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Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite
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stellarrestorations
Posted 2020-03-18 6:17 PM (#595730 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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They?
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Fireflite56
Posted 2020-04-15 11:46 PM (#596910 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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The body is painted!



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Fireflite56
Posted 2020-06-04 11:23 PM (#599271 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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The trunk lid is being painted, which proves to be quite the challenge when you have 60+ years of debris between the layers to try to clean out. At the same time the board for the underside of the trunk is being templated and cut based on the original. Can anyone confirm with 100% certainty or proof that the color of the original material for a Detroit-built DeSoto was a grayish color? Were they oversprayed? There is definitely no paint under the hinges and appears to be none under the insulation, which indicates it would have been oversprayed. It's our theory that the brownish color is from age and that it started out more as a gray with possible overspray, but I don't have a lot of evidence for that besides a short glimpse of gray material on a '55 Plymouth in the "Wishes on Wheels" video on Youtube. Any evidence supporting a theory is appreciated.





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57burb
Posted 2020-06-05 1:34 PM (#599296 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Car is looking terrific, David!

Some Mopars didn't get body-colored trunks, and that's what the '55 Plymouth assembly line shows in that film.

I dug through the dealership thread, and only found a '57 with the trunk open. It's a black and white photo... and a '57... so not definitive, but there doesn't appear to be any (body color) overspray on this car's trunk insulation.

I searched for 1956 auto show on pinterest, getty, and Time. Searched for Desoto dealerships. Lots of great photos, but none with the trunk open.

Every mat I've ever seen in person was just as brown on the top as the bottom, but the old photos do make it look gray. Maybe someone here has a mint low mileage original car that can shed some light on how it should look.


*edit, you may also want to go to the IMCDB and look up '55-'56 Desotos (and/or other Mopars). There are quite a few movies (from the period) that may have a brief shot of an open trunk. Jimmy Stewart was driving a nearly-new '56 Firedome in Vertigo...

https://www.imcdb.org/vehicles.php?resultsStyle=asImages&yearFrom=19...



Edited by 57burb 2020-06-05 1:51 PM




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ronbo97
Posted 2020-06-05 1:59 PM (#599297 - in reply to #599296)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite


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The underside of Plymouth trunks was a grayish color that varied from a warm gray to a bluish gray color. Dodges, depending on the assembly location, were either body color or black. Senior models were body color. My 55 Desoto trunk underside is red to go along with the overall color of the car. Paint is original. The brownish oil cloth (I believe it was called) that was used as a silencer, was said to absorb paint as the underside was painted. Can't verify that.

Ron

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Fireflite56
Posted 2020-06-08 12:38 PM (#599412 - in reply to #599296)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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57burb - 2020-06-05 12:34 PM Car is looking terrific, David! Some Mopars didn't get body-colored trunks, and that's what the '55 Plymouth assembly line shows in that film. I dug through the dealership thread, and only found a '57 with the trunk open. It's a black and white photo... and a '57... so not definitive, but there doesn't appear to be any (body color) overspray on this car's trunk insulation. I searched for 1956 auto show on pinterest, getty, and Time. Searched for Desoto dealerships. Lots of great photos, but none with the trunk open. Every mat I've ever seen in person was just as brown on the top as the bottom, but the old photos do make it look gray. Maybe someone here has a mint low mileage original car that can shed some light on how it should look. *edit, you may also want to go to the IMCDB and look up '55-'56 Desotos (and/or other Mopars). There are quite a few movies (from the period) that may have a brief shot of an open trunk. Jimmy Stewart was driving a nearly-new '56 Firedome in Vertigo... https://www.imcdb.org/vehicles.php?resultsStyle=asImages&yearFro...

 

I did check out the "Wishes on Wheels" video on YouTube to reference the Plymouth and paused at the same spot your stills are taken from. That car uses small strips of insulation/silencer that are near-black in color, but it's also hard to say if a 1955 Plymouth is the same as a 1956 DeSoto in terms of that material color. I can say with 100% cetainty that the underside of the lid on a '56 DeSoto was body colored if it was a Detroit-built car whereas the Los Angeles-built cars were all charcoal gray on the underside. In fact, one of the photos shows a photo laying on it of the unrestored state. The paint color I do not question, just the insulation/silencer material color. I also believe that the insulation/silencer was installed before the lid was painted as original lids show no-paint under that material and the hinges, meaning it may have absorbed some amount of overspray that could alter the color. We have an original pink trunk lid that has that material intact that appears to be a brownish color, same as my white car appeared before removal, but is that the original color or has that changed due to age and/or light-colored paint that has seeped in?

