Greetings!
Before WWI, women's clothing was very modest and consumed a lot of material and workmanship. During the war, cloth became important for military uniforms and bandages. Women began wearing shorter dresses and fewer layers in a gesture of support for the war effort (or so it's reported). I admire their patriotism and sense of sacrifice. I can just hear the young women of the day, "Jeepers Mom, I guess I'll have to wear this immodest, revealing dress to high school so that Bernard can have his army uniform and bandages in case he's injured." Poor girls.
Let's apply this scenario to the automotive aftermarket industry. Have you ever wondered why paint jobs are so expensive these days? Here's how it used to be: when I was in my twenties I mixed PPG brand auto paint for the family business in Phoenix Arizona. We sold paint to the body shops in our areas. I sold acrylic enamel white for $35 a gallon. Red and yellow were somewhat more expensive. Reducer was $12/gal or so, I think. This was in the 80s and I had great hair and rode a chopper. I'm aware of inflation, but the cost of one gallon of base coat paint the other day was almost 20X that amount. Yes, a gallon of paint was over $600. Sure, one color was red and the other color was yellow, but what component in the paint formula could possibly have become so scarce that the jobber has to charge over $600 a gallon to be able to feed their children? Are they painting all the military vehicles bright red and yellow which has created a shortage in the USA? Is it my patriotic duty to pay $600 for a gallon of paint so our boys in uniform can patrol in style?Tool prices have skyrocketed also. A pneumatic dual action sander I recently bought was $180, and it's smaller than my old one. It's terrible to have to tell someone that you can paint their car but it'll cost them $5K. In the 50s my parents bought their first home for $3,000! I'll bet the inflation in America is directly related to the price of Tillamook ice cream. Dang Democrats!
Out in the secret lab I've been getting ready to paint two cars at once. The '68 Camaro, Grace, is about ready for a primer coat and the '51 Chevy coupe was getting a dashboard facelift prior to receiving a coat of yellow. After lining the inner firewall with heat & sound deadener, I looked at the indelicate cutting done to the stock radio hole. Using a 4" X 8" piece of steel plate, I trimmed it to cover the ugly radio hole in the dash and extend down far enough to hold the A/C controls too. After much trimming and trial fitting I finished it off by welding a small panel around it to help hide the electronics. I think it blends right in with the styling of the dash.
The radio is a modern AM/FM model with an auxiliary input for a CD player or an ipod but it's designed to fit into the stock location and look as though it came stock with the car. I must have put this panel in place and mounted the radio to test fit it 37 times. The A/C controls are for the Vintage Air mini unit that will sit behind the radio up under the dash. I cut the push button holes and the A/C control panel hole using the knee mill. It's so helpful to have a few basic machine shop tools at my disposal. I know it's beyond the scope of the average shop, but it certainly extends my abilities and makes my work look more professional.
Here is a picture of the control panel with the side cover welded in place. I welded it from the inside so I wouldn't have a lot of grinding and smoothing to do afterwards. I plan to paint it the same color as the dash and perhaps add a pinstripe or two that will match the stripes on the glove box door.
I went to TeePee Auto Wrecking yesterday and searched for a pair of A/C vents to put on, in, or under the dash to get the air flowing around the passenger compartment. Most of what I found were variations of the typical rectangular, plastic vent that swiveled at the top and bottom, and I'd planned to cut some panels from metal to mount them somewhere. I was walking out of the wrecking yard when my eyes were drawn to a black 1960 4-dr Cadillac sedan. Just out of curiosity I peeked into the car to see if it had air conditioning.
Bingo! There were a pair of cast metal pods bolted into the dash that controlled the air flow in the big luxury rig. Each pod had a black and chrome vent that articulated like a the hour hand on a clock that directed the air flow. PERFECT!! I wasn't sure just how to use them yet, but they had the look I was after. I left the other two sets of plastic vents on the floor of the Caddy and took the matching pods home. What a find! One had a noticeable split in one end where someone tried to pry it off without removing the mounting bolt first, but I can fix it. One is a bit wider than the other, but that may work out well in case I want to mount these babies on the kick panels; the larger one could be over the parking brake pedal. I can't wait to show these to Gary! Check back in a few days and get a look at how these mount up. I couldn't have found anything better for the look I'm after for Gary's interior! It's weird sometimes to catch myself getting so stoked about a pair of 55 year old air vents - and it's not even my car!
