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'59 DeSoto Firesweep convert Jump to page : 1 2 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Now that I have put nearly ten thousand miles on my '59 Sport Fury, time to start the next endeavor, '59 Desoto ragtop. This car was purchased by the previous owner in the early eighties, where some restoration was started, but then abandoned and rolled into a walnut shed where it remained until I bought it in 2009. Looks to be fairly solid, although I see lots of quickie type repairs, so I might as well start over. Hopefully not too much missing, I haven't inventoried everything yet. ('59 DeSoto convertible 002.jpg) ('59 DeSoto convertible 004.jpg) ('59 DeSoto convertible 005.jpg) ('59 DeSoto convertible 007.jpg) ('59 DeSoto convertible 008.jpg) Attachments ---------------- '59 DeSoto convertible 002.jpg (146KB - 346 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 004.jpg (148KB - 353 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 005.jpg (158KB - 342 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 007.jpg (148KB - 344 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 008.jpg (142KB - 355 downloads) | ||
ronbo97 |
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Expert Posts: 4036 Location: Connecticut | An amazingly rare car. Never, ever seen one. Makes 59 Dodge converts look commonplace. Ron | ||
Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | Ooo! John and M'Lisa - I love it when you do these threads. I am always amazed to see the fantastic things you do and how efficiently you get the job done! Cheers and congratulations. I will follow this thread! Of course, there are NONE of these in my local junkyards. But if there is anything I can do, you know I will. | ||
guyman |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 451 | Good Luck John....I am sure you will do an amazing job!....Thanks for the hospitality on Saturday!...Always a pleasure. Guy | ||
LD3 Greg |
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Expert Posts: 1906 Location: Ontario, Canada | This is good news John. I'm looking forward to some interesting reading during the winter! Greg | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | I've removed the body from the chassis, now time to scrape all the tar off and find out what's really beneath it. Passenger compartment floors are actually in great shape, just a couple half inch holes near the inspection cover on the left front, the trunk has several holes and pop-riveted repairs made that need correction. (1959 Dodge Custom Royal 003.JPG) Attachments ---------------- 1959 Dodge Custom Royal 003.JPG (126KB - 325 downloads) | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Started stripping the paint, and found a large patch of filler in front of the wheel opening on the LH side, all that was beneath were some pinholes. Behind the wheel opening was an overlapped patch piece welded in, over an inch thick of bondo in spots, the panel is badly warped from this "repair" I'll have to cut this out, repair the damage, and install another piece. The rear deck panel was also slathered with filler, but haven't found out exactly why yet. ---John (1959 Dodge Custom Royal 001.JPG) (1959 Dodge Custom Royal 002.JPG) (1959 Dodge Custom Royal 004.JPG) Attachments ---------------- 1959 Dodge Custom Royal 001.JPG (126KB - 338 downloads) 1959 Dodge Custom Royal 002.JPG (125KB - 369 downloads) 1959 Dodge Custom Royal 004.JPG (124KB - 336 downloads) | ||
Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | floor pans look great John! For the age, the other panels don't look bad either. Looks like a good project! | ||
Rebels-59 |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Location: .Norfolk..Mafia.. ,England UK | Hell Yes, this is the next project i was looking forward too.. Keep us posted regular John with updates, Hoping this one is a quick restore for you as i guess M'lisa will want it done quickly for her.. Clive . | ||
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Unbelievably good body. I love what you folks out west call rust. Most cars that age don't have a floor here so rust means looking for west coast donor parts from Big M! I too will be watching and learning some tricks as I am just slightly ahead of where you are with the car. I know you will turn it into another beauty. | ||
58 DESOTOS RULE |
