Paint

photo by Anthony Reyes

With two or three components in pieces and midway through their restorations, it was time to get some more paint at the auto body supply. It's becoming a well-worn path to their door.

The steering column was media blasted and painted with Trim Black. The mounts were zinc plated and masked off through the blasting and painting process, so they look great.

A few parts were ordered, including the plastic bowl that has to go on before anything else goes onto the column. The original will be saved and used to match the Dark Saddle Tan paint once the column is assembled.

A favorite has to be a bright orange part number decal that was discovered online while looking for technical drawings. A digital copy was made and custom stickers were ordered. There is also a decal that bears the handwritten build date for the column that will soon read Sept. 2, 1971 (because it's possible that's correct and it's also this car owner's sister's second birthday).

Also started was the restoration of the center gauge cluster. The charming clock is ruined and the ammeter and temperature gauges will be replaced for cosmetic reasons. Yet, the fuel gauge and oil pressure gauges cleaned up well and can be reused.

The interior of the cluster is a very nice matte blue — presumably to take the yellow out of the color of the light bulbs that light the cluster. A dead ringer for that color was in the spray can section at the hardware store and the results look really good.