Customs Wagon hunt may be OVER!!! 1952 DeSoto wagon is HOME!

$9 a piece? Holy Cow, I'd like some, but I'll make the $.25 generic ones I got work!

 

No, but I am considering getting a powder coat gun and toaster oven, and trying the silvery powered coat on them. HF has the stuff.

 

Get me some TRIM.


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Crazy DeSoto Wagon question...

Does that tailgate spring just run open like that in the finished car? It looks like it rubs on the edge of the gate, which I assume is an optical illusion, but even if not, it looks like a flesh pincher if you were standing next to it when closing the gate. I'm probably reading into this too much...

 

No, it doesn't rub on the gate nor the body, and I can't see any way one could get one's fingers pinched. It's so heavy that you have to be behind the gate to open or close it, not off to the side sticking your fingers where they don't belong.
In1952, manufacturers figured their customers weren't total morons.

 

I miss those days!

 

You might look at Columbia Coating, they have an "almost chrome" that looks really nice.

I put a gas range in the house after removing the electric. Couldn't give the thing away! Thought! I'll use it to powder coat stuff! Works great, wired it with the same plug as my buzz box, put wheels on it, it hits the 400 needed to cure the powder in short order and I don't stink up the house (don't ask).

 

Guys, a buddy of mine posted this on Face space a while back. It speaks to what you are saying here...

"If you think you are smarter than the previous generation…50 years ago the owner’s manual of a car showed how to adjust the valves. Today it warns you not to drink the contents of the battery."

 

That's awesome!

 

Harbor Freight powder coat rig, $69.99. A pound of "polished aluminum" powder coat color,
$15.99. Yard sale toaster oven, maybe $10? I'm gonna try this...

 

It's probably just the angle of the photo above. It looks like it is right at the edge of the gate.

My kids would have messed with it while I was closing the gate, but again, in 1952 if they got their fingers smashed we would have just told them "See! I told you don't stick your fingers in that. Now go to your mom so she can sew that back on."

 

supposedly a long time back a guy heard about getting high on acid and shot some up.

 

The wagon is really looking good Brian! The hinges are fine but if you want, next winter take em off and send them to me and I'll have my chrome shop make em shiney! If they are stripped and tightly sanded (2000 grit) I bet they would cost less than $300 for the pair.

 

Hi Bryan.Looking good sir.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I may take you up on that.

 

This goddammed car. I put the stainless trim on the bottom right side of the w/s, and thought I'd set the center divider bar on temporarily, which I hadn't closely examined other than to see it was pitted as badly as the rest of the die cast stuff on the car, and something was amiss. It didn't fit the top. Was I missing a piece of stainless that ties the the two halves together?
No, the bloody thing is busted. There's supposed to be a (very delicate) upper curved part that captures the stainless and clamps it down onto the gasket. That is MIA.
Happily, when the two monkeys I hired to set the w/s first bent the stainless trim beyond repair, I'd searched for, and found a complete set of the stainless, and the center bar, on eBay. I'd managed to bump out and polish an extra piece I had, and ended up not buying this set. It was still listed, so I hit the "Buy it now" tab and for just another $100 rolleyes it's on the way.
On a happier note, I got the drivers side rocker molding trimmed (I think it's an Imperial piece) and mounted with the plastic clips I'd bought, the rear fender spears on, all the fender welting in, and the rear bumper properly fitted and on forever without scratching, denting, or ruining anything.
So, there's that...

 

You are doing a really nice job at light speed. Bravo!

I have made note not to buy a Desoto unless I get much more patient with pitted up pot metal.

 

Every piece of trim on it was absolute junk. Which is why it’s wearing all Chevy trim and bumpers.


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Hey Brian. I always enjoy spending someone else's blood, sweat, tears & money .. but maybe you can just tape off, scuff & spray those hinges/hinge screws .. body color, while it's on the car ???

I dunno' if chrome is better, worse, same .. than black ? ( & I love chrome )

By no means disrespectful intent. Just looks non-factory. What'd do I know ? Maybe it is. Did they have black hinges ? Is it too late to paint the car black ?? Just kidding.

I'll be over there in the corner, with my trap shut. Thanks for sharing, as always. Love it.

 

The hinges are really big and clunky looking, which I blame on Desoto, not Brian. I'm not sure black, chrome, or body color will change that. Chrome makes the most sense, as there is other chrome already there on the tail. It's really easy spending someone else's money though... I think black is fine.

 

I think painting the hinges body color or black and accenting them with pin striping might be cool. They're to big to hide, might as well make a feature out of them.

 

Don't know what the fuss is over the hinges. They actually look pretty cool to me and I am not a gun person. As said above I would make them a feature not a bug with a little pinstripe.

 

I (briefly) considered making some hidden hinges for it before I painted it. I had to make all new hinges for the tailgate of my son's '65 Ranch Wagon, they were pot metal and had broken into like 4 pieces each. It wasn't too tough to reproduce them with some 3/8" boiler plate, bronze bushings and shoulder bolts from the hardware store. This would have been more challenging, as I had no patterns to go by, not near as much gap between the body and gate, and I'd have had to cut notches in the gate for clearance, so I followed the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" method. I'm getting used to them, although they stick out like a sore thumb, no matter what the finish is.

 

I think the hinges are cool! I'd make em shiney but that is what I do.

 

Your plan is perfectly fine. We just have nothing better to do than quarterback from our armchairs.

It's a DeSoto... the hinges are character marks!

 

It’s out.


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That’s one way to look at them!


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It's amazing how much the bumper changes lightened up that car. It really is coming out nice!

 

I think the single best body mod I did. I HATED the originals, largely due to the silver paint the PO had covered them with.



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Most prescient comment in this entire journey...