Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan

Posted by Joe Santana On 2010/11/9 20:20:13
Recently an astute observer or air cleaners pointed out a difference in those used with 356 Super 8 engines between 1940 and 1950 that I would characterize as esoteric, but I know that the wrong air cleaner would instantly draw attention to those in the know, as much as a misspelled word in a brochure or sign.

I'm not as knowledgeable, until I get close up and personal with, say, a bolt that doesn't quite fit. I don't deny that I could be the culprit here, replacing an original part back in the day just to keep the car running, but others (repair people and mechanics) have also replaced original parts with reasonable facsimiles which I've encountered when restoring a particular item.

Also you can order reproduction parts, which I've done, that appear to be perfect replacements to the untrained, unfocused eye. You take the word of "experts," who are sometimes only expert sales people.

A case in point in the 1940 center chrome strip which can be replaced by a reproduction stainless steel strip. Rather than rechrome my original, which had a few pits, I decided to replace it, the same as I'd done with the belt moulding. Rechroming the pitted belt strips would cost maybe $1200, versus a stainless steel set for about $600 that I would only have to polish.

But I noticed some differences in prepping this center bonnet strip.

1. The lips weren't wide enough to retain the original 1/4" washers. The original strip has much wider lips, as you can see in the photo. Ok, get 5/16" washers.

2. The width of the strip itself is too narrow for 5/16" washers.

This combo required getting the larger washers, but filing opposite sides of each to make them fit. Finding a solution and making it work, that's a joyful thing...and what the hobby is all about, right? Working around a problem?

3. Then I noticed that the end of the replacement strip doesn't have an elongated taper like the original, but a sort of bulbous end more typical of a 50s GMC pickup (no hate letters, please) than a classic Super 8.

4. When I slipped it over the tail of the Goddess of Speed (not to sound too snobbish, but it is The Flying Lady or Goddess of Speed, not The Donut Chaser...The Donut Chaser, that's like calling San Francisco Frisco. Which reminds me of when I was in college and could get a normally priced haircut at the real Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. To save parking on Nob Hill, where, besides the cost, the garage jockeys always got it stuck in first gear (I know about the soft versus hard metal changeover from 39 to 40), I used to pull in the lot of the Pacific Union Club across the street, where even the parking lot attendant is 4th generation San Francisco, and leave the Duchess there. But one time when I returned, the elderly attendant approached me and informed me that the parking lot was private, exclusively for the use of (very wealthy) members. He said normally he has non-member cars towed. He said it didn't matter, big Lincoln or Cadillac. To him, they were just a bunch of Deez-Dem-and-Dozers parking where they shouldn't. But he said a fine automobile like mine had to belong to someone who respected others' property and had just made a mistake. And learned from their mistakes.)...Deez-Dem-and-Dozers aside, when I slipped the stainless replacement on, it didn't quite match up. The original strip has a crease down the center that the replacement doesn't, yet another subtle difference that helps to make a car look like it races the wind, instead of galumphs.

So now I think I'll have my original strip chromed. Otherwise that rounded, thin-lipped replacement will catch my eye every time like an incorrect air cleaner. Regardless, I'll now be noting who replaced their center strip with something that falls short of the mark and who restored their original one. All this because I'm becoming like a born-again Christian or a reformed smoker. Intolerant.

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