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Expert Posts: 2308 Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | 1959 De Soto convertibe - sweet!! A car not often seen now but well worth the effort, particularly in light of the good condition of the sheet metal. It should be an easier restoration than the 1959 Plymouth, that's for sure. I remember a 1959 De Soto convertible that was restored by White Post Restorations in Virginia that was the highlight of the 1990 De Soto National Convention that was held that year in Winchester. I have some pictures somewhere as it was a super job. | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Thanks, guys! Moving kind of slowly on this as I have a customer's '62 Galaxie convertible along with some other projects at the same time. The body is now up on the rotisserie, cleaning the massive amount of tar and Blackjack the previous owner had applied. really messy stuff. ('59 DeSoto convertible 001.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 002.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 003.JPG) Attachments ---------------- '59 DeSoto convertible 001.JPG (126KB - 375 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 002.JPG (126KB - 355 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 003.JPG (126KB - 369 downloads) | ||
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Looks great John! What are you using to cut the old tar? | ||
cbrayinga |
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Veteran Posts: 295 Location: Tallapoosa, GA | Wow, that's AWESOME project you have there, John!! What color(s) is it going to be? | ||
FIN ME |
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Expert Posts: 2788 Location: USA - KY | Here you go again, John, working more miracles! Great project, and I can't wait to see how your awesome talents bring another great F.L. car back to life. I know the results are going to be beautiful! | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | bbrasse1 - 2015-11-15 1:26 PM Looks great John! What are you using to cut the old tar? Old gasoline, and elbow grease with scrapers. | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | cbrayinga - 2015-11-15 1:28 PM Wow, that's AWESOME project you have there, John!! What color(s) is it going to be? It was originally all white, but we're going towards either two-tone whit with light green or turquoise sweepspear, or two-tone green. | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | FIN ME - 2015-11-16 1:26 PM Here you go again, John, working more miracles! Great project, and I can't wait to see how your awesome talents bring another great F.L. car back to life. I know the results are going to be beautiful! :cool: Thanks, Rosy!! | ||
guyman |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 451 | WOW John., that looks really clean!...sweeet! | ||
cbrayinga |
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Veteran Posts: 295 Location: Tallapoosa, GA | big m - 2015-11-16 8:02 PMIt was originally all white, but we're going towards either two-tone whit with light green or turquoise sweepspear, or two-tone green. COOL!! | ||
wizard |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13045 Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | Great to follow your new thread/Project John! I'm doin the scraping work myself now, I use heatgun and scrapers and then paint thinner - whimsy | ||
59 explorer |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 384 Location: Hershey PA | John: Don't forget to check for the VIN on the frame. Looks like you have the perfect opportunity to do so Will we see this car at Carlisle? | ||
ronbo97 |
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Expert Posts: 4036 Location: Connecticut | Spring Green (Lt. Green) body with white sweep and white conv top would be a great choice. Ron | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Haven't had much time to advance on this as I'm resurrecting a friend's crashed Galaxie convertible, along with some metal fabrication jobs. Finished removing the majority of the tar, bondo, paint, etc so I can see exactly what needs repairs. The previous restorer didn't do too badly on some of the patch pieces, but there is overlapped metal, not butt welded, and there is major heat distortion, so these sections will have to be cut out and new pieces fabricated, then welded in more carefully. A trunk drop off on one side was home made, not too badly, but affixed with pop rivets and tar. the trunk has several places as well that were doctored up in the same manner. Luckily, the front floors just have a couple tiny holes on the driver's front. ---John (002.JPG) (003.JPG) (006.JPG) (007.JPG) (008.JPG) Attachments ---------------- 002.JPG (126KB - 321 downloads) 003.JPG (124KB - 354 downloads) 006.JPG (125KB - 361 downloads) 007.JPG (126KB - 318 downloads) 008.JPG (124KB - 347 downloads) | ||
Doctor DeSoto |
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Location: Parts Unknown | A heat gun will make the job of peeling undercoating with a 5-in1 paint tool/scraper MUCH easier. Fan the gun at an angle ahead of the area being worked to pre-warm that "elephant skin" to make the most of the heat energy and speed the work. It's still a tedious job, but the heat helps. | ||
old mopar guy |
