VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 My 1951 Deluxe Sedan Restoration Journal...

Welcome to my restoration journal! I'm really hoping that it is not going to take me a decade to finish this! I will be posting links to this journal on my Facebook as well, so a special welcome to the VCCA Chat Site to my friends and family is in order too. I'm also counting on some of you guys to help me cover my lies to Jane, as far as the price of this thing is going to go !


The Subject...

Most of you know the history of my 1951 Deluxe sedan, as it was a "My Story" in the November 2012 issue of the Generator & Distributor. To quickly recap, my Great Uncle Nick bought it brand new from Gorrie's Chevrolet in Toronto Canada in June of 1951. He put 14 000 miles through 1961, when it was parked. He had decided not to renew his licence upon turning 80 years old. Up until then the car was only used in the summer, and has never seen snow.


(Uncle Nick and Dad, fall of 1951)

My Dad, George Pearce (VCCA#5669) periodically would take his uncle for rides in the car until 1964, when the ownership was transferred to him. It was repainted in about 1966, after receiving some bodywork around the wheel openings, and a patch in the drivers side rear floor. The colour was a match of the factory Aldershot Grey Metallic.


(Early 1970's)

The car became a VCCA touring car in 1970, when Dad joined and helped form the Southern Ontario Canada Region.

It was repainted again in 1981, when it's duties as a second daily driver for Dad to use in the summer ended. A Hampton Coach interior was installed in 1987. It was used for VCCA tours as far away as Finger Lakes NY, Quyon Quebec, and Muskoka Ontario.


(My first day of school, Sept. 1977)

On June 16, 2009, the '51 was transferred to my name and moved to it's new home in Bolton. Jane and I have used it for the VCCA 50th Anniversary Meet in Flint, the 50th Central Meet in Port Huron, and two Eastern Six Cylinder Tours in London Ontario and Cavendish, Vermont. It also was used on our wedding day, July 28, 2012.




The Goal...

My main goal is to complete a bit of rust repair, replace the misshaped front fenders, rebuild the front end, detail a bit under the hood, install a new wiring harness, and top things off with a beautiful new paint and chroming. The car was judged to a Second Jr. award in Port Huron last summer, and most of the scorecards came back with "dirty and rusty". Most of the rust is surface type rust on the underside and under the hood. I've found some rot behind the front seat, and on the inner fenders behind the front wheels. There is also a lot of Bondo from previous repairs that will be removed as well. The goal is for me to disassemble the car, and get some repairs done before it goes for body and paint in April.

Good luck with your restoration. I hope my 51 looks as good when it's finished as yours does now!

October 6th 2013.

Day one! I spent the morning clearing a safe spot in the basement to store the interior. I have a kitty that is willing to tempt it's fate by sinking her claws into anything she can, so the seats and panels are covered and well hidden! The first thing I did was remove all of the trunk material. The jack, mat, and cardboards are all out. The floor looks solid, but greasy and dirty. The wiring in the car is mostly factory original, with more recent wires for options that have been added in the past 62 years.



The back seat, rubber mat, and side interior panels were removed. A couple things stood out. First, the rear floor mat can not be saved. It is the original to the car, and really disintegrated as it was coming out! It was really dry, and there was water damage to the jute and floor under it. It appears that the window drain has been leaking under it for years.



It had a couple holes in it anyway from some seat belts that were installed to hold some 1970's child seats... which brought me to my next discovery! One of the seat belts was still in the car! I had no idea. Also, the arm rest ash trays were full of old gum wrappers. I remember putting them there in the 1990's! I don't think I've been in the back since about 1994.



Another thing I figured out quickly... I had no idea how to get the window crank handles off! We hear about how our hobby is dying all of the time, as fewer people are around to work on these cars that know them. Today I found a way our hobby is thriving! What to do when you can't figure something out? I have a 3 step solution chart I follow. One) ask the guys at VCCA.org. 2) Phone Dad, or 3) Google it! Today I started with Googling it, and found this...



Now, I have seen this tool in my garage ever since Dad brought all of the parts to my house. I even thought of tossing it at one time, as I had no idea what it did... but thought better of it! Lucky me! The handles came off easy enough, and I learnt that maybe we do have some things easier today than in years past.

