For the shaping on this panel I used several tools such as a shot bag, a large wood mallet, a wheeling machine or English Wheel, a Lancaster type shrinker/stretcher combo, a bead roller,hammers and dollies and of course a welder. All of the welding was done by oxy-acetylene torch.
A good view of the buck and the old valance panel.
The new panel starting to take shape. This is actually two pieces welded together. The buck is only used for checking the shape of the metal being shaped. It’s not used for hammering or bending the metal into shape.
The pieces of the panel all welded together into one.
I used inexpensive manila folders to make patterns off of the old pieces. The patterns are then transferred to the new panel for the bumper bracket holes and exhaust pipe cut out. Here the holes have been cut out and the edges shaped like the original. Also the edges of the panel have been ran though a bead roller to “step” the edge.
The panel fit to the body. The pictures make it look easy. It took several attempts on and off of the car to get the panel to fit like I wanted it too. I also had several hours shaping and welding to get it to fit the buck.
The students have now started stripping off some of the blue paint and have exposed some of the rusted areas on the right side of the body. They have some rusted areas cut out and have ground down to bare metal on the top of the right fender where the old paint was badly cracked.
Here’s the right side fender after it was sanded and with the start of the rust repairs. Notice the original gold paint.
Rust that was cut out on the right font fender
Right front fender repairs
A few rusted areas on the right rear quarter panel.
I just read through my subscription to Meguiar’s on-line magazine. Barry Meguiar is the original Car Crazy guy and gave 14 ways to show if you are a certifiable Car Crazy person. I might note that Legendary Collector Cars author also noted Barry’s comments in his last article. So, to be a day late and a dollar short, I am adding this information to Mike’s Show-N-Shine. My thanks to Barry for the great list.
Are you reallyCar Crazy? Take this test to find out. I say 8 or more qualifies you. I had 10.
Top 14 Reasons you might be Car Crazy
1 ) You’ve started looking for sponsors for your daily commute.
2 ) You roll down your windows, put your car into neutral and rev it up when going under an overpass.
3 ) You have more pictures of your car than of your significant other.
4 ) Your refer to your car by name.
5 ) You never throw away car magazine, EVER.
6 ) Your email address refers to your car rather than to you.
7 )You think that “Gentlemen, start your engines” is the end of the National Anthem.
8 ) You refer to the corner at the end of your street as ‘Turn One”.
9 ) You would choose a roll bar over air conditioning if it were an option.
10 ) You consider the redline a “conservative suggestion” and the rev limiter “a fun limiter”.
11 ) When someone asks where you went to school, you reply, “Skip Barber”.
12 ) You own five cars and only one is street legal.
13 ) You turn the radio off to listen to the music of your engine.
14 ) Your double date includes your buddy — their car, you and your car.
How did you do? Leave me a comment below. Did you beat my 10? I always knew I was crazy, but didn’t know I was certifiable!!
Mike’s Show-N-Shine always loves comments, so you may leave one by clicking on the “comments” word below. If you would like to send me an email, send it to mustangmike289@yahoo.com I would love to hear from you!
I must include at least one picture. It wouldn’t be right not to!
If you have been following the repair on this ‘46 you probably remember how rusty this car was. Below is a picture of the right side lower “A” pillar before the repairs. We had to completely remove this area and start over. Since we didn’t have really anything to go off of or compare to we hand fabricated it the best we could. We used the door and front fender as our template for the repairs.
Here is a picture of what we had to work with.
You can see the metal that we started adding on top of the rocker box. Also notice we have a piece of metal tacked in place to mock the door contour. We installed the door and fender, off and on who knows how many times until we had the metal panels shaped to fit. Sadly these are the only pictures I have of this repair.
The toe boards fitted up and welded to the lower part of the firewall.
The front floor boards and tunnel. Direct Sheet Metal really makes some great products.
The rear floor panels. Everything fit together nice and looked great.
Now that the inside trunk floor and inner wheel houses have been fitted and tack welded, we moved back to the outside quarter panels. 50% of the welding was done the old fashioned way with an oxy-acetylene torch, the rest of the welding was with a MIG. The lower part of the quarter panels and the outer wheelhouses which we had no access to get in behind with a dolly was welded with a MIG.
