Progress on the Comet Olds

For anyone who might be interested, here is a bit of an update on the restoration of my '59 Comet. The car show/cruise season all but dies out here during the summer months due to the extreme heat, so it's a great time to get some work done.

The car has been soda blasted, and the prep work has been started. The front fenders will also be removed, and the inner fender wells and rad cradle area will be sandblasted and painted. Very solid car to start with, so that was great news. I have sent some of the stainless trim out for repair and polishing, and have a new set of correct Coker bias ply H78-14's waiting to be installed.

Perhaps a dumb question, but why are you restoring the body? Every picture I've ever seen of your car, it already looked great!

Adam Borkat said:

Perhaps a dumb question, but why are you restoring the body? Every picture I've ever seen of your car, it already looked great!

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Pictures can be deceiving, Adam! The car was a decent 20 footer, but it had probably been repainted more than once, the last job being of Earl Scheib quality. There were a lot of scrapes, chips, a couple of minor dents, fading, and of course those ridiculous after-market body side moldings that had been riveted on. Plus, none of the trim had been removed prior to the last paint job, so the paint was lifting in some places.

It doesn't look like there were to many surprises under all that paint, looks pretty solid. i have been wanting to have something soda blasted for a while now, and have even thought about having my Ford F100 done that i have been working on, but a lot of people have told me that it gets in every crack and crevice, and you can never get rid of all of it. Please keep us updated on the progress. Are you going back with black?

Josh

Terry

Looks like you are make it a beauty and doing it right !

Would love to see it in person some day.

Keep up the good work,
Darren

Looking very good.....

Josh Gentry said:

It doesn't look like there were to many surprises under all that paint, looks pretty solid. i have been wanting to have something soda blasted for a while now, and have even thought about having my Ford F100 done that i have been working on, but a lot of people have told me that it gets in every crack and crevice, and you can never get rid of all of it. Please keep us updated on the progress. Are you going back with black?

Josh

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There's enough information on the internet about soda blasting to keep anyone confused. Some restoration shops recommend it, and others don't like it for a variety of reasons. The guy I am using has never had a problem with it. I am staying with black, since I want to keep the car original, and "colorful" funeral coaches weren't that common back in the '50s. The restoration guy is a perfectionist, and acknowledges that black is less forgiving than just about any other color on a project like this. I guess the prep work has to be flawless. That's one of the reasons he took on this project, cause he likes a challenge. If you look in the background of this photo, you can see his '40 Willys. He does nice work!!