Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024 — I’m back for an update on what’s going on with my 1956 Plymouth Belvedere. Fall arrived here about 10 days ago, and the change in temperatures has been dramatic. I’ve left the east side overhead doors of the shop open all summer, but now I need to thing about closing them when I fire up my heater.
Right now, it seems like other projects get in the way, but I’ve actually making progress despite my own delays. I always have more to do on the car than time in the week, and sometimes that’s a little overwhelming. Where do you start when you have long list of work that needs to be done??
I’ve worked mostly on the driver’s side of the car. Discovered rust in the lower fender, a rust-through. I may have some rust in the very bottom of the fender too. I’m going to have to get down on the floor and hit it with 40 grit to determine what’s going on at the bottom.
The driver’s door has the rust spots in the lower corners of the door. I’m going to make a video about those pockets and highlight that they basically were a defect from the factory — well, maybe not a defect, but poor design. The biggest area I’m working on is the forward quarter panel between the rear door edge and the wheelwell. There’s rust near the bottom of that panel, but it was beaten in before it was filled with body filler. I’m not sure just about much rust there is.
I need to cut metal out of the fender and both door rust spots to see how large a piece of metal will be needed on all of those spots. My initial plan on the door panel is to simply cut out the rust and repair it with fiberglass reinforced body filler — and that’s still the plan unless the rusted area gets large enough to warrant welding a patch.
And to be quite honest, I’m still a little leery of my new mig welder. What I want to avoid is blowing holes in my fender while I’m trying to tack weld a new patch in place. Once I get the first couple of patches welded I should be golden.
It looks like the other major rust issues I’m going to have are the passenger side forward quarter panel and the passenger’s door, same corner spots. Once I get those handled, I can start sanding the old finish, and hope to sand down a layer or two of paint.
ORIGINAL COLORS? I tentatively have decided that I will NOT paint the car back the colors it was. The car was originally black over white, with black paint located where it is now dark blue,, and the white located where its light blue. Those are the original colors.
Its a brave move — maybe a foolhardy move. The body will need to be laser straight for a nice black finish. Its worth a shot; otherwise I can go back two-tone blue.
One of the biggest reasons I’ve been slow to make more progress is my concern about getting down on the floor. I’m not a young 25 year old buck anymore, and getting up and down off the floor is more of a chore than it was 40 years ago. But I’ve got to get it down, regardless.
That’s all this time. I continue to make content for the Shade Tree Garage. My wireless mic failed me today, damn it. I really need to get the lightning jack replaced!