With both halves of the body getting fitted and welded together, it’s slowing starting to look like a car again.
The lower right side quarter panel fit and tack welded together.
This is a view looking up into the left rear wheelhouse. You can see that we trimmed the replacement outer wheelhouse metal to meet up with the original.
The upper part of the outer quarter skin was oxy-acetylene welded with steel rod. The lower part which we had no access to with a dolly was MIG welded.
The left upper quarter after welding and little grinding. Oxy-atylene welds are smaller and softer which makes the work of grinding the welds a lot easier.
We have a winner! Thanks to all of you who took the time to enter. Please stay with me as I will have another giveaway soon! And you never know what Mike’s Show-N-Shine or one of my sponsors will come up with as a good giveaway!
The winner of the Save A Battery, provided by Granite Digital, is from the GTX Ranch (whatever that is) and is Jim W. Congratulations, Jim! I hope you enjoy this high quality tester/charger/maintainer. It will arrive at your home soon!
For you who really wanted to win this, please re-visit Save A Battery website. You can purchase one at very reasonable prices! It will be the best charger you ever purchased!
Our thanks to our new sponsor, Granite Digital, for this fabulous giveaway!
has a Charger/Tester that they would like you to have!!
So let’s get busy and give it away!! That’s right! This state-of-the-art, high tech battery charger can be yours. Just follow the easy instructions!
Let me tell you some facts about this battery tester. It is a 50 watt, 12 volt system that can fully charge your battery in 3 hours. Totally. It will then maintain that charge indefinitely using a high tech processing system. This is a charger, tester, alarm protected, maintainer and rejuvenator. It can charge a battery in your classic auto, motorcycle, boat, and ATV. Made by Granite D.I.G.I.T.A.L, has a low voltage alarm, load tester, LCD display, charging system tester, voltmeter and more.
It comes with five sets of cables. One allows it to do its work through your cigar lighter. Two, allows you to use clamps to connect to the battery. Three allows you to do a direct connection to the battery and use a quick connect to hook up and disconnect. Four is the power cord and five is a 20 foot quick connect cable in case your outlet is not right next to your car/boat/motorcyle/tractor, etc.
Oh, did I mention? Save A Battery and the Granite Company are new advertisers on Mike’s Show-N-Shine! Welcome guys and gals. Glad to have you aboard!
Following are the instructions for winning this fabulous Save A Battery product.
1. Leave a comment after visiting the Save A Battery web site, about what your favorite product would be, or how you would use this product..
2. For a second chance to win, sign up as an e-mail subscriber with Feedburner, Feed Blitz, or become a Google Follower (see sidebar.) Then leave a second comment telling me you have subscribed or that you are already a subscriber.
If you subscribe in more than one way, leave a separate comment for each.
3. For a third chance to win, blog or Tweet about this contest with a link here, then come back and leave another comment telling me about it.
4. If you’re not a blogger, be sure to leave your contact e-mail address like this to avoid spammers: msipect2(at)gmail(dot)com. If I don’t have a way to reach you or you don’t respond in three days, your name will be disqualified, and I will choose again, picking my favorite answer.
Good Luck!!
Open to US residents only, 18+.
Winners will be chosen by random.org.
Email addresses will not be shared with any third parties.
This Giveaway ends on Wednesday, April 7th at midnight ET
Save A Battery provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose; nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.
I was visiting my friends blog tonight. Legendary Collector Cars is a great site and has some neat stories of unique restorations. So go take a look.
Anyway, he had a video of one of my fav groups and fav sounds from the 60’s.. The Ventures. I wanted to post it here so you could all enjoy it. The drummer must have passed out after this performance. HOT! Take and look!!
Hope you enjoyed it! Stop by again for some more great stuff! Car shows are-a-comin’ so stay tuned!
Hey, take a minute and follow me on Twitter. Click on the link in my sidebar.
Also, there is an upcoming give-away that will charge you up and keep your car charged, too! So watch for that. It will be here next post!! Come on back now, hear?
The owner of the car had a local company rebuild the three speed overdrive transmission. It was brought back to me for installation back into the car. I did some research on it and found that they were not painted by the factory and left bare metal. It had a lot of surface rust on it and I really didn’t want to install it back all rusty. I didn’t want to sandblast it either at this point since it was a new rebuild. I decided to spray a coat of Zero-Rust on it since you can apply it over rust.
