Woodgrain Finish on '39 Plymouth

[Richard Coney]

It's a 1955 Buick Century Riviera Hardtop. I also have, (though it's been in bits virtually since I bought it last year ), a 1953 Ford F100 pickup. The Buick is stock, running and used when the weather permits (not much this year!) The truck was completely stock, but needed so much work to the suspension, engine etc. I made the difficult decision to rod it. It should look the same after the work is done, except for a slightly lower stance at the front, but it will have Mustang II ifs, rack & pinion steering, disc brakes, 9" Ford rear end, small block Chevy V8 and a four speed auto transmission. I attach some pictures. Regards, Richard

[Joe Flanagan]

Wow. Both very nice vehicles. Garage space: The ultimate enabler.

[Richard Coney]

The garage is supposed to be for the Buick. It's about 30ft long and just under 10ft wide. I have a new carport alongside the house for the Plymouth and I have no idea where the truck will live other than on the front driveway. However, for the last year the Buick and Plymouth have been "swapped" so I could drive the former and work on the latter. You can just see the carport in the picture attached. It's probably a good job I got outbid a week ago when my old '66 Mustang came up for sale!

[Rusty O'Toole]

HOORAY RUSTY..!! for a FEW YEARS THAT HAS BEEN MY THINKING..AND THERE waS ALWAYS 20 OTHERS WHO THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY.! having all kinds of thoughts of other processes. but if you look at the piece you can clearly figure out how it must have been done.

thank you for the info.....i would like to get a printed copy of that info..any luck?

bill

It was an article somewhere on the net, linked from an old car site. I don't remember where, or the name of the article. I remember it was illustrated with factory photos of a big press machine stamping out 1948 Hudson dashboards.

I was surprised the flat sheet metal could be formed into such a complicated shape without scratching the finish.

It may have been related to the lithograph process used to make tin toys. You know they were printed or painted on flat sheets then the metal formed into shapes.

[JerseyHarold]

The second car I ever drove was my aunt's '55 Buick Century 4-door hardtop, identical except for color to the one pictured. They were excellent cars.

[40P10touring sedan]

Somewhere in my gazillion favorites is a site that shows the factory process which was a base coat, graining stripes, a wash to blend and then a clear coat...all done by hands of the workers so each dash could very well have their own characteristics compared to others from that line. Mind you, it never said who's process this was, but they said it was very common amongst the big auto manufacturers and quick.

I'll see if I can find it....

[Richard Coney]

Thank you. That would be most interesting.

[Bingster]

Grain-It would be my choice. I got the videos and it looks to be a lot easier than first thought. I'm going that route for my '47 Desoto interior.

[Powerhouse]

untill I win the lottery I have used a roll of contact paper from the hardware store with a very similar grain as the originals. it looks really nice,but not perfect. Mine is a daily driver though. it gets used quite a bit.

[Richard Coney]

Now I am so pleased that someone has suggested this as an option. I thought about what we used to call 'sticky back plastic', or Fablon, the other day as a cheap and very quick 'fix', pending a proper regrain job, but wondered whether I would be laughed off the Forum. I suspect that the problem would be stretching it around the compound curved edges on the dashboard, but then again, if the vinyl products that are available these days are thinner and more sophisticated than in the old days, it might just work with the judicious use of a hot air gun. It might be worth a try. It would only cost a few Dollars (or Pounds in my case) to find out.

Any more of you tried adhesive woodgrained plastic? Come on, don't be shy. Don't worry, I'm already prepared for the inevitable cries of derision.

[Niel Hoback]

Alright, I will admit to it. I was a big fan of "Contac". I used to put it on to fill spaces on dashes like 56 Chevy and my 55 Buick. At my father-in-laws request, I put it on the sides of a 64 Impala. The outside, no less. It does look good if you spend enough time with it. The end result, however, is failure.

Stretching it around bulges is delayed disaster. It ALWAYS shrinks. In the sun it will shrivel up, curl at the edges, and eventually peel off. Even used on the interior parts it tends to shink and curl up at the edges.

Bottom line; save your money, it won't work.

[Powerhouse]

Well, it only cost me 6 bucks and I have plenty left over. It looks way better than it used too. I even did the window frames. I really should get a photo up on here. It hasn't shrunk yet and it's been a bout a year. I live in San Diego...and we get plenty of heat here. I did add some overlays in connection spots(where the angles were just too much). Just have to make sure the surface is CLEAN. or it won't work.

Doing it the right way would have the best results...but quite costly for dash cosmetics in my opinion. hahaha

Edited July 7, 2012 by Powerhouse

[Niel Hoback]

I have to admit also that my experience with Contac was a good 30 years ago or more. With luck, the product has been improved since then. I would like very much to see your window frames and how the material has held up. It must be better than the stuff I worked with then. Also, you are probably better at applying also. If you are happy with it, I need to know your technique. I used to enjoy working with the stuff, but I kind of got away from it because I found useful only on flat surfaces.

[Richard Coney]

I agree. I would love to see some photos please, especially the window mouldings. Did you stretch it cold or use a heat gun to soften the plastic as it stretched around the curves?

Perhaps a way to look at it is to treat the overlay as a protective screen, which will suffice until the time is right and, if you are intending to pay someone to do the woodgraining rather than do it yourself, the funds are available. If, in the meantime, you have some fun doing a nice job and the plastic film stays in place, you might never need to get around to doing it properly.

[greg g]

these guys even have the correct pattern ( at least for p15's) the sapelle mahaogany

http://www.immersiongraphics.com/patterns.html

its the one to the far right on the first panel of wood grain patterns. I would believe that there are companies that dp thing in England and a friend had a bunch of burl done to his mini 5 years ago for .75 cents a square inch, about 6 years agoe. It got a UV spray cpating and still looks great.

http://www.hydro-graphics.co.uk/

[Tony_Urwin]

In 2008, I bought a new SUV that had carbon fiber interior pieces, which my wife hated. I sent the center dash panel, the armrest switch panels, and a small bezel from the shifter for the immersion woodgrain. The cost was $165 in 2008. They look great.

I would love to do an entire '40s era Mopar that way, but the cost is probably prohibitive.

[Robert Horne]

Years ago I worked at a company in Ohio that diecut the woodgrain vinyl made by 3M, that went on the outside of station wagons. The vinyl was very tough. There was a wax paper on the back to peel off. Use warm soapy water to help squeeze the air bubbles out.

http://www.stripeman.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Graphics&Product_Code=586-2060+Chevrolet-Caprice-Buick-Roadmaster&Category_Code=WGD

[Don St Peter]

In 2010 I posted detailed instructions, material, procedure etc. for woodgraining that I learned from a master named Gerald Elwood. Anyone considering doing their own very professional looking job should search the forum using keyword woodgraining.

Good Luck

Don

[Eneto-55]

Years ago I worked at a company in Ohio that diecut the woodgrain vinyl made by 3M, that went on the outside of station wagons. The vinyl was very tough. There was a wax paper on the back to peel off. Use warm soapy water to help squeeze the air bubbles out.

http://www.stripeman.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Graphics&Product_Code=586-2060+Chevrolet-Caprice-Buick-Roadmaster&Category_Code=WGD

I wonder if that was similar (though probably tougher) to the window tinting film you could get back in the 70's. I helped my dad put some on his 71 Olds back then, and it was applied in that same way.

Neto

[Robert Horne]

The window film was very similar to install. I still have a small amout of the window film. Warm soapy water was used to get the bubbles out of the film, just like the woodgrain di-noc.