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1930 Twin Ignition 8 490 Sedan


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I had speaking with a customer with a 31 caddy who mentioned he also had a 30 Nash. He wanted to send me the Caddy and told me the Nash was out in Ohio where the body wood was being replaced by a guy considered one of the best. The guy ended up finishing the wood work so the owner called ad said he wanted to send me the Nash first. We discussed that the car would be a driver restoration and the owner mentioned some specific issues the car had because of a previous owner’s decision to cut out the rear of the car but I told him I was willing to look at the car and attempt to get it back together.

    The car arrived this past weekend end and I got a better look at the car. While I knew of the metal work issues i was assured the wood was expertly replaced to the tune of thousands by “one of the best in the business “!  After looking at the car i called the owner to discuss. Have a look at the pictures and post what you think.

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If you noticed the side roof rails are made up of pieces nailed with blocks in between the roof bows. Roof bows are all uneven heights. The side roof rail pieces aren’t even flush with the height of the metal in some places while others they’re too high. The rear roof upper rail is not under the nailing ovals in the sheet metal so there is no wood to nail the roof in. The outer edge of the drivers side roof rail is not wide enough to support the nail line for the roof edge and the installer hammered in the steel to fill the space left at the front of the roof header. What are your thoughts on this work?

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Absolutely nothing unusual about hack work……..and people paying thousands of dollars for it. Sadly, if the car were 90 points and running down the road, it would be a hard sell at 30k.

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He is driving here from NY to discuss. I told him I would only work on the car after he had seen in person and we had agreed in writing how I would be proceeding. The rear wheel well wood was also done wrong. I believe only the floor with main sills I’ll be able to leave as is. What is pretty amazing to me is the owner supplied the body book and it shows a decent enough of pictures to recreate the wood at least in a usable way. While it might not be exact without the actual wood for patterns, the pictures would get you lose. The roof of this car is not close at all. The work is good enough for a Hollywood prop but that’s about it.

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On 4/25/2024 at 9:12 PM, chistech said:

He is driving here from NY to discuss. I told him I would only work on the car after he had seen in person and we had agreed in writing how I would be proceeding. The rear wheel well wood was also done wrong. I believe only the floor with main sills I’ll be able to leave as is. What is pretty amazing to me is the owner supplied the body book and it shows a decent enough of pictures to recreate the wood at least in a usable way. While it might not be exact without the actual wood for patterns, the pictures would get you lose. The roof of this car is not close at all. The work is good enough for a Hollywood prop but that’s about it.

Hopefully the owner is sharp enough to see how poorly the wood was done.  You are approaching it the right way by having him there in person. So many people try to do all their business on the phone and we can see the results of that!  Also it is hard to judge people’s reaction when they are not in front of you.  Chistech, we have seen your woodworking skills and I am sure that if the Nash is left in your hands it will turn out as a piece of art!

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That is going to take alot of time and money. And it seems will have a low value when done.

Parts are hard to come by and are expensive. 

One note here, if they decide to continue the project, the only place I found for interior handles was in Australia. Don't recall name of business but they are going out of business so order soon.

Good luck.

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About half of that "woodwork" looks like the pattern pieces I sometimes make out of scraps and junk wood to adjust sizing and fitting before making the permanent piece out of good wood (that is the way to do it when you do not have decent pattern pieces to begin with). The finish of the top wood isn't even that good!

 

And I thought I did fast, cheap and dirty work?

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