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Expert Posts: 1508 Location: new york | WOW! John thats great… Keep up the great work. | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9648 Location: So. Cal | Let the fun begin | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Doctor DeSoto - 2015-12-06 11:21 AM A heat gun will make the job of peeling undercoating with a 5-in1 paint tool/scraper MUCH easier. Fan the gun at an angle ahead of the area being worked to pre-warm that "elephant skin" to make the most of the heat energy and speed the work. It's still a tedious job, but the heat helps. I wish it was just the factory applied undercoat, that came off easily with just a scraper. The roofing tar with pop rivets hidden within made scraping rather tough, though. ---John | ||
Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | Awesome, John and M'Lisa: As much as we scratch our heads as to why they repaired 'em that way, you have to go back in time to when these cars were worth, on average, nothing. If this car was repaired in the late '60s up to the early '80s, the more time the repair took, the more the owner spent and the more they were simply throwing away. Flash forward to now, these things are so valuable, nobody repairs them anymore - it is a full-on restoration; and it is a good investment of time. If John ever sells it, he will be darn happy he didn't just do a quickie repair. Well done, John! | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | So true, Mike, so true! | ||
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Doctor DeSoto - 2015-12-06 2:21 PM A heat gun will make the job of peeling undercoating with a 5-in1 paint tool/scraper MUCH easier. Fan the gun at an angle ahead of the area being worked to pre-warm that "elephant skin" to make the most of the heat energy and speed the work. It's still a tedious job, but the heat helps. Doc, that's good to know. i have a whole floor of "elephant skin" to do. John, when butt welding do you go back and fill in each tack weld until filled or do you use some body filler to smooth it all out? | ||
ttotired |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 8443 Location: Perth Australia | You need to go back and keep putting tack welds until you fill the seam and fully seal it (look for light coming through) If filler is applied over a leaky weld, moisture will soak into the filler and the metal underneath will rust and the filler will crack/fall out (filler is porous) You could try and lead fill it (John is good at that), but I do wonder if the flux will cause the same problem Main thing to control is heat to prevent panel warpage (really hard to fix) Patience when welding in a repair section is a must Often not thought about, but care is also needed when grinding the welds down flat, a grinder can also put a lot of heat into a panel and cause warpage | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | I cut a trunk floor section out from the remains of a '57 Chrysler. Looks like this will have everything I need for that portion of the car. Now to scrape undercoating and crud from both sides. ---John | ||
PlymouthFury |
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Expert Posts: 1324 Location: Hickory, NC | TECH SEZ: POP RIVETS ARE PROFITABLE REPAIRS! What happened to the whitewalls that were on the car in the first photos? | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | PlymouthFury - 2016-01-13 4:43 PM TECH SEZ: POP RIVETS ARE PROFITABLE REPAIRS! What happened to the whitewalls that were on the car in the first photos? The radial whitewalls had to go back to the seller of the car, he mounted those to roll the chassis out of his barn. | ||
cbrayinga |
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Veteran Posts: 295 Location: Tallapoosa, GA | Hang in there, John!! She'll be GORGEOUS when you're all done. Heck, that 59 Sport Fury Vert is a sure illustration of your talent and dedication. That DeSoto should be a cake-walk for you compared to the Fury. | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Thanks, Chris! | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Trunk floor is completely removed, as well as the lower quarter panel sections, and driver side trunk drop off. Spliced in a section to repair the flanged trunk drop on the passenger side, and welded a few pinholes and smoothed it out. I had a replacement [aftermarket] trunk drop for the left side, but there is no way it can be used, not anywhere close to what's needed, so I'll salvage what I can from the original, and rebuild it. ('59 DeSoto convertible 005.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 006.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 007.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 008.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 009.JPG) ('59 DeSoto convertible 010.JPG) Attachments ---------------- '59 DeSoto convertible 005.JPG (126KB - 318 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 006.JPG (126KB - 331 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 007.JPG (126KB - 328 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 008.JPG (126KB - 314 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 009.JPG (126KB - 318 downloads) '59 DeSoto convertible 010.JPG (126KB - 305 downloads) | ||
