The wheel made it though the Australia customs bloke's and is now in the hands of Pearl Craft who will be starting the surgery to bring this crusty wheel back to life. Pics and updates to follow. Will be nice to see it without the green pitted chrome and broken bakelite. Pretty stoked to see this come back to life.
Don,....if you have to ask, you can't afford it???? Excited, like the rest to see the finished product. Sure it will be worth every penny.
@don daddyo Go to their website and send them a note, they can give you a quote if you send them pics. They have a lot of options for finishes and materials. http://pearlcraft.com.au/
UPDATE FROM PEARL CRAFT: Chrome ready to be sent off with reforming & repair work about to start on the wheel.
Yes, you're right. It's a 46SSE model, it has the 248 straight eight with the optional dual carb set up! Sent from my SPH-L600 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
They are factory, they were optional for the 248 and standard for the 320 Buck straight eights. Sent from my SPH-L600 using H.A.M.B. mobile app
Buick, okay, wow, I need glasses. For some reason I thought you had a Plymouth, not a Buick. Not sure why but yes, I knew Buicks had the straight eights. Not sure where my head was. Great car man.
Steering wheel update from Pearl Craft. Its now starting to look like a steering wheel again. Last shot was a bare metal ring. Really cool watching this specialized process unfold.
@'Mo Exactly, thats my friends car. He restored it and it went to auction. Now in a museum in Texas I believe. Some of the parts off my car went on that car. Since I shaved off all my trim, it helped him out as these cars are so rare to find parts for. He also had to take some molds off of a few parts to have some made. The car came out nice. My car is a power brake, power steering, his had the added option of power windows. He also had to have his steering wheel rebuilt. Those wheels did not age well at all.
Get out of town! I was down for the white top, but 1956 Dodge Adventurer gold was a very popular period color, and could also look great for the top.
yes, thats the challenge. Gold or White. I'm sure they would both look good. I have the Ceramic Yellow already and I have some Wimbledon white as well. Probably do a spray out panel with the two together and see what looks good. I have some. Maybe get a pint of some gold and do the same. But I have some time to think about it.
Colors are off as they always are with a digital image, but I did a quick spray out of the body color for the DeSoto. Really like the color. Very rich classy color and its a factory color for '53. Ceramic Yellow is what DeSoto calls it. I cut a piece off to send to Pearl Craft in Australia for them to match for the steering wheel rebuild. This is a single stage color by the way, which I was impressed by how opaque it was. Covers very well and its nice and glossy. Tamco paint company is my paint supplier which so far I'm very happy with. I'll also use this panel to spray out some Wimbledon White so see if that will become the roof color. If I'm not happy with that I'll look at other options.
Okay, I'll admit to being somewhat ADD about figuring out the paint colors for the car. But, this is probably my final decision. Body color choice will remain the ceramic yellow and the top will be the HOK Kandy Tangerine, which was originally going to be the body color. Dash will remain as is (Kandy), and firewall and under hood will also remain as is.
@Johnnyolds98 glad to hear the positive feedback after all the back and forth. There is so much work involved to paint a car, not even considering the costs involved you really only want to do it once. The good thing is I have all the paint I need to get it done, now to get it done.
As soon as I saw the Kandy Tangerine, I thought about the 1952 DeSoto that Mike and Ed built, on the Wheeler Dealers TV show. Actually turned out really nice. have become a big fan of their work. JT