Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan

Posted by Joe Santana On 2011/6/23 10:16:59

OD,
Be careful what you wish for. My only sibling lives in Maryland.

As far as getting it right, I ordered my wool carpet from SMS Fabrics. It is an amazing place. 40 years of accumulating fabrics from upholstery shops and distributors all over the country and Europe. They duplicate fabrics exactly, any pattern, and stamp out those 50s door panels that mix brocade fabric with silver thread, mylar and vinyl. Plus a huge library of original fabrics and interior combinations. Questions I have about the woodgrain are answered by people who have been supplying the hobby like this for decades. The nuances are fascinating. To find a supplier who knows this stuff and can put their finger on it or reproduce it like the plastic from Yesterday's Radio or Door Sills,well, I hope someone is handing this info down.

I'm really not a stickler for authenticity. It's just that I have limited funds and if I do it, and someone points out how incorrect it is because I didn't check it out or find a resource like SMS for fabrics, for instance, I can't afford to do it over. And knowing the right resources sometimes saves money and time. Like my trunk. The place that repaired it didn't know you could buy a new pan for a lot less than fixing my rusted out one.

Plus I really, really like the script hubcaps and was thrilled when Kanter decided to reproduce them. You see them in all the announcement pictures of 40s and the publicity photos, Rory Calhoun or whoever standing by his new 40 Packard with script hubcaps. As a creator and protector of brands, I can appreciate why the dealers didn't like that script on top of the hexagon. But I've always liked it and designed those boards in the 70s for us to display our cars that have the radiator shape and the script through the hexagon at the top. Several regions picked up on it.
Joe