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The "Dry" 57 150 that I impulse bought

42K views 273 replies 40 participants last post by  Postman57 
#1 ·
I bought this car about 4 years ago. There are some other threads on this car in the metal work section, but though it would be good to document my progress thus far here. It might be helpful to somebody else.

The car looked dry, but I knew it needed wiring and a few other things. The intent was to drive it, and do work on it as time and funds allowed. Early on, I very nearly had a tragic experiment with Ohm's law, and decided it take the interior out so I could do a harness.

This is where I fell down the rabbit hole. When I removed the carpet, large chunks of floor pan came away with the jute. Great. I almost bailed on the car then and there (in many ways, that would have been the wiser move). But I thought about it awhile. Honestly, the impetus to continue came when I retired from the Army after 31 years. The NCOs of the unit pitched in and gave me a small Miller MIG welder as a retirement present. It was game on. (more coming shortly)
 

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#60 ·
Yep, I agree that we are digging quite similar stuff...I think 150's are really cool cars and another model I have dreamed is Sedan delivery...the coolest truck in the world...:)
I really enjoy your thread and good luck with the build!
 
#63 ·
Not a lot to report. The car is about done being blocked, and now doing gaps on the front sheet metal. Will send pics when they look different from the last ones I posted.

Right now Im finalizing color choices. My painter has been sending some spray cards. Sierra gold and Adobe beige, and one with the Gold and a root beer brown. The gold and brown didnt go together as I'd hoped, but I really, really liked it. So, now waiting for some more spray cards with the root beer and the adobe beige.

I know my painter would rather wait to spray it until I get home, but we shall see. Id sorta like to maximize my time going forward with the build when I get home, but I see his point
 
#65 ·
Agreed, Finn. And while the root beer wasn't a stock color, it looks like it could have been, if that makes any sense. Looks almost black in low light, then really pops in the sun. I'm really looking forward to seeing the spray card with the root beer and the adobe beige. Like I said, I was thinking of using the root beer with the sierra gold, but it didnt come out like I'd hoped. We shall see.

On a completely unrelated note, my neighbor is Finnish. Oddly enough, there is a huge contingent of Finnish folks living in the greater Denver area, and I'm pretty sure she knows all of them. And it seems like every Finnish traveler to the US stops at their house.

That said, all I really know about Finnish people is when the vodka comes out, it's time to start rearranging the next day's schedule..
 
#66 · (Edited)
Tell 'terveisia suomesta' to your neighbor :)
Believe it or not, I was also going to paint my '56 in some sort of root beer....or sierra gold color...I couldn't decide so I went with black, guaranteed choise...:sign0020:

Btw Vodka is more like "Mother Russia" style drink than Finnish...expect Finlandia vodka, which is finnish, yea, maybe your neighbor likes that :sign0020:

Mikko Rantanen playes in NHL, Colorado avalanche...also finnish...
 
#69 · (Edited)
No, no...it means, greetings from finland.
And yes, while we are small nation, there seems to be "us" literally everywhere. :)

I might also like black cars...my big rig is black, and daily driver...and the car I bought to my 17 years old son is black...funny thing though, my wife hates black cars...Kinda jing & jang Lol
 
#68 ·
Oh, and...I LOVE black cars. And my body work is actually good enough to support it at this point. But, my experience tells me that whenever I have a black car (my truck is black), you have another hobby (trying to keep the dang thing clean!!)

Does anyone make a dust and water spot color so that stuff would just blend in...??
 
#73 ·
What does the wife say? And the darker root beer will show any flaws (like black) more than the sierra gold will.....

Mikey
 
#74 ·
The wife is being carefully neutral now; I think she got me down to colors of which she "approved" and is satisfied with that.

Good point on the darker color being less forgiving. And harder to keep clean. That said, the guy said where we are at this point in the work, the body work would support black. I LOVE black, but I have to say something a bit less common appeals to me.

I've always loved the Black Widow cars and what they represent, but at every car show there always seems to be at least one done that way. I am considering an idea of the root beer and beige being a bit reminiscent of that scheme- just a bit different. So instead of "black widow" I can have a "brown recluse..?":p

No hurry at this point; he has some smaller jobs to get in and out of the shop, and in as much as I'm out of the country until the first week of December, letting him put it aside lets him make some quick money, and gives me time to ponder. Plus, I've always been of the mind to give the craftsman time to get away from the project now and then (withing bounds of reason) and be able to come back to it with fresh eyes. To my mind, whenever you are in a hurry because you need something done badly...that's how you will get it!
 
#75 ·
It is also very good for bodywork to cure some time before final 'cut' and paint...I'm firm believer that those cars with crazy tight deadlines with lots of bodywork done, can't be so lazer straight after some time.

No matter which color combo you choose, it will look brilliant!
 
#77 ·
It's always the little things..!

So the body man is thru the latest influx of hail repair work, and was getting down to aligning the front end. My wife didn't get a chance to drop of the core support shim kit before she went out of town, so I wound up ordering them (2 day air shipping cost for than the parts :-/). It's just one of the extra steps I have to deal with trying to get this done while I'm in Afghanistan.

There have been a few odds and ends I've had to ship, but (knock wood) this should about do it. He refused to send me a full profile shot until the fenders are aligned lol
 

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#78 ·
Well, this is irritating..

Getting the front end sheet metal lined up, and figured out the rocker (which I welded in) is not well lined up. I coulda swore it was much better lined up than this, but as you take stuff off and put it back together...

Oh, well. Quite fixable. Just gotta do it!
 

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#79 ·
What a bummer with the rocker...hope it's fixable without too much of a hassle. Allways something with these old cars...what's amazing is that GM workers put together hundreds of thousands trifives in a hurry in assembly line and they looked pretty darn good what so ever.

Good luck and stay safe!
 
#82 · (Edited)
That's the plan. Also, the fender isn't fully aligned yet, so it likely looks worse than it is. That said, while I did the gross metal work, the car is in the paint shop now, so I won't be doing the remediation. Which also means it won't take nearly as long!

I really like doing my own work, but farmed out the paint and body for two reasons: first, because it's such an important part of the visual appeal of the car. Second and most importantly is that I work overseas a few months at a time...it would take me years to get the car block sanded and sprayed at the rate I can put my hands on the car.
 
#87 ·
Can't really disagree; I love black 57s, especially 150s...I like the white over black alot too (your car is gorgeous!). That said, I think I will go a slightly different route on mine.

It hasn't sprayed out yet, but I'm looking at Adobe Beige over root beer. The spray out I got was really pretty, but I'm lightening up the root beer by about 10%.
 
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