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That's what I was thinking, too, West. I've taken the moulding out without any consequence to the windshield. They may not know how to do it. I'm waiting for the double flap weather seal for the bottoms of the side windows, then I'll talk to them.

INTERIOR MOULDING: I practiced woodgraining last night. I think I can do it, but starting with the windshield moulding and all its curves is a challenge for a beginner. Tonight I will try again with a better set up.

CONVERTIBLE TOP BOX: The has been a lot of praising regarding the top box Gary Martin built, not only from the guys in the upholstery shop, but visiting customers of the shop. It has a coat of marine varnish. The inside will be covered with red leatherette board, antique leatherette vinyl on board (a perfect match to the leather) or genuine leather on board, if there's some left. The interior of the trunk will have black hogshair from Bill Hirsch with black rubber mat on the floor. But I'm leaving the box as it is in the trunk. It's oak instead of ash. Hard as nails, so it may never need replacing. It's a beautiful job built exactly, and I mean exactly to the original.

DOORS: I have striker plates now. Could use 3 cores to get some of my deposit back from Max Merritt.

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I haven't been able to get to the Museum to look for the strikers. I'm swamped until next week.

No problem, West. Max Merritt cut me plenty of slack to find some.

WOODGRAIN: My first attempt. The windshield moulding is a tough piece to learn on because of the twists and turns. Glass people say they need it. I don't think they can put it on until the have the windshield in place, but I'll be prepared. I'll take pix of the set-up, though there are plenty of videos. It's a bit of a messy operation. In the center is the painted moulding. The windshield was overlaid with woodgrain and dried overnight. It looks dull and rough and dead. The next step is shooting it with clear urethane.

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When the time comes, is there any way you can show us the steps of putting the windshield in? I just helped a friend put in the windshield of his 1939 sedan, and the molding had nothing to do with installing the glass.

I ask this of you, because I need to replace the glass in my '40, and I'd kind of like to get a feel for what is involved, if it's different than what we went through on the '39.

Thanks.

Are you using the roller and plate thing from Grain-itwoodgraining.com/ technology or a different and maybe less expensive way?

Does it look that bad, Howard? No it's Grain-It kit, which costs plenty for what's in it. Remember this is mottled aspen, the early 1940 wood grain that the dealers didn't like and had changed to either mahogany or chrome.

Have to see the difference when the urethan goes on. Like the painting of the car with water-based PPG paint, the color coat looked dull, lifeless and rough.

Reserving judgement for the moment.

West, I'll take pix of the glass install when they do it. Waiting for double flap rubber from Steele at the moment. Then we do the side window bottoms and the windshield. MS Glass is doing the job.

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No, it doesn't look that bad and I was curious if you had used the kit. All I've seen are the instructional videos on the site but not a real finished piece that I know of. The other newly finished pieces I remember pictures of on site have all been done the old way by people that have the skills to do the painting with feathers, sponges and rags etc.

I kind of thought the site videos were akin to the county fair gadget hawkers who can do miraculous things with a product but when you get it home, you find there is a whole lot more to it and the demonstrators have been doing it for years. Does grain-it help pick out the plates? I can't make head or tails of the ones that would be needed for my 47.

The people at Grain-It Technology are great, and very, very helpful.

The "dame" in the photo looks like she came right out of Philip Marlowe, Private Detective.

They do help you pick out the plate. I send them the wide photo of the edge of the clock panel and they identified mottled aspen. I think it may be mentioned in Jim Hollingsworth's 1940 book, too. I don't think they got the color even close, but reserving judgement until the urethane is on there and polished. The colors, light walnut and elm are dark chocolate and reddish chocolate. The color will be harmonious with the basic taupe on the steering column and wood bow, so, again, reserving judgement.

It is like the county fair hawker product. There's more to it than they tell you. Their initial video about it being so easy and fun is an overstatement to say the least. Of course they will do it for you.

But I felt I made progress on developing a technique. And it is forgiving. If you mess up, just wipe it off and try again (which means, washing and drying the roller, putting stain on the plate, squeegieing, and blending where you left off with the new roll. Pieces are not flat, and if you press too hard to grain an area that falls away, it will mess up. But it gets better. At the moment, color, texture, definition doesn't get any Os or Ahs.