Stainless steel moulding trim - restored

[clarkede]

I thought I would share a few successes that I have had recently as I have been completely restoring my 48 Plymouth Special Deluxe sedan. 

 

I will start with the stainless steel fender moulding trim that was really in bad shape.  Both of my front two fender mouldings (left & right) were severely creased inwards and looked horrible.  I was able to restore them to where you can hardly see any deformities. 

 

I took two pieces of Oak wood and filed them with a couple wood rasps to conform to what the moulding should look like.  For my mold, I used a section of the moulding that was not creased that I wanted the rest to look like.  Then I filed one piece of wood that is cupped that the outside face of the moulding would lay on.  I file the other piece of wood a little rounded with a little bit of a point would was fit inside the moulding.   Then I sandwiched the moulding between the two pieces of wood and placed them on some carpet.  I would then start hammering the top piece of wood into the moulding - starting where the crease was just beginning.  I would then move back and forth with nice brisk strikes of the hammer on the wood.  It only took about 15 minutes worth of hammering to straighten out the crease into the original form.  I thought I might leave all kinds of noticeable dents/dings in the moulding, but I was surprised it didn't.   It's not perfect, but unless I point it out you wouldn't even notice.  Here are a few pictures that show the before during and after. 

[blue p15]

Wow!! I'm impressed!  I'm sure you will have many requests to make someone else's molding look as good as yours!

[Saskwatch]

Well Done ! …. Thank you for sharing this , I wouldn’t have thought this was even possible! 
    You have given me the confidence to at least give this a try ! 👍

[Ivan_B]

Yep. This is, indeed, very doable and there are a couple of different techniques that can be used.

Good job!

[OnlyMopar]

Looks great, good " thinking outside the  box'

[plymouthcranbrook]

Your work is very impressive. I repaired one of the replacement spears that a guy gave me but it was nowhere near as bad as yours was. I used a variety of hammers and pointed objects to do it. Resting on a bed of rags and foam. Great work.

[Frank Gooz]

That looks great. I have stainless to work on soon.

i will try the the oak molds and see what i come up with.

 

Congratulations beautiful work.

[Eneto-55]

You should see my right front fender molding. Someone side swiped something that didn't give at all, and it's completely flat.  I haven't tried to do anything with it yet, but I'm on a severely low budget with this car, so will eventually try to get it back into shape.  (I've reshaped some of the other pieces, but those dents were nearly nothing compared to this fender molding.)

[plymouthcranbrook]

2 hours ago, Eneto-55 said:

You should see my right front fender molding. Someone side swiped something that didn't give at all, and it's completely flat.  I haven't tried to do anything with it yet, but I'm on a severely low budget with this car, so will eventually try to get it back into shape.  (I've reshaped some of the other pieces, but those dents were nearly nothing compared to this fender molding.)

You might try after getting the correct measurements for the pieces you need then try contacting smaller suppliers who might have a stash of various trim parts they don’t really know what they are for and see if they have anything close. I located a guy who had inherited an enormous supply of parts for all kinds of vehicles who found me two rear spears that although they might not be Plymouth specific were close enough to suit me. And although I don’t remember his name there might be some out there. And I found mounting brackets at Fat Fender parts.

Edited Wednesday at 03:48 PM by plymouthcranbrook

[58prostreet]

Try Max Merrit Auto Parts. They sell and make Packard parts, but they also make stainless trim in 1/4 to 1 in. width and any length. they have pointed, offset and square ends. I used them for fender trim on my 52.Dodge. They don't match original Mopar stuff,but are a good substitute.