Well, I gave the Flxible refurb a rest for today, and got into a Studebaker.
I dragged a '58 Silver Hawk shell up from the lower 40 , and commenced to strip it to the tin. This is the "half-a-Hawk" I bought a few years ago at the McDonald auction in Yakima, WA.
So far, I have removed: seats, seat belts (they were GM, and fastened to the floor with stainless steel bolts, YAY!), floor mat debris, headliner, windlace, windshield, back window, quarter windows, vent windows, heater core, dashboard, and exterior chrome moldings. Front clip was off when I got it, as was the trunk lid.
Weird things I've found so far: a 1957 FDR silver dime under the floor mat, two
2-holer speed nuts at the left end of the dashboard, where one would have done, and rear window rubber so crisp, I had to chip it out with a putty knife. Funny, the windshield rubber is still quite supple; a little foot pressure, and the glass popped right out. It was already cracked. :>(Most of the soft trim was hard, crisp, and totally toast. Strangely, the black vinyl dash pad is only a bit dull, and is still soft. A little Armor-All should bring it back.
Floors are bad, more so on the right, where weather beat in through missing side windows, but the area where the A pillar meets the batwing crossmember appears to be OK, so mending the floors won't be a huge task. Rocker panels, rear quarters, "A" pillars, and trunk floor are RUST-FREE. Doors good, too. Other than some minor dents, the body is very straight.
Here's the plan: this car is going to get resurrected as a '53 C-body. I have a set of good '53 doors, they go on it next work session, ditto the trunk lid. The fins will come off, and the un-needed trim holes in the quarters will get filled. I have a '53 hood, and some of the front clip pieces, but the hood is welded to a pair of rotten '53 fenders. I'll try and cut the welds, and see if I can salvage the hood.
I have a pair of mostly non-rusty Hawk front fenders I can use. How much different are the Hawk inner fenders from the '53 - '54 style. Will they work as-is, or are they incompatible with the '53 hood and front sheet metal? If incompatible, can they be massaged to work, or are the differences so profound that getting '53 inner fenders is the only rational solution?
What about the rear valance panels? Same, or different like the bumpers?
In a week or so, I plan to hand this car off to a pro autobody man for prep and paint. If I can't get the necessary front end parts by then, he can still do the body shell, doors and rear quarters. Since the car will be painted in completely-stripped condition, a color change to some form of resale red won't be hard to do.
When I get the body back painted, it will get a new headliner, windshield, and back glass, and the quarter windows will go back in it. Then I can either store it (indoors!) or finish it, or sell it as a project. I have a hotrodded 259 with an overdrive tranny that would be real happy in this car. I may well wind up duplicating a C-coupe I had in my teens; a '54 Champion equipped with a 259, overdrive, and 3.31 gears, only with better quality parts, hopefully. Actually, I doubt I'd use 3.31s with OD; 3.73s would be a lot better. That '54 also had a Hawk dash, and of course, that feature I'll retain.
Next work session will entail pressure-washing everything I can get to, to remove rust, dirt, mouse crap, and St. Helens ash. Then sandblast any rusty areas so the body guy can do his thing. Hang the coupe doors and trunk lid, after sandblasting any rust on them. I'll try to get enough of the floor repair done, that the remainder can be done without affecting the new paint job.
I'll have to make a shopping list for South Bend....
Gord Richmond