Polished radiator tanks..sort of a lost art?

I was thinking about what kind of radiator to use on my project when I was thumbing through a HR mag from the early 80's. Back then, guys used to have the top tank of the original radiator, maybe even the bottom too, polished out. That would be cool to do today. Is there some place that can do that or do I need to have the local radiator shop take the tanks off and send them to a polishing shop, then have them resoldered back on? The photo I was looking at appears to have been done that way because the side straps were black and the solder point on top of the tank were not coated at all. Let me know...

Rocky

 

polish em with some compound on a pad w/your drill

 

I grew up in my dads radiator shop and have polished a few radiator tanks myself. I would say the straps were painted after installation because reattaching them would melt the paint and they would have to be extremely clean to reattach. You would be amazed how easy those tanks will be to polish if you can get the paint off. I used my moms old bottle of brasso she had around the house, I don't know if it can still be bought but its not hard to polish brass so maybe try some alluminum polish ans see what helps. Also some 1000 grit sand paper and water might help get the paint off. Do not have your tanks removed unless you plan on having it recored. Most radiator cores with any age can't take the stress of tank removal without leak problems. So polish away!

 

No need to take apart. Shine the upper brass tank with BRASSO.

 

I did the brass top tank on my '55. First I stripped the paint off with paint stripper, then polished it with wenol. Looked excellent!

 

Yeah, I used Brasso on my 55 Chevy top tank too, looked good for a while, but it became a pain in the ass to keep up......or maybe I was just too lazy.

 

Used to polish mine in my 56 with Brasso...............

 

Brasso will make it shiny, but not for long. Mother's keeps it shiny and little longer, but the best I've found is the stuff from 'polisher' at English Custom Polishing.

 

I bought a new Walker Z in august for my '47, the first thing I did was strip the tank with some thinner on a rag and steel wool. A little semichrome and bluemagic and it came right up.

 

English Custom Polishing's liquid polishes are the best- ever. I really like the Custom Blend for ease of use and a very nice shine.

 

I run a polished tank on my 40. I grew up with that look on my Dad's F-100. I do it on my 40 because it's hoodless, so the radiator stands out like a sore thumb. I have to clean it every time I drive it, or it really looks bad. I use the eagle 1 never dull for quick cleans. Brasso if I haven't done it for a while, or ran in the rain.

 

Polished mine back in 59.