Candy for the baby

Today I painted the last few pieces of the 1950 Chevrolet 5-window pickup. This truck has been in and out of the shop several times over the last year as the owner performed some of the restoration work himself. It arrived back in the shop for it’s final stay in early November. During this last visit we wired the truck, and now, we are finishing up the last few things … like painting the mirrors and tailgate.

The first two pictures show the mirrors, sanded but unpainted. Pictures three through five show the radiator cover and the tailgate etched and primed and ready for paint. The sixth picture show another part of the radiator cover, sanded and ready for paint. This part had already been painted once, but somewhere along the way it received a few light scratches in the finish. Since we were painting anyway, it was just easier to repaint it than to wet sand the scratches out.

Photos 7 through 11 are all the pieces sealed and ready to be painted. The sealer does exactly what its name says … it seals everything below it and provides a surface for the paint to stick to. The sealer is available in seven shades of gray, from nearly white to almost black. Each color has one of these seven shades specified in order to  produce the proper color. Light colored paints generally have light colored sealers. Dark paints have darker sealers. The deep rich red has a sealer that is just one step darker than dead center.

Pictures 8 through 12 show the parts after the application of the base coat, the actual color of the finish. Applied in several thin coats, the base coat dries to a nearly flat finish. It is the clear coat that provides the luster, the pop to the finish. Normally that would be the next step, but this is a candy paint job, so there is another step, the candy layer, before the clear coat is applied.

Candy colors use a specially tinted clear coat to add depth to the color. Sometimes this candy layer adds additional metal flake as well. You can see the effect the candy coat has on the paint in pictures 17 though 20. Notice how the paint picks up some additional gloss over the flat base coat finish. Though clearly visible to the naked eye, it is difficult to see in these photographs that there is also a slight shift in the apparent color of the paint as the tinted clear subtly alters the paint color.

Candy colors are difficult and expensive to get right, but when done properly, and on the right type of car or truck, there is nothing quite like them.

Pictures 21 – 26 are the finished product. After the candy color is applied, regular clear is sprayed to seal, protect and apply even more luster to the paint. Where a normal two stage paint finish, base and clear, really pops, a well done candy paint just explodes off the car with a luster and depth that can not be replicated any other way.

This reddish cinnamon candy really, really works on this truck and it will stand out in any crowd.

The last two pictures, numbers 27 & 28, are of the interior of the truck where we put down some sound deadening material. This material, the shiny silver sheets, combined with the bedliner material, the black you see peeking between the sheets, will significantly quieten this truck as it motors down the road.

In another few days the owner will be by to pickup (no pun intended) his truck for the final time and take it away for the installation of the interior. I hope me brings it back when he is done with it so I can see the finished product.

The Mustang returns

The Mustang is back in the shop after a couple of weeks at the interior shop. What a difference a couple of weeks makes! When the car left my shop back in December, the paint was looking pretty good, but it wasn’t a car. It had no interior and no glass so it seemed incomplete. Probably because it was. But now, with the glass and interior installed … now that’s a car!

The first four photos are just a quick walk-around, showing off the outside. It is odd how something you can barely see, namely the glass, can make such a difference.

The rest of the photos are of the interior. If you follow these rambles, you know I have a fondness for white interiors. My Karmann Ghia is bedecked in white. And this ‘Stang … it carries the color well. The white over black really jumps and the bits of wood add a dash of style as well.

The car is all but done. When the car left I was waiting on some hood emblems to arrive. They are here now so I can mount the scoop to the hood and give the car quick once over to make sure the paint is as perfect as I can make it. Then it is just a matter of checking everything to make sure there are no leaks, squeaks or rattles … the final LSR check if you will.

Once I am satisfied the car is ready for delivery, then Karl and Cassie … your chariot awaits.

It’s an inside job

Since the exterior work on the Mustang is all but complete, we are turning our attention to a few of the interior bits. We don’t do interior work much beyond installing the occasional interior panel here at JMC AutoworX, but I wanted to freshen these old interior panels up with a new coat of paint. It just didn’t seem right to put old, dingy parts back into such a nice car.

The first two pictures show a couple of pieces of trim that go into the back seat and provide a place for the passengers to rest their arms.

The third picture is of a few small bits that are also being spruced up with a fresh coat of paint.

The last two pictures are of the center console. Those that are sharp eyed and really up on their Mustangs will note that this console has been fairly heavily modified. The modifications were necessary so the console would fit over the modern shifter that replaced the original Ford unit. The center was cut out to make room for the shifter, then the resulting hole is covered with a bit of brushed metal provide by Murphy Rod & Custom as a custom touch … no pun intended.

That Kelly Murphy guy and his son Josh … they are right handy with the metal.

