Day 178

Those two fenders are ready for final paint!  (and back in the living room ;)

Today I started and finished some block sanding on the body parts.  I started with the rear fenders and those blocked out well.  I did 220 grit, followed by 400 and then 600.  Of course I am being ridiculous and blocked the underside of the fenders.  I'm happy with the results!

I also did the passenger front fender and quickly found that at 220 it still had some low spots that weren't going to block out.  I even had to use some glazing putty to fill in the lows.  So a third coat of primer for at least one front fender.

I also got some original green/grey door panel replacements.  I was going to use a vendor for the panels but found him to be a little difficult to work with.  I even went and visited with them on a trip a couple weeks ago and they will likely provide many of the items I use for the interior.  But their reproduction pieces aren't exact copies of the originals and no one even comes close to what they do!  So I'm going to try and make my originals work.

Here's what they had to offer.

Original panel, replacement vinyl, original color book 1959

In different light, the green doesn't match at all.  The headliner and B pillar posts will be in the first two greys in the 2nd row.

Here's an example of his kit on a Diamond Grey car.

The green just seems off.  It doesn't mesh well with the original Diamond Grey.  The green/grey panels should look like this.

So, my original panels the cardboard backing is falling apart.  And the rear passenger side has a tear.  The driver's side front panel also has a sloppy pocket...which can't be fixed without tearing it up.

I found these original panels and am going to create new backing cardboard for them, dye them the original colors, and use them in the car!  They are missing the white trim around the edge and chrome trim piece in the middle...but I can transfer that over from my originals!

I'll also have to get the seats custom made now, which I think I should be able to do.  I'll likely use the same grey vinyl from the B pillars for the seats and then color match a green or use dye for the accent color.

More sanding tomorrow.