VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Finally paint after 10 years of a labor of love!

There is no part number for them because they were not sold through parts. It would have been listed as NSS = not serviced seperately, part of unit.

Figured out why I couldn't bring the center post gasket up to the post. I needed these stainless trim fasteners. They are in the national Chevy catalog big as life, just never noticed them after what 100 times of going through it.
Turns out I was missing the center post garnish and the little joint covers. What's interesting is both my restoration car and my parts car were missing all these three pieces. interesting mystery.

Fortunately EBay is out there! Now I could mount my visor. Didn't mount garnish yet till the headliner is in.

Is that clock housing not supposed to be the same colour as the dash top? Or is it just the lighting?

The center garnish moulding is listed in the parts book as fitting 1949-1952 Styleline models and one for 1949-1952 Fleetlines (which is shorter). The joint covers 1951 only for some reason and both Fleetline and Styleline.

I found that out the hard way and had to cut the center garnish down by 1/2 inch or so and re drill the one of the garnish holes and frame holes but managed to get it to fit. The EBay auction said Styleline and who new other that the parts book they were different. Glad to know the joint covers will eventually fit.

Clock is the same as the dash FYI

Still curious why both cars were missing this internal garnish? Seems odd?

Going to tackle the hood soon. Masking all the edges to prevent scratches. Other than new hood bolts, new springs and those spring stretcher boxes and maybe three friends to help, any other suggestions or warnings?

Well 20 years later and the rear end "bling" is back on.



Someday the new tire will fit.

those small pieces i had some would have given them to you to help your project along sometimes its a good idea to check with members to see what they might have sitting around sometimes i hate ebay use it mostly as last resort.also dont like when someone puts corvette on a part when its the same darn part for a regular chevy enough on that.nice looking spare tire(rim) but i got a funny feeling it might not fit in the tire well.i tried with a radial on stock rim would not go in well had to find a 670x15 factory (its skinnier) tire and it fit just right good luck andy

Well putting on a hood is not exactly my favorite project so far. The spring blocks are very helpful and safe however.

Finished with the front end, doors are next!

Wow, It's going together quick!! Not sure I'd have put the fog lights in front of the parking lights though. Are they not supposed to hook to the front bumper braces under the splash pan? A little more inboard, like this?...

Correct.....the accessory fog lights are mounted inboard of the parking lights as you show in your photo so that they won't block the parking lights.

What is the thingie mounted on the hood behind the jet? Bug Deflector? Traffic light viewer?

Car looks fantastic!! I'm "green with envy!!"

Put the paint guy in your will.

Thanks,
The splash pan all ready had two nasty holes cut in it for the lights but the fog lights were missing. I didn't know to reposition them so I left them and actually the dimmer switch button floor gasket fit perfectly to clean the opening up. Is what it is!

The green hood plastic thing is a bug defector. My dads/grand dads car had the same thing. I post a pic if it think about it.

Stunning restoration! Sets the bar pretty high. Hope my work looks half as good.

[quote=dads51]Thanks,
The splash pan all ready had two nasty holes cut in it for the lights but the fog lights were missing. I didn't know to reposition them so I left them and actually the dimmer switch button floor gasket fit perfectly to clean the opening up. Is what it is!

Not sure how the fog lights mounts are designed on the early 50's cars but if the mounting post comes up and has a right angle to attach light can you reverse or swap sides to get the lights closer inboard ??
Beautiful job on the car. Love the color!!

Dick

Ya I think a new splash pan someday when I'm really bored! Really, really, bored!

Fantastic job!!!
I have a set of the spring tools, thanks for showing us how they are to work...I never had any luck with mine. May try them again some day

When I installed the fog lights on my '51 I ran into a small problem. I got the Accessories Manual out and used it for instructions instead of the ones that came in the box with these generic "reproductions".

I started with the one on the right. Found the bumper brace underneath, drilled a pilot hole, then used a knock out bit to punch it up to the inch or so wide hole needed. The light mounted perfect, hooked to the brace with the clamps. "This is too easy!" I thought... (NEVER think that!!)

Moved to the other side. Marked the pilot hole by the brace, and measured where the light would be. It turned out it was going to be half behind the bumper guard!! What went wrong??!! I started looking at the whole front end, and realized the entire bumper, pan and braces were off centre by a good inch- inch and a half. The bumper almost touched the fender on the driver side, and there was a huge gap on the other side! I ended up just drilling the hole in the spot for the light to be in the right position and installed it not hooked to the bumper brace. If I had done it right, and straightened the braces, the first hole I drilled would have been to far over to hook the light to the brace on that side.



When the car went for painting I had Kerry fill the holes. I'm not going to install these lights, but will look for some correct GM accessory ones. When I put the pan and bumper back on, you can bet that they'll be straight!!

did you think about finding fog lights with different brackets that would off set the lights away from turn signals.on a 50 model the holes would work cause parking lites are closer to bumper bar.have you got fog lites if you havent thats what i would look for is something with a offset bracket that would save you the trouble of taking things apart again by the way you have a great looking car andy
will look in my piles of stuff and see if have any brackets(no lites)left over that might help you out

friends of mines dad always had some off the wall accessories on his 52 i know he had a green deflector sort of like yours going back now that i look at the fog lites closer i see that the bracket is offset and i dont think you will find brackets with longer off set then you already have.do you have any body that might be able to add or make you something even a couple of inches would make a big difference in showing more of the parking light got nothing to do on this cold day will look and see whats out there

Gramps/dads car had the same deflector
Two of my sisters in the photo, I'm not born yet?
Great grand mother however

F

Ok I'm going to have to move the fog lights now. Not sure how I'm going to fix the nasty holes.
Any I looked at my bumper bracket and it appears that the fog light angled brackets mount towards the middle of the car and face outward right?

That's correct. If you angle them inwards it puts the light behind the bumper guard.