I thought to post this in Customs as it seem the most likely place to get a response. Please help me not spend $8,800 duplicating the hood trim on a 1942 Lincoln Zephyr. I bought the car 6 months ago from the estate of a man that started the restoration in 2004 and had gathered almost every single part for restoration. The car was beautifully painted and the chrome-work top-notch. Even all the interior bits had been rechromed, except two pieces that were missing, the rear bumper and the twin hood spears on the driver's side. There appear to be none available. A little history is in order. This car was built in early November, 1941, just a month before Pearl Harbor. While we hadn't entered the war the auto manufacturers were restricted in the amounts and types of metal used. Instead of an enormous, heavily-chromed, grill they went with thin stainless steel strips. The hood side moldings have the number "12" in the badge area to denote what's under the hood. This casting appears to be made of Unobtanium and is not available through the Usual Suspects. The original pot metal is very thin and is horribly contaminated making them very weak. If the hood flexes or you get a drying towel snagged under the spear they would break off and were nearly impossible to repair properly so they were discarded. There aren't any in junkyards or anywhere else, or people simply don't want to part with them. About 4 months ago I asked a friend at Ford to guide me in the process of duplicating the part I'm missing. He had his rapid prototype department scan the piece for printing or CNC, but the scan turned out to be pretty worthless because it showed the dimensions of the finished piece, not the size of the piece before chroming. I have a restorable passenger-side trim. Scanning allows for inverting the scan to make the part for the other side. The hood curves in two directions along the 30" length so fit is critical. A scan requires lots of computer time to strip away microns of plated metal to crate an original surface that can be precisely milled out of brass. I didn't want to bother you guys with a restoration problem, but I figured that maybe someone has stripped the badges off a '42 Lincoln Zephyr and had them sitting on a garage shelf somewhere. My alternative is to spend $4,000 on a scan and surfacing and another $4,800 for two new emblems CNC'd out of a block of brass, metal finished and chromed. I'll do it if I have to, but I figured a last-ditch effort would be worth it. It just doesn't look right without jewelry. BTW, whitewall tires were not being made when this car was new. The badge is 1942-specific. Other year badging will fit the holes, but not be right for this car. I have the badging for this side. This is the actual car. It was a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle. I have the rest of the trim. The interior is just being finished in Oklahoma at Dan Kirkpatrick Interiors.
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