Bob's 57 AGIN is back to the shop (Santini's)

[RICH MUISE]

LOL...I'm starting to see that operation in my sleep.....but for me it'll be 2 steps at the most. I use Maguires Diamond cut 2.0 Which gets it from the sanding to the pics I posted in my build thread. I may go back and do an overall polish if I can see a difference.

[57AGIN]

Rich:

I fully understand.  If it weren't for the insurance company footing this bill and if I had to do it all by my lonesome, I'd be looking for a fewer stage process.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Here is today's installment of the 57's saga at Santini's.  The car was in the final stages of Machine Polishing with the 3M Perfect-it Ultrafine Machine Polish when I arrived this afternoon.  These photos show it done and in progress.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

While I was at Santini's, I called Sihelling's to see how my bumpers were coming with the re-chroming processes.  I was told they were delivered to Wheeler's today (Wheeler's was the shop doing the bumper modifications).  I went over there and found them to be very nice.  Not quite Grand National Roadster Show perfect, but really much nicer than a typical street driver's bumpers.  I'm really getting excited at the progress.  Santini tells me that he's planning on having his guys finish assemble the body of the car from the firewall to the trunk in the next couple of weeks.  Then I'll have it towed about a mile to Westminster Transmission for the installation of the engine and transmission.  That shop was the shop that pulled the engine and transmission out last year, so the engine could be checked out by the builder and the transmission could be checked out by the transmission shop (following the accident there was minor leakage coming from the transmission).  Then the car will be towed either back to Santini's  final body assembly or to the Upholstery shop for re-installation of the upholstery which ever shop has the greater availability at that time.

Bob
57 AGIN

[RICH MUISE]

Very nice.....I really like the exhaust clearance  in the bumper and the smoothie look. Can't remember if they were smoothies previously or something new.

[57AGIN]

Rich:

The smoothie bumpers and exhaust tip radius are new thoughts.  I really hope I like the look, I never minded the bumper bolts or bumper guards but I wanted to do something a little different.  Same thing with the trim Fairlane type trim strip, that still may go back to Santini's for a re-paint if it doesn't compliment the overall look.  Too soon to tell, without the stainless trim mounted.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

As it gets closer to reinstalling the engine & transmission and reassembling the rest of the car I've been taking care of some miscellaneous items.  The thermostat housing was a chromed piece that was corroding badly and really wouldn't take a good Polish, so I saw a really nice polished stainless one at Wheelers installed on a small block Ford and ordered a replacement.  Also, the alternator was beat up a little bit from the accident and was badly scratched, so it is out being rebuilt and chromed.  Since I had to have this alternator rebuilt once before (due to diode failure on a road trip) and getting any of the new aftermarket alternators, which are mostly built out of the USA, wasn't an option I wanted to take a chance on. I'm having Wheelers rebuild this one with quality replacement bearings and electrical internals using the best parts available and having the case, pulley and front cover sent out for re-chroming. 

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

While I was over at Wheelers, I noticed that the rear of the re-chromed bumpers looked a lot better than when they had been sent out for chroming.  So I decided to take a couple of photos of them.  I believe Wheelers is still going to apply some kind of finish to the rear of the bumpers to complete their portion of the job.  I see that the new studs mounted to the bumpers had to be covered to prevent the re-chroming process from messing up the threads.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Jeff Norwell]

OUTSTANDING Bob!

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Well it is a new week and behold, more progress on putting the 57 back together.  On Monday I went over to Santini's and found Jeff mocking up the side trim on my 57.  Then later in the day I found Jeff working on the wiring harness in the trunk following his installation of the tail lights.  I believe their next step is to have the glass guy they use to reinstall the glass, followed by their re-installing the stainless around the glass.

Bob
57
agin

[57AGIN]

Here is the rear end view with the tail lights installed and Jeff working on the rear wiring harness.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Today's progress was slight, but it gave both Pete and I a good chance to see how the painted side trim looked with the stainless in place.  Pete was correct when he had stated that the background fingerprint design will end up being very subtle the eyes are mostly drawn to the stainless.  I can hardly wait until the engine is back in so the front fenders can be mounted to see the overall effect.

Bob
57 AGIN

[JimNolan]

Bob,
Both my headlight buckets had to be replaced with new ones. My body guy did the same thing yours is doing. Don't know if he used bondo or welded it up to get rid of that seam, but, I will say I didn't like it. Looks nice, but I wanted the exterior and interior to be stock in appearance. Just me. No one, absolutely no one has ever pointed that out to me on my car. You've got to be a purist to know the difference anyway. Jim

[57AGIN]

Jim:

I fully understand your thoughts and many purists won't like what I've done,  But I had my reasons based mostly on how I grew up.  I guess I got my desire to modify an already good looking car to personalize it a bit more.  I grew up reading Rod & Custom and a variety of other customizing magazines and always wanted to have mine a little different.  I think I once mentioned that I thought Ford really blew it when they discontinued the Crown Victoria in 1956.  I actually went to Wheelers and asked for a ballpark estimate on doing that to my custom 300.  They said at least $25,000, which was way out of the question for me financially.  It would certainly have looked "bitchen" and it would definitely been one of a kind.  However, reason held me up and it probably would have turned my driver into a garage queen. I really liked the way Rick's tail light bezels looked and made my decision to do both the tail light bezels and the headlight eyebrows along with the other exposed seams. I can hardly wait to see how it all comes together.

Bob
57 AGIN

[RICH MUISE]

Bob....Amazing how much time is involved in assembly. I think everything is coming together just great, and you've made great choices on everything. I like the subtle insert design. As far as the seams, I look at some mild customs and wonder why things like that were not done. To me, it just falls in with the "cleaning up". I'll bet if we were to find the original artist's/designers drawings of the '57, you wouldn't see the seams. Those are to facilitate production, not design imho.

With that said, Jim, nowadays it's almost impossible to replace headlight surrounds and have an oem look even if a factory look is what you wanted. The aftermarket surrounds are so badly shaped there is no way to attach them so there is a factory looking seam. I think I figured out how to alter those replacement surrounds so they do look factory, but I think it would add a few days labor to each panel at best for an expert metalworker. Of course, you could luck out and find some Ford oem replacement headlight surrounds, but what are the odds of that happening just when you find out you need them.