This is the transmission after we sprayed it with red Zero-Rust.
I then mixed up some color to simulate cast iron bare metal.
I matched it to the bare cast iron on the Pexto bead roller that we cleaned with Metal Rescue in a previous post. You can see here that it is a fairly close match.
To give it some detail, I brush painted the heads on the bolts with some black paint.
If I am reading the date code right, this transmission was made on May 2, 1948.
If you are doing any kind of grinding, sanding or polishing then you should be wearing some kind of dust mask or preferably a particulate respirator. The ones I like are made by 3M and are #07048. You can get them with or without an exhaust valve. The number for the respirator with the exhaust valve is 07185.
These types of masks are not to be used for any kind of painting or priming. They are for light nuisance type dust only. You can get the 07048 in a box of 20 for less than $20 and the 07185 are about $12 for a box of 10.
I had never heard of Grandpa’s Old Ford Garage in Desoto, Kansas until my dad sent me an email with a link to the grassroots art section of Kansastravel.org
Grandpa’s Old Ford Garage is operated by Dean Weller, who is 84 years young. His work is impressive and it appears he has no intention of slowing down. Dean retired about 28 years ago and has been building about one car every year, some from scratch.
Go HERE to read the story and see some pictures.
Also remember if your passing through Desoto and want to visit the garage, Dean is a busy man and enjoys working on the cars more than being interrupted by visitors. Just look in the windows and maybe you’ll get a glimpse of the artist at work.
Here are some more pictures before the body work was started. The paint looks badly cracked and in poor shape. From the looks of the car in these pictures the high school students have their work cut out for them.
The restoration on the car was done by two Wisconsin High Schools under direction of Fred Beyer, Jay and Bob Abitz. Freedom High School Automotive Program and the Freedom Auto Club of Freedom, WI. and Shawano High School automotive program known as “Hot Rod High” of Shawano, WI.
Here’s a 1966 Chevelle that will get a full frame up restoration. The owner did a lot of the disassemble work and brought us the car with the interior, bumpers and most of the trim removed.
I would like to welcome the Metropolitan Vacuum Cleaner Company as the newest advertiser with Mike’s Show-N-Shine. What is this unit all about? Let me tell you!
The Metro Master Blaster is a unit used to blow dry your classic car or motorcyle. Caught in the rain on the way to a show? Blow it dry! A quick wash before the show? Blow it dry. No using rags that can scratch your tender paint. Twin 4 hp fans for a total of 8 peak hp will blow a clean, filtered, warm airflow gently over your car to get it spotless in a jiffy!
Here is my thought. Install a AC/DC converter (18 amps) to your classic car, hidden away somewhere of course!! When you get caught in a light rain or a terrible rain storm, simply plug it in and blow off the rain with the warm gentle air that flows from this great invention. At home, don’t wipe it down, blow it off! Keep the towels away. Just a small piece of metal that got into that towel could ruin your paint job!
So, I welcome Metropolitan Vacuum Cleaner Company to Mike’s Show-N-Shine. Glad to have you aboard. To my readers, click within this article or in the sidebar and go see their many products. Not toys, not junk, but AMERICAN MADE by American workers. Go to www.metrovacworld.com and tell them you saw it on Mike’s Show-N-Shine!
As always, comments are welcome! Click below to leave one. Also, if you would like to join us in Google Reader, look in the sidebar and sign up!
Check out all of our fine sponsors. Look for us at local car shows and show and shines this spring and all summer into the fall. See you there! Stop by and see us. We have the Mustang called Big Red!
The work continues on the rust repairs and panel replacement.
The lower quarter panels were in bad shape and had no strength because of the rust. We purchased the lower quarter panels from EMS. Here we have the patch panel tack welded in.
To help with the fit of the lower quarter patch panel we had to install the right rear fender.
Here the panel is welded in.
The patch panel did not fit the new fiberglass fender very well. We had to add some metal on to get a good fit.
The new patch panel didn’t come with the lower part of the door jamb. We fabricated this area with some new metal. We also have the new running board from Direct Sheetmetal installed.