Steve... don't wish for paint like I have now!

Bruce - Good luck! And have fun!

Actually Bruce my car was gray and white when new, but when I got it someone had painted it red. I have strict orders from the "boss" to keep it that way. While it will not be the original color, sometimes concessions need to be made to keep the project going forward!

Thanks Dale! I'm sure the fun will start soon enough. Right now it's kind of depressing. It feels like I'm taking it off of the road forever. Part of me doesn't want to start taking trim off, as that will mean I won't be driving it to the Coffee Shop anymore! Sort of like a more depressing winter storage. I'm sure once the paint is on, and the parts start going back on it will feel more like spring!

October 7th...Day 2.

I took the front of the interior out. The door panels came off of the doors fairly easy. Those folks at Hampton coach really know their stuff! The window garnish and clips were also removed. I was also looking for a place to store the trunk mat so that it sits flat, and doesn't loose it's shape. What better spot than in the trunk of my '50?! It lays flat right on top of the one in there already. The front floor mats and cup holders (not factory stock) also changed cars as well. I then spent some time with the light looking into some of the darker corners.

Here's some questions I was hoping some of you guys could answer...

1) Is the floor supposed to be painted the body colour on one or both sides? My trunk looks like it was sprayed with a thin layer of tar. Is that from the factory, or the dealer? (See pic above)

2) In all of the bead rolls in the interior and trunk it looks like there are strips of cardboard laid down. Were these factory? Were they part of the mats, or sound deadening material?

3) When I removed the door panels, it looks like some sound deadening material was at one time glued to the door and has been removed. The Hampton coach panels do not have it on the backs of them. How much was there, and should I reinstall it? Did it cover the entire door?

Steve... Any chance we'll both be debuting fresh cars next year for the Six Cylinder Tour?

I rather doubt it as I am doing a complete drivetrain change and overhaul in addition to the extensive off frame body work. There is hardly anything that will not be rebuilt or replaced-chassis-body and drivetrain. It's also a as finances allow project so I need to take the slow and steady route.

Bruce, best of luck with your restoration project. The car looks its got clean floors and that's half the battle!

I chuckled when I saw the YouTube clip of the door handle removal tool...my Dad had one for years and it took me a decade to realize what it was!

I think the cardboard strips are sound insulation and they also help prevent the mat from 'dimpling' a little if you put heavy stuff in there on the mat, but over time those mats did follow the trunk beads anyway. I'm surprised you got yours out in one piece (mostly). Most of them dried out and turned to powdered mess.

Keep up the great work on your '51!

PS: Not to shift gears, but where's next year's 6 cylinder tour?

Next year we are in Verona NY. I'm making plans to have some sort of trailering capability for getting my convertible there, as I doubt the '51 will be done! We'll see though...

October 9th... Day 3

Today I started to make my Deluxe look like a Standard model. First Deluxe trim off was the rear fender spears. At some point Dad had some trouble putting them on. There are two sets of holes for the left side, then the right side was installed once! My "new" set of rear fenders do not have the holes, so hopefully I only have to drill once. The trim on the driver side has started coming off. The trunk handle, gas door guard, rear fender guard, rocker trim (interior & exterior) and the mirrors. All the parts will be cleaned up while I decide which ones go for re-chroming. The stainless will be buffed out over the winter.

The metal under all the trim looks pretty good...

My parts car a 1951 Belair had the rear fender spears as original equipment. The mounting holes were slotted rear to front so that the spears could be mounted by mounting the verticle end studs can all mounted and slid forward as the rear studs are tightened.

The fender spears were standard equipment on the DeLuxe til about March of 1951. After that they were a dealer installed accessory. One of the first Korean war changes to a 1951.

My 51 hardtop also has the spears(aka mohawks ) and the mounting holes in the fender are slotted as Mr. Mack explained. Each is approx. 1/2" long.

My '51 was a June build, while Grandpa's twin black car was a January purchase. In this 1951 photo you can see that my car did not have them while Grandpa's did. Dad installed a set in the 1960's. The holes are drilled as Mack described, just there are two sets of them about an inch out on the left fender. The holes were filled and painted over at some point, but not very good!