Doug
Before WWI, women's clothing was very modest and consumed a lot of material and workmanship. During the war, cloth became important for military uniforms and bandages. Women began wearing shorter dresses and fewer layers in a gesture of support for the war effort (or so it's reported). I admire their patriotism and sense of sacrifice. I can just hear the young women of the day, "Jeepers Mom, I guess I'll have to wear this immodest, revealing dress to high school so that Bernard can have his army uniform and bandages in case he's injured." Poor girls.
Let's apply this scenario to the automotive aftermarket industry. Have you ever wondered why paint jobs are so expensive these days? Here's how it used to be: when I was in my twenties I mixed PPG brand auto paint for the family business in Phoenix Arizona. We sold paint to the body shops in our areas. I sold acrylic enamel white for $35 a gallon. Red and yellow were somewhat more expensive. Reducer was $12/gal or so, I think. This was in the 80s and I had great hair and rode a chopper. I'm aware of inflation, but the cost of one gallon of base coat paint the other day was almost 20X that amount. Yes, a gallon of paint was over $600. Sure, one color was red and the other color was yellow, but what component in the paint formula could possibly have become so scarce that the jobber has to charge over $600 a gallon to be able to feed their children? Are they painting all the military vehicles bright red and yellow which has created a shortage in the USA? Is it my patriotic duty to pay $600 for a gallon of paint so our boys in uniform can patrol in style?Tool prices have skyrocketed also. A pneumatic dual action sander I recently bought was $180, and it's smaller than my old one. It's terrible to have to tell someone that you can paint their car but it'll cost them $5K. In the 50s my parents bought their first home for $3,000! I'll bet the inflation in America is directly related to the price of Tillamook ice cream. Dang Democrats!
Out in the secret lab I've been getting ready to paint two cars at once. The '68 Camaro, Grace, is about ready for a primer coat and the '51 Chevy coupe was getting a dashboard facelift prior to receiving a coat of yellow. After lining the inner firewall with heat & sound deadener, I looked at the indelicate cutting done to the stock radio hole. Using a 4" X 8" piece of steel plate, I trimmed it to cover the ugly radio hole in the dash and extend down far enough to hold the A/C controls too. After much trimming and trial fitting I finished it off by welding a small panel around it to help hide the electronics. I think it blends right in with the styling of the dash.The radio is a modern AM/FM model with an auxiliary input for a CD player or an ipod but it's designed to fit into the stock location and look as though it came stock with the car. I must have put this panel in place and mounted the radio to test fit it 37 times. The A/C controls are for the Vintage Air mini unit that will sit behind the radio up under the dash. I cut the push button holes and the A/C control panel hole using the knee mill. It's so helpful to have a few basic machine shop tools at my disposal. I know it's beyond the scope of the average shop, but it certainly extends my abilities and makes my work look more professional.I went to TeePee Auto Wrecking yesterday and searched for a pair of A/C vents to put on, in, or under the dash to get the air flowing around the passenger compartment. Most of what I found were variations of the typical rectangular, plastic vent that swiveled at the top and bottom, and I'd planned to cut some panels from metal to mount them somewhere. I was walking out of the wrecking yard when my eyes were drawn to a black 1960 4-dr Cadillac sedan. Just out of curiosity I peeked into the car to see if it had air conditioning.
Bingo! There were a pair of cast metal pods bolted into the dash that controlled the air flow in the big luxury rig. Each pod had a black and chrome vent that articulated like a the hour hand on a clock that directed the air flow. PERFECT!! I wasn't sure just how to use them yet, but they had the look I was after. I left the other two sets of plastic vents on the floor of the Caddy and took the matching pods home. What a find! One had a noticeable split in one end where someone tried to pry it off without removing the mounting bolt first, but I can fix it. One is a bit wider than the other, but that may work out well in case I want to mount these babies on the kick panels; the larger one could be over the parking brake pedal. I can't wait to show these to Gary! Check back in a few days and get a look at how these mount up. I couldn't have found anything better for the look I'm after for Gary's interior! It's weird sometimes to catch myself getting so stoked about a pair of 55 year old air vents - and it's not even my car! Doug
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