Checking out Vertigo would definitely be a good suggestion to see if he opens the trunk. I'm overdue to watch it anyways.

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56D500boy
Posted 2020-06-08 2:34 PM (#599422 - in reply to #599412)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Not trying to confirm/deny anything here. I have for some time collected photos of 55-56 Mopar trunks to see what they were like regarding the mats, the side linings and the trunk linings. I am really not sure when the sound deadening trunk lid lining was applied but it never seems to have any paint overspray on any of it. At least from the factory.

Here are two of the pertinent photos. The first one is a local car and I know that when the photo was taken, that is what it looked like (more or less when it left the factory). By 1957 they change the shapes of the sound deadening and filled in all the areas, not just part.

I did try some of the "waffle weave" material sold by REM but I returned it:

http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=66960&...



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Fireflite56
Posted 2020-07-29 12:56 AM (#601450 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Only a little work has been done to the car in the past couple months, but today the trunk lid was painted. That only leaves the front clip needing paint yet.



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57burb
Posted 2020-08-01 6:39 PM (#601573 - in reply to #601450)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Looking great. Don't slow down, the fun part is ahead!
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Fireflite56
Posted 2020-11-11 4:36 PM (#605543 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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It has been a while, so here's a current update. Body and paint work continue to slowly progress at the shop in Kansas. Even though I am not doing the body and paint work myself, I am still very involved with many aspects of the work. The most recent was how to finish the underside of the hood. I am doing undercoating on the car, which means the underside of the hood should be undercoated as well. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so much. In order to keep the undercoating layer thin enough to not make the hood too heavy, black epoxy will be put down under the undercoating to ensure it does not show any lighter colors through. That's the easy part. Then what to do about the areas around the hood hinges, latch, hood lips, and rear edge where it seals on the cowl - basically the areas where the undercoating won't cover. Well, I spent about 2 hours here yesterday looking at the 9 different hoods we have here and trying to figure out what is correct. Ultimately I have come to the conclusion that Detroit-built cars were dark gray on the underside of the hood, sometimes with minor overspray. Los Angeles-built cars were painted body color. What's funny about this is that it's pretty much the complete opposite of how the undersides of the trunk lids were done. Cars in both plants had the wrap-around hood lips (front and sides) painted body color. For undercoated cars, the undercoating was generally sprayed on the whole underside, but usually you can see where they masked off around the hinges, latch, and also the back edge was kept clean so it would seal flush against the cowl seal. So, my car being a Detroit car will have a couple peaks of dark gray, such as on the rear edge, and as much area covered in undercoating/black as possible with less overspray than the factory did. Below are a few reference photos. The yellow and blue hoods are LA-built, the other is Detroit. The Pike's Peak Adventurer would have been a Detroit-built car being an Adventurer and clearly shows a darker color (should be the same gray I found) mixed with white overspray.

I also ordered a new set of license plate light lenses from George Laurie in September and they were shipped right away. Even with mail delays from Australia, I received them a couple of weeks ago already. To ensure they fit properly and to knock off one more reassembly task, I put them into the retainers and inserted those into the rechromed bumer guards. I think that's the first time I have ever had those guards unwrapped and I have owned the car for over 16 years!



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Fireflite56
Posted 2021-02-10 9:51 PM (#608721 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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After all the researching on what was right for which cars on the '56 hoods (LA vs Detroit-built and undercoated vs painted), here's the final product. Undercoated per factory pattern (except overspray) and the rest painted in the correct pattern for a Detroit car where the rear edge is gray and the rest of the hood is body-colored.



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Fireflite56
Posted 2021-10-05 12:07 AM (#615601 - in reply to #608721)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Progress has been very slow in 2021, but here are some updates from the shop. All painting, other than a few small pieces, is done. Most of the car is buffed. Note the fenders were done correctly in the solid white color with the yellow metal sweep insert like the factory would have done. After the rest of the buffing is completed, the heater box will be installed (prior to the full front clip), seals will be installed, and the glass/headliner will be installed. Last will be some of the stainless trim and then the car comes home for reassembly and finishing of everything else.



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Viper Guy
Posted 2021-10-05 8:46 AM (#615607 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Nice David,

Look forward to seeing it completed - been a long time but will be darn well worth it.
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Fireflite56
Posted 2021-10-06 11:19 PM (#615637 - in reply to #615607)
Subject: Re: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite



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Thanks Fred! I'm hoping to finally have it home again next spring so I can finish the restoration.
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frwl
Posted 2021-10-12 7:25 AM (#615786 - in reply to #520208)
Subject: RE: Restoration of a Junkyard Rescue 1956 Fireflite


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Can you post the cowl tag picture, please?
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