caution slow man at work

[John ED Renstrom]

it's been a nasty cold week up here. we are reported to make up for it today. we are moving around to the left side now. and are fumbling out way threw it. found a number of oval head slotted screws in stainless so we should have enough to finish the job when they get here. dug out the worse roller to play with it while we are held up . they are defiantly plated aluminum. so we can get them. then we broke one of the seat bases/ flooring pieces a while back so we are filling i time redoing them. I traced around the original ones and think I flipped them one to many times. there is nothing square in this car and i did like there fit anyway. so we will do a little over restoring. the hinges were just laying flat on the floor and I just can't turn it out that way. so we will over restore it a bit and put them on edge like they should be.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

still can't post on the picture site. not been impressed since the new owners took aver a couple years ago. so not to wast my time sitting around we had all the cardboard cut vinyl so it was just glue and stick. we now have the last of the glue on in place. get the doors covered and the flooring on and we are done. except a mile of trim to polish and splice. later on that kind of stuff. here is the wheel well.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

just about there the trim pads are on the doors. floor next. I ran out of washers for the bottom of the door but we can get them down town

 

[Philip Scanio]

Looks great, ED.

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

Looks like its turning out better than new.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

I did fix a number of things they had covered over with lead. The roof is kind of like a ocean one deep.one caused bt melding the divider to it i decided not to put that much filler in it. Nothing we could really do about the b pillar being about 1\4 inch off on the left side. But what was done by pontiac was decent. In most cases the right side was done way better then the left. So they had two teams working on the car. But it came togather will just not able to do a lot with structural disasters. Its stout just not as stright on the left as the right. But then all of them are that way.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

just a few minor things to finish up out side mirrors to put on the spots and the load light. then flooring and trim for it and we have a new car. still playing with the hot start issue. starter spins free but if it sits a few she will not fire. hopping for viper lock problem as it sits.the radiator may not be big enough it was 95 yesterday and it got warm did not get hot but higher then it has been. fun car to drive but I would hate to do it on a long trip the seat is just two big.
is the throw out bearing on this year grease able or a sealed bearing. it developed a howl sitting this year. in order to drop the transmision you need to remove a lot of stuff. I left them open so we could, but not a fun task on this one.

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

I think it would be almost impossible to find red lens or sealed beams for the fog lights but it would be sharp with them flashing.

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

Oh yeah ED how is that on the road? Is it geared to go or a stump puller?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

It doesn't feel that low. But the stright 8 is not a high winder holds its own steady. Up hill or down. As for the fog light i was going to make them red and flash but thought it was a little over kill. It has 3 flashing forward and rear. About all it would have had in 53.

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

Well one of my cop friends says "You never have too many lights" Glad it cruses well the six cylinders are stump pullers I was afraid cause they knew what it was going to be when ordered so rocket scientist would think it needed a lower rear.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

This one is the 8. With all that low end tork. Vary smooth running engine.

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

My first car was a 41 Pontiac 8 great car and as you say smooth. Pontiacs advertising at the time was "Only $25.00 more for an eight" surprised they did not sell more eights as having owned both the eight was worlds better.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

gave it a bath got the mirrors on and the load light meant to say 53is a single tag year. SD only has 3 of the war years that they used only one tag. here is the video
.https://youtu.be/7NhbsaSr8Eg

 

[Richard Vyse]

gave it a bath got the mirrors on and the load light meant to say 53is a single tag year. SD only has 3 of the war years that they used only one tag. here is the video
.https://youtu.be/7NhbsaSr8Eg

So Ed, is this a project you've restored for someone else or is this your ambulance?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

This one is mine bought it about ten years ago. just getting around to cleaning my stuff up.

 

[Tim Prieur]

ED, given the external ambulance appearance did you consider doing the rear compartment without the rollers?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

Doc it is an ambulance. there are no rollers in it. black was the original color of the gm car. they then stretched it added the center section painted the inside of the center doors black. then taped it off a 1/4 inch on the jam painted it white charged the man 75 bucks extra for a none black car. just leaving the black jams and inside trim and dash. the fire wall got what ever blew in. it looked like a high school paint job, a poor one at that. so I decided to just paint it black. in 53 it was not that uncommon to have the whole fleet the same color. I'll just pretend that the first owner was cheap and didn't want to pay the 75 bucks extra for a different color on the out side. the inside is the same as it left Armbruster with the exception of the lighter gray headliner in back. the dark gray is a shade lighter then the oil cloth. the light gray is the same. the flooring will be as close to the original as I could find. a light gray with black marble pattern. hoping to get it in soon. my only adds were the fog lights and the right spotlight everything else is as it was. all the lights were off when I got it and holes had filler waded in them. so that the equipment you see is were it was. the radio was run off a 6 to 12 volt adapter. so thanks to my friends we did gather up period correct equipment to put in the car. I did paint it single stage enamel not the older enamel that Armbruster used. they only used that even that 75 7 passenger limo was painted with dulex.

 

[Tim Prieur]

Sorry Ed, my mistake. I saw the rollers in your post #34 and assumed they were part of the interior. Good to hear. You have beautifully recreated a period correct interior.
Fabulous job. Any thoughts of some painted signage for the doors? The hand painted work of the day was often an art all un to itself.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

been a busy week trying to get a home repair man that has a day our two to do a job for you is near impossible here. so any of those type people that want to get out of the rat race you can be swamped if you work here. we are up to putting the flooring in on this car. we got it for Mike some 5-10 yer ago when we picked up the roll for the 58. so never done this before but I watched it done. what the heck only out 300 bucks if we mass it up. . so got the flooring rolled out. found me some packing paper and made a template. I did brake down and buy me a new utility knife.
those guys that do this earn there money crawling around all day cutting is not what I want to do. but we are getting there need to cut the hatch out and glue it down . right now got it laid cut to fit and relaxing. one hint if you do this us some stiff paper the wrinkly stuff will grow on you. the foot well is down. we get the floor down then it's just more work to get it cleaned and polished. cleaning the soft aluminum trim is going to be a chore to. one step at a time. we could have been ready for 2020.