57 Chevy Wagon - Californa Dreamin'

[Ol Blue K20]

It's all looking great. I vote on the chrome paint on the grill bar. That way you can tell us how it works and your thoughts on the process.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Happy Thanksgiving! I gotta come by and check on this!

Thanks, Chip! You know you're always welcome whenever you're in the neighborhood. Reminds me, I need to give your ole dad a call.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

It's all looking great. I vote on the chrome paint on the grill bar. That way you can tell us how it works and your thoughts on the process.

Hey Dale, thanks for weighing in on the chrome paint. I think it will be better than body color. The combination of pot metal, brass and zinc weld ended up being impossible to chrome conventionally. So we'll see how this compares to the real thing.

Speaking of which, picked up the front bumper bullets yesterday from the plating company. This is the first chrome they've done for me. I've mainly had them do zinc plating previously. I thought they turned out really nice. Chrome can be a bit of a crapshoot so it's a relief they did a great job.

[Vic1947]

Been welding and grinding on the door edges to prep them for the filler I'll use to set the gaps. The patch panels I made for the bottom third of the doors didn't always end up where I planned, so a do-over is required. The gaps were pretty good from the factory on this old wagon, but there are always a few places that could be better.

I didn't like the way the dividers between the doors looked after moving the latch hardware around for the suicide rear doors. When the doors are open, you could see the recess from the stamping process on the backside. So I made a poster board template and transferred it to some flat sheet metal. With it welded in and ground smooth, it adds a ton of strength to the divider, plus it makes it look a lot nicer as well. The good news is, I'm running out of metal fab on the body shell and should transition to body filler in a week or so. I'll still need to do some fabrication work under the hood when I get the body on the frame and the front clip reassembled, but I can use the break.