For the past four years, I have been showing off many beautiful cars on Mike’s Show-N-Shine. I have been asked if I could do a post just about “Big Red,” my own classic car. So here it is.
Now Big Red is no 100 pointer, for sure. I know that. But this is for the owners of the “I just love to drive it” group…and those who believe like I do, the best place to park at a show is with the participants. So, here comes Big Red! She looks pretty good for a 22 year old restoration. Sometime in my next lifetime, I will have her spruced up. For now, she is “just a driver.”
Ok, Big Red is all covered up. She has been through this terrible winter weather, just waiting for the spring flowers to bloom and that last heavy rain to wash away all the salt on the Michigan roads. Let’s pull off the cover and take a look.
Just a peek at the front fender gets me excited about spring. Bust your little flower heads through the snow, my little yellow daffodils. Show me the way to SPRING!
No 2×2, no GT, no Cobra Jet, just a simple 289 Mustang. I love the Mustang emblem. I feel it is right up there with the Corvette emblem. If I see either one, my heart races and I get ready to ride!
In 1965, there was a neat option. Hubcaps came in standard or spoke. But the dealership had one other item that was available as an “option” and that was - real spoke wheels. So the original owner decided to dress his 289 up a bit and added these cool wheels. I think it really makes the car look sharp! What do you think?
One of my sponsors provided me with this cool Battery Tender. Plug it in in the fall and it will keep the battery charged all winter. Not a trickle charge, but a tender way to keep that battery like new.
Another dealer installed option was this rear trunk luggage rack. I am keeping my eyes open for a 1960’s suitcase so I can strap it on! My wife used to have an old Sampsonite suitcase, but I guess we threw it away at some point. Gotta keep looking!
In my back window, I have this model of a 64 1/2 Mustang and it looks just like Big Red. I just need the luggage carrier! Wire wheels, 289 engine and all. Pretty cool!
I thought the exhaust would be a bit more noticeable when I took this picture. I started Big Red up to let the engine warm the oil and make sure there were no “surprise” leaks. After 22 years since the restoration, some of the gaskets are a bit weak and need replacement.
The Co-pilot’s seat. I have never sat in it since no one has driven it but me. Even though we had a ‘66 back in the late 60’s, Janie just can’t get it in her to try and drive it. Power steering and power brakes make it quite easy to maneuver.
Ahhh. The Pilot’s seat. Oh how I love to drive her!! Notice the speedometer. The early 64 1/2 Mustangs used the same dash as the Fairlane. About July or so, Ford went to the newer dash. And air conditioning was not available on the early 64 1/2, so this was added by the owner at some point after he took delivery.
No rust, corrosion or broken parts. Solid car! I just love to look at this shot. I bought all new custom made carpet for Big Red, but got the wrong color. So if you need the light green carpet (wouldn’t that look terrible in a red car!) let me know. What a deal I could make!
My wife and I graduated in 1965. This is the yearbook for that year. When we set up at a car show, we have a trunk load of props to set up. Besides the chairs with rain/sun covers, we have a set of 65 license plates, some great 60’s pictures, a 60’s transistor radio, and lots more. Presentation is everything!! Well, a great car helps!!
Not clean and spotless, my 289 is still a great runner. I have done no clean up to the engine other than a good steam cleaning every few years.
Ready for the 2010 season. This is the best she will get!! Pop that hood and show her off. The good, bad and ugly!!
I am ready for Spring! Did I say that before?
I know I said Big Red was no show car, but she has received a few plaques. The one on the right is our favorite. “Best Classic Car” from the AmBucs Walker show a couple of years ago. Here are some pictures of Big Red’s home.
I was a big fan of Terry Labonte. All the boxes have autographs. Note the 6 pack of Coke. This was the first year Jeff Gordon raced. Coke was his sponsor. Then he switched to Pepsi. I think this is one of my favorite NASCAR memorabilia.
Well, that is the show. Hope you liked it. It is March now, and spring WILL come, you can bet on it. Mike’s Show-N-Shine loves comments, so leave one below if you like. My thanks to my sponsors of Mike’s Show-N-Shine. This year they will get more recognition at each car show we attend. So watch for us around West Michigan as we CRUISE INTO SUMMER!
