Sorry for no updates but I have been busy in the shop and not much free time. We started removing the gold paint. Forget sanding the lacquer just gums up the paper. I don't want to blast it. To messy and just not my thing. Next was to move on to the stripper. It's doing the job. What we could chip out we did.
Great news that the car is back in the hands of the family of the previous owner and that it will be returned to it's previous glory. The custom bashers can all suck it.
The hood was stripped, some hammer and dolly work, cleaned, etched, sealed and then a some good brand plastic filler was used in the dents and big dings. Being followed by a glaze and blocked before any primer goes on for blocking. The hood was flimsy and oil canning. Some dolly work helped but the bracing under the skin wasn't close to the skin. I drilled a couple holes in the braces and shot some black caulking into the holes to mate the skin and bracing together. It worked out very well.
My 16 year old son is on stripping duty. He's been helping and watching. This is the next generation of gearheads.
Don't know how I missed this thread til now. Not surprised to see the typical custom bashing by a few. Grateful for the custom threads on the HAMB. Good luck bring it back to life.
Wow! I hope the son follows it through. Glad to see the gold rat trap name come to an end. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Interesting thread.I think that I`ll saddle up and go along for the ride and find out the outcome. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
just now saw this thread- this car was originally built by bob horn- it changed hands over the years and russ buskirk bought it off a used car lot on Kellogg ave. down by lunken airport and near 4 seasons marina- he had it a few years and had a hard time selling it but eventually did and after that I only saw it once at a cruise in. glad to see it being redone
Post213 is why I HATE bondo and plastic body fillers. I have many ol cars and a 50 Ford Customised in the 60s and bondo traps moisture against the sheet metal and rots it out.
You are brave souls! Hopefully there's enough good metal left so that you can repair rather than replace. Looks like your breaking in the new guy (your Son) correctly. Please keep posting
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think this thing is an outrageous beauty! Can't wait to see the updates on it.
Love it or hate it, this car and it's story shines some much needed light into the dark days of customs.
Just read the whole thread. Great story, very interesting. Will be following the rest of it. Please keep us up to date on the progress. I would never call a custom ugly, even if it wasn't what I might do. I like seeing the old customs and understand that back then, the more changes the better. I like the old saying "Anyone can restore a car, but it takes a real man to cut one up."
Glad to hear this car made it back to the person who will cherish it not only as a piece of history but in tribute to his late father. I've always loved radical customs not for their stylish good looks (which they are not normally) but for the effort it took to create them.
I’ll be watching this thread for sure And Radical Kustoms didn’t kill them selves muscle cars did that in 1965, know your custom history
Yes, we should all be building and be seen in the same, monotonous '32 coupes. Personally I don't like it but then there's a lot of belly button 32's I wouldn't drive. Some go apeshit over the Ali-Kart but I find that ugly but I can appreciate the work gone into it.
Great story, great to see a period correct car being saved, look forward to following the progress. Bob
Time for an update? We can hope for an update followed by 20 posts by the custom experts listing how ugly it is. But then it would not be a custom thread without that.
I am 73 years old and can say that is a period custom. I admit that I am and have always been a hot rod guy, but there were many customs that rang my bell. A friend of mine it resurrecting an old custom that once burned. When I first saw this car it reminded me of it. I will try and post some photos of it . It is an Oldsmobile. Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
I remember back in the 1960's going to Bloomingdales in Stamford with my Mom, High Ridge had a custom at about every gas station. Then there was the yellow 1930 Ford Roadster that letterly rotted away at a Sunoco station.
The Jalopy Journal
