'll probably have to sell my convertible, because I think I'll be too old to pull a closed trailer anymore, although I just towed it 2,000 miles in March moving furniture from VA when I sold the house up there.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Dynaflash8 (see edit history)