These auto restoration and hot rod build tips are courtesy of Hot Rods
During final polishing mask the entire car with plastic and tape all the gaps to avoid polishing compounds from entering in and under trim gaps etc.
When painting small parts we recommend using 1/8th to 1/4 inch hooks to stabilize the parts. Notice the hooks are taped at the top of the rack as this keeps them from swaying during the force of air from the spray gun allowing a smooth paint job.
Often the edge of a panel will be wavy or unstable compared to the center especially on open panels that are not folded back. The use of a mig welder to spot a few areas and then cool with a wet rag will stiffen the panel just enough. Simply grind them back down slowly to the surface before body work and priming.
When buffing small and or larger stainless trim parts use various sizes of wood to bolt or screw them down to eliminate holding the actual part and tweaking it during the natural heat build that occurs.
Ok, Motor Trend, don’t come after me! I am sharing with my readers your last magazine pictures of the new Shelby Mustang GT350. Where else except Motor Trend can you find the stats on such a unique car!
A supercharged 5.0 V-8 engine is the heart of this car. The supercharger makes this honey put out 550bhp with 490lbs of torque! Come on Camero, I am ready to rumble!!
I really can’t quote from Motor Trend. That wouldn’t be right. So I will show you the pictures and give you the link to Motor Trend. Maybe they will become a sponsor of Mike’s Show-N-Shine! I am working on it!!
Man, I want this pic on my wall!! Congrats to the photographer for such a great job taking this shot. Or photoshop! Anyway, real kool!!
The old with the new. 1965 Mustang Shelby GT350, 302 V-8.
Oh, be still my heart!! Original white color, blue stripping. Signage is simple and sweet!
Power package. Hmmmm. What a set up. For a slight $68k it can be yours!!
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Metal Rescue™ Rust Remover Bath is a clean, safe and easy solution to removing rust. Metal Rescue™ removes the rust on parts by utilizing a water based, safe synthetic molecule that is attracted specifically to iron oxide (ie. rust). Metal Rescue™ removes the iron oxide and holds it in solution, leaving the base part and other materials safely unaffected. The result, the cleanest, safest and easiest way to remove rust in the industry.
Metal Rescue is safe on everything except rust! Just soak, check and rinse/dry.
When the gallon of Metal Rescue showed up my son and I were looking all over the shop for some rusty parts to soak. He had just bought this old Pexto bead roller and thought we should give it a try.
It was fairly clean when he got it so the only thing we did to it was remove the wood handle. We were surprised that when we poured it out that it had absolutely no smell at all.
We let this tool soak for 24 hours. I think it was was ready to take out after about 8 hours. We started soaking it early in the morning and checked it once during the day and it was pretty much finished. But we forgot about it, closed up shop and remembered about it the next morning. The results are impressive.
Before
After
PREPARATION: For best results, ARMOR recommends removing as much dirt, oil and other contaminants from the metal surface as possible, prior to de-rusting
SOAK: Surfaces to be de-rusted must be fully immersed. Metal Rescue™ must maintain contact in wet form with the rusted surface to be effective. As product is used, it will become darker in color. Continue to reuse product until there is a performance drop off. Note: this is a ready to use product, NOT a concentrate.
CHECK: Check periodically. Soak time ranges: Light rust will require 5-30 minutes, moderate rust up to 4 hours and heavily rusted items may take up to 24 hours. Do not leave part in solution after rust is no longer present or metal might become dark.
RINSE: Once the rust has been removed, the surface should be rinsed with water or clean Metal Rescue™ and dried thoroughly.
The 1948 Holden was the first all Australian made car. It was produced from 1948 to 1953 with a total production of 120,402. The 6 cylinder engine had a displacement of 2.15 liters mated to a three speed manual transmission.
This video is the first of two parts called “Birth of a Car” made in 1948. It details some of the testing and production of the Holden. It’s interesting to see the how the testing machines worked and also how the manufacturing process was done. The Hamilton press stamping the roof panels is massive. It’s a great video…enjoy!
The first official automobiles of the White House were ordered by U.S. President William Howard Taft in 1909. He ordered two Pierce-Arrows to be used for state occasions. Click HERE for more info about Pierce-Arrows and HERE for info on President Taft.
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