Featured Projects 54 Chevy 210 custom

Ignore the rear end parts. But everything visible (plus said steering box I brought home to paint) is what I was able to haul back tonight.

 

So actual progress on the car itself aside from acquiring stuff lol. Decided I wanted to do some test sprays of the blue I have for the car. Steering column will get sanded and resprayed once I degrease the steering box and remove the shifter mechanism. But the armrest will go in the car with the current paint. Going to reupholster the pad with metallic white vinyl. While the paint isn't quite metal flake it has a LOT of metallic in it. I'll use this blue as the primary color beltline up and on the dash and interior garnish mouldings and on the scallops below the beltline. Undecided if I'll clear coat the armrest. Still gotta find a driver rear armrest for a 53/54 Chevy two door

 

Is that the blue you got from me?

 

Yup. Sprayed out nicely

 

Didnt accidentally give me the paint for the nova did you? There was two different blues. This was the sapphire metallic blue

 

No, that was for my 54. I'm going with different paint.

 

Got a lil better pic of the metallic in the paint. Should sparkle nicely in direct sunlight

 

Thinking one of these to hide my stereo. I always do a modern stereo but they always have to be hidden. On my 53 it's under the driver seat. But on this 54 my wife will have a lot more seat time. So she needs to be able to easily reach it. These reports aren't crazy expensive

 

So some people have heard or seen where I'm planning on swapping to 49-53 Oldsmobile door handles. I seem to remember when I ordered the door handle scuff guards for my 53 the listing also mentioned that they'd fit Oldsmobile similar year. First pic is a pair of Oldsmobile handles and the second stock 53/54. You can see the difference and how it'd be a small custom touch. I'm going to borrow a door handle off my buddy's 49 olds to test fit to double check before I order parts though. But that's a bit down the line. Considering we may be shaving the rear handles on his 49 I may get those free anyway lol. I kinda like the art deco-ish look of the olds handles

 

Lil tidbit I figured out early on with my 53. 53/54 Chevy ignition switch fits right in a mid sixties C10 ignition switch and switch will mount in the dash no issue. I know you can get the earlier switch online but this is cheaper and I prefer to buy as much as I can in person. Running a. Original C10 switch in the 53. But as I no longer have daily access to a 1000 car junkyard I bought this one new for the 54 lol

 

And got the door and quarter window interior garnish mouldings mostly prepped for paint. I'll do some more sanding with 320 in daylight and clean and lay some color

 

And getting color on the interior garnish mouldings. I'm done painting for the night but I'm thinking I'll likely scuff these once dry and do a couple more coats. I'll wait to see how they look once dry but it looked like there was a few things spots

 

Do you like the blue?

 

Oh yeah it'll work nicely. Real close to the blue I had in mind and had far more metallic than I expected (a good thing)

 

Also since I have to go to work a few hours tomorrow anyway I may go ahead and start on one of the fenders fixing the rust etc. Passenger side already has a basic hole cut for a frenched antenna so I'll get on that one first. Going to use a generic power antenna from O'Reilly. They let me open one to see how big a pipe I'll need to clear so I picked up this exhaust adapter to chop up and grind into shape. Figure I'll grind as needed to get it straight and then tack to the bottom of the hole. Then take a die grinder to the fender to match the pipe. Then weld up the seam. I'll figure out a good spot to put a drain after I buy the antenna and before I have the fender in paint. As I have Florida plans for this car and it'll spend a lot of time outside other times it'll have to have a drain lol

 

I used a piece from a shock to french antenna. The top part of a rear shock works great even has a hole for antenna.

 

Id do something similar if it weren't for the fact that nearly every shock that comes out of a car at work is completely rusted out. Or smashed. And since the 1969 acdelco pleasurizers in the 53 were in mint mechanical condition I don't even have leftover shocks from that car

 

Got done early at work today so I started on the passenger fender. Welded up the trim holes and welded in the bucket to french the antenna. Gotta go back with a die grinder to make the opening actually round. Also welded up the holes in the rocker.... although now seeing how much grinding I have ahead of me I wish I'd just made a patch lol. Next time I work on it I'll bring my dad so after I finish grinding the welds I can strip it to bare metal and begin putty work

 

Phone glitched out why the extra pics lol

 

Not my best work as the vinyl was thicker than I'm used to and my hands were gimping out. And I still have to polish the ashtray and paint the ashtray lid. But I'm going to run it lol

 

One thing that's been rattling around in my head is I'm thinking of using a 55 Chevy wagon rear bumper. I feel like it'd go with the 54 front bumper a lot better than the stock rear bumper. Plus I'd be able to chop up the ruined rear splash pan from my 53 to work instead of trying to find another solid pan for the stock bumper.

 

I may have the back splash pan.

 

Front one would be the one I'd really be interested in. Already have a nice front bumper thanks to you. Going to wait to buy anything for the rear bumper till I get some paint on it and try my original 53 rear bumper on it. But if you'd check just in case. My leftover 53 splash pan isn't fit for a stock bumper lol

 

I don't have a front one.

 

I did that on my 62 that is factory radio delete. I hinged the front panel. Works well.

 

On the car I'm buying the radio holes are welded and smoothed. I had actually considered the hinged radio delete plate but I also kinda like the current shaved dash look. I'm thinking about running a modified 60 t bird console to make carpet fitment on the enlarged tunnel easier. Thinking I'll mount radio in that under a hinged panel

 

Yeah lots of ways to do it. I like the tissue dispenser, it hides my modern radio well.

 

Check out how I put a modern radio in my 49 Buick using the stock face and pushbuttons.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/retrosound-in-my-49-buick-radio.1313541/

 

And I think I have the steering box degreased enough for what I'm doing. Just going to hit it with bedliner after I prep and paint the column and tape off adjustment hardware. Speaking of adjustment hardware..... figured out why it was so hardcore caked with prehistoric grease. Apparently somewhere along the lines decades ago someone adjusted the box and left the locknut loose on the big adjuster on the end. Guess they kept adding oil till it caked up enough to stop leaking as it was full of oil lol. Going ahead and soaking the locknut in lacquer thinner to really clean it up. I have the adjustment procedure in a shop manual PDF somewhere I'll use after it's all pretty

 

And another special delivery. Exact engine I had in mind. Even has the exact valve covers I wanted along with mounts for a 49-54 chevy