Progress

I was at the shop late yesterday and realized that it has been a while since I have posted any news about the Mustang. It’s been busy around the shop the last few weeks, but we have still been able to put in a few hours here and there on the Mustang. So progress has been made, it’s just that the stuff that we have been doing hasn’t been particularly glamours or photogenic. To rectify this oversight, here are three photographs of the Mustang, unrelated except for the fact that I remember to take them before I went home.

The first picture shows the transmission cooler, the small radiator looking thing with the two silver lines attached, installed and plumbed. The transmission cooler’s function is to cool the hot automatic transmission fluid, extending the life of the transmission. The harder the transmission has to work, the more it needs cooling. With as much power as this beast makes, it needs cooling indeed.

The second photograph shows the front valiance installed. That is one more step in getting the nose finished up and looking as buttoned down as the rear.

The last picture shows the instrument cluster installed. It looks a little drab in this shot because, despite my best efforts, a body shop is a dirty place and the dash is covered in dust. A quick wipe with a damp cloth and a squirt of vinyl protectant will perk it right up though.

Next week the car gets loaded onto a trailer and hauled off to have the headers and exhaust system installed. That will take a few days, but after that, when the car gets back to the shop, we might be ready to spark the ol’ girl up.

On a build like this, when the car is running you really are in the home stretch. I hope Cassie and Karl have found a place to hang the keys.

Adding a dash of style

While I wait for the engine builder to arrive to replace the sump and oil pan to remedy the clearance issue, I decided to devote some time to installing the dash in the Mustang. As you can see, getting all that air conditioning plumbing into the dash makes for a convoluted and tangled mess. No one ever said it was easy to be cool though.

That big hole above the glove box on the right side of the dash, for those who are not up to speed on 1969 Ford Mustang Mach I interiors, that hole will contain a wood panel with a 5-inch clock in the same style as the instrument cluster. With a clock that size, and a drive train as potent as this car has, there is no excuse for ever being late to an appointment.

Here is an interesting little fact about this car. FoMoCo guys can tell this from the pictures, but this car is fitted with a Rim Blow steering wheel. I know that rim blow sounds slightly, err, well, never mind … anyway during this time Ford was experimenting with moving the horn button(s) to different locations. In this case, rather than having the horn button in the center of the wheel, or on the spokes, the horn is sounded by gripping the steering wheel.

I guess I can see some logic in this. If you are about to have a crash, or something startles the driver, gripping the wheel tightly is an instinct, and doing so would sound the horn in warning without any further action. For some reason it never caught on.

Since this car is fitted with the Rim Blow wheel, I’m glad the car is an automatic. Obviously, after the car is assembled I will need to test drive the car to make sure everything is in proper working order. The last thing I need is to start out with a lurch from an unfamiliar clutch, causing me to grip the wheel, which in turn sounds the horn. I’m sure that would startle me, causing me to bang on the brakes, causing me to again sound the horn. So there I go down the road with the car lurching and jumping, and every time it does, the horn honks.

Yeah … I can’t imagine why that Rim Blow horn system never caught on.

Cool car

Today I started installing the Vintage Air system in Cassie and Carl’s Mustang. When complete this car is going to be as cool inside as out.

The first picture shows the Vintage Air unit waiting to be installed. The Vintage Air system is a self contained unit that provides both heat and air … and that makes the unit a little bulky.

The second picture shows the unit tucked under the dash. It’s a tight fit in there. So tight in fact, as you can see in the third photo, that the glove box becomes only big enough to hold, well, a pair of gloves. Given a choice I think I would rather be cool than have a place to store a bunch of stuff, but that may be just me.

I still have some plumbing to run before the unit is ready to heat or cool anything, plus I still have the controls to hook up, but at least have the main unit muscled into place.

It’s baaaack …

After leaving the JMC AutoworX shops for the installation of the interior, the C10 came back for some final spit and polish before its debut at the Shriner Hot-Rod show in Greensboro.

I put a lot of sweat, and a little blood, if no tears, in this project and I think it is some of my best work to date. I am very pleased and quite proud of how it turned out and I expect it to do well at the shows in the area.

The interior lives up to the exterior in every way with custom seats, door panels, center console and finished bed. And every bit of it, including the bed, dripping in leather.  You open the door of the truck and the smell … mmmm … nothing like the smell of quality leather.

Come see what I think is one of the nicest trucks around, this weekend, at the JMC AutoworX booth at the Shriner Hot-Rod show in the Greensboro Coliseum.

See you there.

Gotta dash

This truck is fitted with all new gauges in a custom dash. The interesting thing is the company I purchased the panel from made a brushed finished dash, a polished dash and a brushed black anodized dash … but no polished black anodized dash. I spoke to the manufacture and asked if they could make me a polished black anodized dash and after some hemming and hawing, they agreed to give it a try. After many nail biting weeks, the dash panels arrived and they looked great!

I think they are going to add them to their catalog, but this truck got the very first one.