Re: Larry's 1951 Club Sedan Project
Posted by Larry51 On 2014/6/26 19:04:59
Started to put some stainless steel door trims on after polishing and doing some minor dent and scratch removal. Such a lengthy job, just to get a few dents and scratches out. A full day goes by very quickly.
Noticed something which was quite interesting while I was doing these trim repairs.
It's been a mystery as to what Dealership my car was sold out of, and whether it was a 'local' car or maybe from interstate. Being RHD makes it very likely to be originally an Oz car.
While I was polishing a piece of stainless door trim I saw 'Ira' etched on the inside of it, out of sight unless you had the trim piece off the car. Plus it was covered in 60 years worth of dirt so not easy to see.
That gives me a big clue about where the car was sold from. I bought the car in pieces from a fellow who got it from another fellow in New South Wales (- home state) way back in the mid-1970's. So it seemed likely it was a NSW car originally. The dealership in NSW was "Ira L. & A. C. Berk", situated in Sydney and established very early. Read more if you want, at Ira & A C Berk Dealership
So it's a piece of stainless door trim which appears to have been repaired by that dealership. There are repair marks on the piece, done with an engraving machine same as the word Ira was engraved with. There was not much doubt that if the car had been damaged and repaired by Ira Berk & Company that it was a NSW-based car sometime between 1951 and the closure of the Dealership.
I have never found any records that give a hint of the selling history of my car so any clues are really good to have.
There is another clue also, making me think my car needed to be repaired in early days. The RHS window regulator is slightly different to the LHS one (- see my previous Post this page), and is a replacement. I think it is from a Convertible because it fails to lift the glass fully by about 3/8ths inch. The Club Sedan and Convertible regulators are different part numbers and IF one from a Convertible was used to replace one in my Coupe then I could guess there was a hit in the RHS door which busted the regulator and also the stainless trim. If so that would explain what I've found. There is no evidence of any accident damage now but this seems a reasonable explanation for the 'Ira' and also the incorrect regulator.
I reckon that now I'm a little bit closer to discovering the history of my car.
Door and front guard trims for the Club Sedan
Trim repaired and polished
The clue to the Dealership - "Ira" engraved on inside of the trim
Noticed something which was quite interesting while I was doing these trim repairs.
It's been a mystery as to what Dealership my car was sold out of, and whether it was a 'local' car or maybe from interstate. Being RHD makes it very likely to be originally an Oz car.
While I was polishing a piece of stainless door trim I saw 'Ira' etched on the inside of it, out of sight unless you had the trim piece off the car. Plus it was covered in 60 years worth of dirt so not easy to see.
That gives me a big clue about where the car was sold from. I bought the car in pieces from a fellow who got it from another fellow in New South Wales (- home state) way back in the mid-1970's. So it seemed likely it was a NSW car originally. The dealership in NSW was "Ira L. & A. C. Berk", situated in Sydney and established very early. Read more if you want, at Ira & A C Berk Dealership
So it's a piece of stainless door trim which appears to have been repaired by that dealership. There are repair marks on the piece, done with an engraving machine same as the word Ira was engraved with. There was not much doubt that if the car had been damaged and repaired by Ira Berk & Company that it was a NSW-based car sometime between 1951 and the closure of the Dealership.
I have never found any records that give a hint of the selling history of my car so any clues are really good to have.
There is another clue also, making me think my car needed to be repaired in early days. The RHS window regulator is slightly different to the LHS one (- see my previous Post this page), and is a replacement. I think it is from a Convertible because it fails to lift the glass fully by about 3/8ths inch. The Club Sedan and Convertible regulators are different part numbers and IF one from a Convertible was used to replace one in my Coupe then I could guess there was a hit in the RHS door which busted the regulator and also the stainless trim. If so that would explain what I've found. There is no evidence of any accident damage now but this seems a reasonable explanation for the 'Ira' and also the incorrect regulator.
I reckon that now I'm a little bit closer to discovering the history of my car.
Door and front guard trims for the Club Sedan
Trim repaired and polished
The clue to the Dealership - "Ira" engraved on inside of the trim
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