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My earlier post has the link….the link is just before the picture. Once I found these, I found that if you do a search for “closed car door hinge screws”, there are a number of places that carry them. This was the first place I found and had about the best pricing.

Note…for the 120s, the front lower hinge screws are 7/8in including the point. These are 7/8” without the point, so they will definitely work for the front.

The rear door hinges use 1in screws, including the point. I believe these will still work since I believe the point (about 1/8in) was just to guide the screws for rapid assembly. I should have the same thread length.

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Don, thanks. I missed the link; that's what I get for trying to read PInfo on my phone. Birdie is coming along great!

Today was a big day for Birdie. The shop sent me a couple of videos along with these pictures. I can’t wait to get over to see it.

It looks beautiful! I'm almost as excited as you and can hardly wait to see it back together again.

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Thanks, Don. I’ve been really happy with the shop. It’s taking quite a bit more time and hours (and dollars) than the original estimate, but that is because of the many hidden surprises. There were just a lot of things that weren’t visible until it was disassembled.

That said, there hasn’t been anything that were truly surprises. Mostly, it was wishful thinking that a few areas wouldn’t be as bad as they were. In the end, all of those items are being taken care of so I won’t have to worry about it….my kids won’t either!

Looking great! I can't wait to see how the paint turns out.

How many more days until the national?

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It’s not going to be ready in time for the national meet. I’m hoping for the end of June, now.

Since long before I was born, my dad’s side of the family has held a family reunion in a way where anyone canreunite even if they lost touch with everyone. It has always been in the same place, at the same time, on the last Sunday of June. A few years ago some old neighborhood “kids” my dad grew up with showed up on a whim. They just happened to think on the last Sunday of June, “I wonder if they still have their reunion”. We were there!

I’d love to be able to drive Birdie to the reunion since just about everyone who remembers the car will be there.

I had a full day at the shop today. A lot of shops won’t do this, by my shop is all about me coming in to work on the car as much as I want. From my perspective, I just want to make sure I’m not getting in their way.

But, I benefit in a lot of ways.
1. Whatever I get done myself saves me $80/hour.
2. I get to have fun working on my car along with the satisfaction that goes with that.
3. I’m learning a lot from the guys in the shop. I love this part of it.
4. I’m getting to do some things that I’ve never done before…..like sandblasting my throttle linkage after removing my toe board.
5. Making new friends.. I REALLY like this part.

When I got there, I got to see my doors, radiator shell, trunk lid, and rear fenders with black paint.












Then, I removed my toe board so I could start cleaning it up along with the throttle linkage.








Then, I started stripping the black paint off my steering column….yes black paint, not brown. What I found underneath was the one missing item of the CD package….my nickel plated steering column! And, the nickel is in pretty decent shape. I don’t know why, but someone painted it black before Dad ever bought the car in 1960. It does have some areas near the firewall where the nickel is worn through. It looks like that area got some wear of the drivers foot rubbing against it when pressing the clutch pedal.

I’m really excited about the condition of the steering column. I’ll be keeping it with the original plating and won’t be repainting it.

I do have a question, though. The brochure for the CD package says that the steering column is nickel plated “at the upper end”. From the photos, it appears that the entire column on the interior side of the firewall is nickel plated. So, this makes it sound like nickel plated on the interior and painted in the engine bay. Can anyone confirm this? I know the entire column is nickel plated, but would it have been nickel or painted on the engine side of the firewall?

Just heard from Flackmaster about my steering column question. He said it was all nickel. So, when I go back to the shop on Wednesday, I’ll strip the rest of it and start polishing.