JerseyHarold

If you're dealing with many small hail-type dents, maybe it would pay to investigate Paintless Dent Removal (PDR). You wouldn't want lots of little spots of bondo on a large flat surface like the roof, and if the headlining is out access should be fairly easy.

Norm, Was the clearcoat on your roof delaminating or does the van have rust issues? That can up the prep time considerably. Are there other Maaco's near you that you can try? Fred, When I lived in New York, plenty of local shops would prep and mask professionally, then send the car into our local Maaco to be sprayed. They would then charge their customers a lot of money for the 'complete repaint' that was really a sub-let job. I worked at the Ford dealer and our service manager even sent a few new cars through Maaco. The scam there was that Ford would pay the dealership 'warranty price' for the repaint, which cost them about $200.

Earl Scheib owns all their locations. They restructured a number of years ago and closed many of their shops in cold/rust belt cities because it was difficult to turn a profit in them.

Sounds good. You must feel great. Much work to get it going?

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, there was an Earl Scheib nearby. Their method was to spray the wheels without masking, then paint the tires black with a brush. It stands to reason that if you're painting 20-30 cars a day, you should be pretty good at spraying because of all that practice. As others have said, the key to a decent paint job is proper prep work. I've seen a number of very nice Earl Scheib paint jobs applied over well-done bodywork. You wouldn't have known Earl did them. Mindset is important, too.....if you're expecting a $5000. paint job from one of these places, you're only kidding yourself. FWIW, I just saw the Maaco 'Winter Special' ad...their Ambassador job for $199.

I had my '52 tank done by Gas-Tank Renu. Somewhat pricey, but a lifetime warranty. Still doing well 12 years later.

While you're working on the motor, it might pay to check the heat riser for being stuck and the exhaust system for being clogged. Those items could contribute to your engine running poorly.

If you want to be a real cheapskate, cut the crimped metal clamps off the hose ends, toss the leaking hose, and you'll have your barbed fitting. Guess how I know.....

That picture reminds me of how my street in Brooklyn looked when I was a little kid.

Phil, Do you recall what the original application was?

I had a similar situation a few months ago. The '52 Cranbrook I sold in 1988 landed on eBay. The guy I sold it to finally decided to sell it. I called him to ask what he had done to it (very little)...but was he ever surprised to hear from me! I had to wrestle long and hard about buying it back (I even got 'authorization' from my better half about it). I ended-up passing on the car.....better to let sleeping dogs (and Plymouths) lie. It sold for a lot less than I got for it!

Ed, Congrats to your dad on his new Plymouth. If you're nice, maybe he'll let you drive it once in a while! Those fuselage bodies are really neat. And the '69 Fury had a one-year only (post-1950, for you nit-pickers) left-hand ignition switch.

Another Plymouth reborn. Looks great!

Have you tried local starter/alternator rebuild shops? They should be able to help.

Bienvenu au board. Je suis heureux que vous avez la vie nouvelle a Ottawa. Sorry about the flashback to 9th grade French (I wasn't too good at it then either)...good to see you're back. Harold

What if you glue the pieces together, make a mold from the existing nameplate, then cast it in plastic and then use the paint-on chrome? Idea #2: Find a local auto dealer that still uses chromed, cast trunk nameplates, ask him who does them for him, and approach that company wfor a short-run of Plymouth nameplates. One business that used to do these things is the Cy Prisyon Company. Sometimes I think too hard.....

Best way to tell whether metallic or not is clean off a small section of firewall, and look with strong light and magnifying glass if necessary.

It is tough to tell from the photos. Here are the color names based on what I saw in the pictures: light green= Nile Green Metallic medium green= Sherwood Green light gray= Sterling Gray There were only the two shades of green offered in 1951 to my knowledge. Harold

Scary situation! At least the fire was contained to the back seat. Maybe you should go to an ER or clinic and get yourself checked-out due to the fumes you inhaled. Keep us posted. Harold

A good locksmith should be able to make a key by 'impressioning ' the cylinder without even taking it apart. If not, you can have the locksmith pick the lock to the open position, then with the cylinder turned you poke a small pointed object into the hole in the handle (look for it...it's there!) and the cylinder pulls out. Then disassemble and re-key.

Book recommendation: TRUCK by John Jerome Written about 30 years ago and describes trials and tribulations of rebuilding a truck like yours. Funny and philosophical, and mechanically accurate so you might learn something at the same time. I've got the hardcover and the softcover. Try half.com or Amazon, or even the (shudder!) library. Harold

Your posting comes at the right time. We just got a '99 Ford Contour as a spare car and I'll need all the parts $$ help I can get! Harold

James, Is this Hartmann luggage by any chance? My daughter bought a vintage Hartmann ladies' suitcase and would like to sell it. Is there a market for these items? Harold

Yes you can. I've done that in a couple of my cars.

We live in a small development of 14 homes......somewhat isolated.....just a few local kids come around every year.