Lancer Mike |
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Location: The Mile High City | Whoa, Mama! We are well beyond a frame-off restoration here. This is a complete dismantle and re-fabrication. Very impressive, John! | ||
Windsor59 |
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Expert Posts: 2596 Location: Upplands Väsby, Sweden | You do a Great Work. I like what I see. | ||
wizard |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 13045 Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | Wow - it's a convertible either way you turn the body John Joke aside, great progress and very interesting to follow this Project! | ||
Windsor59 |
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Expert Posts: 2596 Location: Upplands Väsby, Sweden | Yes Sven ( i will text (write) more But my poor english, stop me. | ||
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Keep going John you are in deep but good work. There should be more of this on the site in my opinion. I think there are a lot of people out there that can learn from work like this because you show step by step what you are doing. Not everybody has this level of experience and yet there are a lot of our FL cars in this or worse condition. I would love to see some experienced people like yourself and others I have learned from to put some type of training videos or step by step methods used to repair bodies, engines, transmissions etc. It's all good stuff for people who want to fix their own ride. | ||
guyman |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 451 | GO JOHN GO! | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | I used pieces from the aftermarket trunk drop panel, and the original, and made my own replacement, then installed it in the car. ('59 Desoto convertible 001.JPG) ('59 Desoto convertible 002.JPG) ('59 Desoto convertible 003.JPG) ('59 Desoto convertible 004.JPG) Attachments ---------------- '59 Desoto convertible 001.JPG (124KB - 328 downloads) '59 Desoto convertible 002.JPG (123KB - 332 downloads) '59 Desoto convertible 003.JPG (127KB - 323 downloads) '59 Desoto convertible 004.JPG (126KB - 342 downloads) | ||
cbrayinga |
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Veteran Posts: 295 Location: Tallapoosa, GA | GREAT JOB, John!! She'll be worth every drop of sweat in gold that you're putting into her! | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Being that the best trunk floor I could find was from a '57 Chrysler that had the quarter panels torched off, but I wanted the floor to appear just like factory, it was time consuming, but I used a shear and cut two strips of metal, one for each side, then added a double flange using a box brake to bend the metal. These strips were then butt-welded to the main floor pan. There were a few other areas of concern where weak metal or rust was found, so patches were made up and carefully welded in. After doing some trimming and measuring, the floor pan was ready to install. After grinding, the floor was complete! Once etching primer and paint is applied, the work performed will not be visible, top nor bottom. No need for messy tar and Bondo!! ---John ('57 Packard, '58 Dodge 007.JPG) ('57 Packard, '58 Dodge 008.JPG) ('59 DeSoto conv. floor 001.JPG) ('59 DeSoto conv. floor 002.JPG) ('59 DeSoto conv. floor 003.JPG) Attachments ---------------- '57 Packard, '58 Dodge 007.JPG (125KB - 313 downloads) '57 Packard, '58 Dodge 008.JPG (125KB - 308 downloads) '59 DeSoto conv. floor 001.JPG (126KB - 356 downloads) '59 DeSoto conv. floor 002.JPG (126KB - 336 downloads) '59 DeSoto conv. floor 003.JPG (125KB - 312 downloads) | ||
1961plymouthfury |
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Expert Posts: 2633 Location: Minor Hill, TN | good luck with it John . I am taking a little break from mine for a while, I hope you can bring Rusty to the PACE car show in Pulaski, TN on September 24th it will be held at Martin college. I will be more than happy to mail you a flyer | ||
big m |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 7806 Location: Williams California | Been too busy with other folks' cars, but found the time to fab up a lower quarter section on a slip roll, and got it welded in and mostly metal finished. (DSCN5119.JPG) Attachments ---------------- DSCN5119.JPG (124KB - 269 downloads) | ||
bbrasse1 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 537 Location: Upstate NY | Really nice work John. You do miracles with cars that others would give up on. | ||
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