[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Even though we may not have quite the experience with the tri-fives like the other forum, metal work is similar, no matter if you're working on a C/10 or a tri-five. Same goes for wiring, body work, paint, etc... The specifics may not be something we can relate to, but you know as well as any of us, car guys are full of ideas. Sometimes it takes a group outside the specialized stuff to come up with a plan that will work with custom work. We will keep following and offer whatever pointers or thoughts we can along the way. Keep it up. You're doing great!

Thanks, Duane. You guys have been a big help both from "you might want to consider this" to "don't even think about doing that!"

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Great Lookin' work!

Thanks, Chip. Good talking to you the other day. Let me know when you're ready to zap some aluminum.

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I hereby proclaim Vic the Michelangelo of Metal.....wait.....the Sultan of Steel. As opposed to me with my old low budget high school rides, I was the Picasso of Putty.

Hey, Brian, I hung out at Bondo Bob's Body Boutique in high school too. Aluminum screen wire and plastic filler were my tools of choice back in the day.

I've been prepping stainless trim in advance of having it restored. Kathy and I will probably head up to WI the middle of the month to drop it off at Vintage Vehicles. They did the trim restoration for my 57 Ford and it looked better than new when they finished. My experience with reproduction stainless is that it rarely fits like OEM. I have a few pieces that may be borderline, but we'll see what Paul and Bruce think.

The easiest way to get the front stainless spear off the fender was to just go ahead and remove the fender completely. Needed to do it anyway, so now was as good a time as any. In the process of taking it apart, I ran into a couple of funny things under the heading of "automotive archaeology". Long ago, someone had used bailing wire to fasten a spare key under the air scoop. I checked and sure enough, it works in the ignition.

There were also two wrenches that fell out as I was lifting off the fender. They're obviously homemade, but I'm not sure of the purpose for the 1/2". At least the 14mm could work as a distributor wrench. Regardless, someone lost both of them down in the depths of the fender well. I can relate to dropping something like that and having it completely vanish into thin air. Then finding it days or weeks later 20 or 30 feet away from where it dropped - under and/or behind a piece of equipment.