I always did like that gray color on your car. I'm sure you will give it a firt class job. Good luck.

So I was going to add the spears bling to mine. Are you saying that there is a round hole nearest the tail light and then slotted forward? I was planning on just drill holes straight down and hopefully dropping them in position?

Do you have pics?
Thanks

I'll take some pics and measurements and post them here later tomorrow.

I could use this picture also as I have a 52 BelAir.

pete

I've got a lot of updating to do tonight! First, the rear fender spears...

They came from the dealer with a pattern that would show where the holes were. You would tape the pattern to the fender using the tail light as a starting point. That would be the easiest way to mount these. However, if you're brave, you can use these directions.

First, holding the spear above the fender and guessing kind of creates an optical illusion. I tried it on the right fender, and ended up about where the holes were drilled incorrectly on the left side. However, it's much easier if you drill the first hole above the taillight. Drill it about an inch above the light. Because there are washers on the bolts that will hold the spear tight to the fender, it is okay if the hole has to be elongated after. The rest of the holes you can drill by setting the first screw into the back hole, and marking where the next screw goes in. This hole will be elongated so that the screw can tip into it once all of the other holes are drilled. Drill each following hole the same way, elongating them so that the spear drops in.





You can really see in these two photos why I need a paint job! The entire rear fender is showing that bondo and prep problem.

October 14th and 15th... Day 4 and 5.

I've worked my way around most of the car now, and have all of the trim off that I can have off, but leaving the car legal to drive. A couple things of note...

The visor has not been off since 1982. It now looks like the 1970's all over again!



One thing that upset me a bit was removing the floor mats. I thought I would be able to save the front one, as it had no rips in it. It is the factory mat. Canadian built Deluxe cars came only with the rubber floor mat. Carpet was in American built convertibles, but not available in the other cars. Unfortunately, the mat crumbled to nothing when I lifted it out. All of the jute, and a pressed board insulate were still underneath the mat, and they came out too. I know it's not correct, but I may order carpet for the car to finish it. Dad bought a reproduction rubber mat for the convertible once, and it came rolled up and has never fit right.





Another problem I found was while taking off the door trim. The glue on the back of the cardboard door insulation had let go at some point, and rolling the window down had pushed it all to the bottom of the door. The drivers door already has had the insulate removed, so I'm hoping it's no big deal. The doors are free from rot, so I don't want to switch them.

Another thing I did was strip the undercoating off of the fender skirts. I'm not looking forward to stripping any more under coat! They now weigh about half as much. Under the coating I found yellow grease pencil markings from the factory that are the paint code number...





Also, Dad brought me the rear fenders and trunk lid from our parts car, then Jane and I picked up the floor on Thanksgiving Day, last Monday.

October 16th... Day 6

Wednesday morning I took it for it's last drive up to the coffee shop. I got home, and decided to start on the front end. First off was the fog lights, then the bumper, grille and splash pan. It's no longer legal to drive. Darn!

October 18th... Day 7

On Friday I decided to start taking the front end apart. My goal is to get as much of the undercoating off before it gets too cold to work up here. I caught up with bagging and labelling all of the screws I've removed so far, and updated my work list. The driver side front fender came off without too much trouble... none of the bolts were rusted, and it didn't take too long to find the one hidden at the bottom corner! The head lights were removed as well. I started stripping some of the undercoat. The good news is that under the coating it is like brand new metal! The fender looks to be in usable shape. The bad news is that the few areas that didn't have undercoating are pretty rusted. The top rear edges of the inner fender panel are gone. The great news is that I'm pretty sure my parts car has paid for itself! I pulled the inner fenders out of the shed, and decided they will be going on the car. That also saves me a bit of undercoat removal! I went at the driver fender with a chisel and the power washer. It feels about half the weight now... no wonder my gas milage sucked! It seems to be good metal underneath.

Fender off...


Upper corner where the inner fender meets the splash pan.


The same corner on the parts car inner fender...


From the parts car...


Stripping undercoating...