Hot Rods '29 cabriolet build, better late than never

Another day spent adjusting the hood

...cutting down the latch spacer rubber




Riveting the leather hood corners in place.

Fitting the proper thickness hood "weather stripping ".
Micro-Adjusting the hood curvatures to lay closely to the cowl and radiator shell atop the stripping.

It is close enough for the time being.


Now my little flying quail can rest atop the radiator shell without any disturbance for a while.

 

Been busy, fitting the hood


...adding Dynamat to quiet the road harmonics a bit


installed the gas tank yesterday, and today Worked on the putting the door hinges back together and on the A pillar.


...just making slow but steady progress

 

Coming along nicely. Keep up the good work, and keep the updates coming.

 

dash is in. wiring done except for wiper motor and tail lights.

The remainder of the Ni plating is out of my hands. The rear fenders and doors may go on this coming week.

 

Got a door mounted. These photos are all turned around on my screen, don't why.


Selfie of me in the door. The water spots on the door are from rain when I picked up the doors this morning

 

Cool hot rod!

 

progress is slow, but still progress

I got the second door hung today. ...and some minor fitting, the rubber stop that aligns the door to body surface had to be sanded down to get alignment and an inside braces that hold the front and rear door profiles parallel to the body were tentatively set. ...and the lower half hinges on the doors had to be swapped side to side.
The body alignment is very close, and may be perfect after the full weight of the door is hung, i.e., glass, window frames, sliders, window cranks, trim, moldings, and inner door panel and handles.

 

slowly, slowly progress continues






...both rear fenders are on; and the top bows were installed the other day, too. Trunk lid next week. ...now mostly waiting for return of plating, top and door stuff.

I should install seats, add water and a bit of gas, start it up and take an outside photo or two.

 

That photo of your door had me thinking "is that chrome plated?". Well done. I've had an old sport coupe laying around for years. I guess Henry sold a lot of them for a poor-man's cabriolet. You see a real Cab, you see the difference in the quality. You have stepped up that to a higher level. Well done.

 

Absolutely gorgeous Russ. One of my favourite builds on the HAMB.

 

great build and really like the color as well....kinda give's hope for my 68-B that's still a banger

 

Well I decided to fire the banger up today so I could take an outside photo and see the paint in the sun.
I added water, connected the battery, added a gallon of gas, tossed in the seat, and turned the key. Thirty seconds just on to get gas pumped to the Weber, then I hit the starter and within 5 seconds it kicked, and next time started. Not bad for being out of service since early November.




My homage to dad; he was always proud of the quail when he bought the car new. I filled and peaked the shell, then mounted the quail without the cap.




The color is so much blacker when the sun is not bouncing off the paint.

Still a ton more work to do, but it was nice to see it outside for a few minutes.

 

Still more slow progress. I got the trunk lid back and ready to install


put a bit of tape around everything to prevent chipping


and got it in place





one step closer to done; but still need a lot of fitting improvements before I call it good.

My new wheels with '49 Mercury centers came in from Wheelsmith. They will go on soon. Still waiting on plating, then the glass can be finished. ...just bit by bit of progress.

 

Lookin great!

 

a small step was to get my new wheels mounted They are '49 Mercury centers with 4-1/2" front rims and 7" rear rims.

Since the 1950's, the 1950 Mercury hub cap has been my favorite for its simple clean look.




still held up by plating for more progress. ...but minor details need more work too. I did a modification on my trunk lid handle for fit improvement and am slowly improving the hood fit.

 

Finally, I am happy with my hood fit. Getting the lacing/rubber properly fit took a lot longer than expected, nearly a month, mostly contemplation.

I had to build up the rubber thickness in a few spots and I had to raise the radiator about a 1/16" higher to get the gaps right, and a couple of my hood hooks needed a bit of modification as the hood sides were getting hung up on the pivot base of the hook. It all seemed to fit just fine before I took the car apart for paint.

I have gotten the cabriolet top mechanism installed and almost fitted.

Again, paint thickness affects fit in unanticipated ways. It just makes assembly take longer.

The plater is taking longer on my window frames than expected, multiple copper coats followed by sanding have been required to eliminate some of the pitting. Not surprising, as the side window frames were replated over fifty years ago. ...and the plater found a couple missing pieces I thought were lost, yay!

It is all just going so slow right now. Plating is holding up the glass, the glass installation in the doors is holding up the pin striping and top installation, the pin striping is holding up the tail light installation and final wiring. ...and my switch bezels and knobs are still not done, and then they will need to be plated. ...and a few more minor details beyond that are needed. ...but progress is still being made.

 

Outstanding, thanks for the update.

 

progress is still painfully slow, waiting on plater before I can do other things.

Today, I got my mirror arms back




I am happy looking at the clear reflections in the paint, but the reflections detract from the photo due to the cluttered background.

 

I am certainly not a pin striper, but I can do enough to take a look at colors to use for my car

I have been considering Process Blue, Imitation Gold, and Tan, all One Shot colors. I used tan on the dash, but will likely use the blue or gold on the exterior.

 

it has been six weeks since last update, and a little progress has been made.

the windshield and side windows have glass and have been fitted.


uniform knobs have been fitted to each switch, but these may be replaced, and bezels have not yet been made


The same knobs on my heater box look way too long and a bit too large. I will at least shorten the stems to move them closer to the box doors.


The essence of what is left for me to assemble: tail lights, wiper, and turn signal. I was going to wait until my pin striping is complete, but may install everything tomorrow, and just pull the tail lights off again once I have the pin striping scheduled. I could then drive around the block, or further.

...and finally, I will have the top and door panels installed shortly thereafter.

An end is in sight!

 

put that little pile of parts on the car today, plus my WCK plaque and HAMB topper, wired it up and may take it for a spin tomorrow.

 

not done, but took it for a little drive today. I need to get some miles on the motor.








I can hardly wait until the top is installed along with the pin striping.

 

NICE!

 

Better than when it was new.

 

The pinstriping is now complete. Rory did what I think is an outstanding job. Next week I will get the top installed.
A simple elegant design for the cabriolet trunk handle in low light of a cloudy morning


...and after the sky cleared

I just love this color: Andalusite Blue, #5.

reflection in both photos is the open garage door overhead.

 

a couple of the hood striping

 

Car went to Bill's Upholstery Shop on Monday


Still a lot of work to finish it up, door panels and windlace are partly in

The door and side kick panels are in a Bedford Cord fabric which was used for the cabriolet model one year newer than mine I added cord, carpet material, and blue piping to the kick panels, while the original design was essentially just cardboard; but used the standard door panel design, but in the 1930 fabric.

 

continued progress at the upholstery shop






I put in a few hours at the shop modifying the top wood to keep the binding from the padding making the top look lumpy, just chisel and mallet work. All the wood needs to be wrapped in cloth, but the binding clearance slots were needed before the bows could be wrapped.

 

Very nice, this just keeps getting better. One of my favourite builds on the HAMB

 

Bows are properly covered




just a little bit more of progress, getting the padding on