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Bravo! You have a great vision for this project and we all are getting a bird's eye view of your dream. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Wow, what a big undertaking, my hats off to all that is involved in this restoration. What great talent and vision you all have. Please keep us all in the loop, you have us on the edge of our seats. Can't wait to see more,
Jimjr51

Fred is at it again early this morning at our restoration shop. While the temps are still in the low 60's Fred has so far pressure washed the frame to remove the heavy grease build up from years of use to prep for blasting of the back half and painting. Next he moved onto tackling the front end of the chassis. It was determined that the coil springs would be replaced during the restoration process. So to speed up the removal of the springs, they were cut to release the tension. With the tension released Fred made quick work of removing the up rights and checking for wear in the pin kits and kingpins. The initial evaluation as it stands is that the front end is in relatively good shape the kingpins are tight as well as the pin kits. A final assessment will be down once everything is clean. The work that was done was with all basic hand tool was complete all within a few hours.

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Whilst it is easy, you might want to have a good look at the front crossmember. The 51s and 2s had that multiplicity of handy holes in the crossmember for reaching the oil pan and rod bolts with the engine in the car. I love them for that, but I have seen cracking around the holes on at least two cars that had seen heavy service. I would probably form and weld in two long flat steel bars just forward of and behind the hole pattern. The top surface is in a lot of compressive stress when hitting a bump.

Any idea if they used heavier springs on this car for the length or weight of it?

Thanks to you for letting us ride the waves in your restoration project. Can't wait to see more of your work, great job !!
Jimjr51

This is the last bolt left on the chassis, on left frame rail just ahead of where master cylinder mounts. Two tubing clips are held by it, one fuel the other brakes. When restoring this car Fred felt that if he takes it completely apart he would forget where things go. Good insurance?? You got to love his sense of humor.

Thanks
James From
Kanter Auto Products

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The grease fingernail shadow is well re-established and goes well with any wardrobe. The chassis will be sandblasted in short order and I have started same on front suspension components.

I want to return the car to exactly how it was brand new in 1952. We have in stock NOS drums, backing plates and all suspension arms etc, all are unpainted except the drums which are semi gloss low-lustre black.

Does anyone have definitive info as to what the original finish of those other components was?? They had little rust, were coated with grease but I found no trace of being painted black underneath.

I will be painting the pan in front of the radiator a semi-gloss black, we have NOS inner fender panels from 41-56 to replicate the finish. Likewise the air cleaner, heater blower etc will not get the Deltron high gloss "Blinding Black" finish, we have nos items to use for reference. One semi-gloss will be used in all locations appropriate.

Seeking info please. Thanks

I think that we can have a running, driving (in our parking lot) whole car with 4 doors that open and close and are properly gapped in 7 weeks.

Go Fred Go!! We'll be watching and waiting..