Here’s a close up picture of the right side hood hinge from a ‘50, 3600 Lonnie. This is un-restored and factory original except for the western Iowa clay, some over spray and 61 years of wear and tear.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/136380800 You can plainly see that the hinge was Cad plated and the spring was installed on the hinge as it was made, that is “Blued Spring Steel”. When I do the restoration to the hood the hinges will be stripped and re-plated with Cadmium and the springs will be re-blued, with Birchwood Casey gun bluing:
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/image/136380870/large Also a lot of discussion has taken place about the under hood finish, this picture also shows the original under side of the hood.
Tim, the Cadmium was done by a commercial plater but it is just a small local shop. I’m sure there are a dozen or more small plating shops in Albany and around your area that do this type of electroplating. They usually shy away from your bringing in one piece to have it plated so I usually try to gather up a batch of parts, which is what I did when I took your radio parts in to be re-plated.
CONGRATS Alvin, yep I heered ya all the way up here, thought you just got lucky last night or maybe pinched our finger in that hood hinge. I’ll bet you know what you did to get that hood down flat, you’re just gonna keep it a trade secret between you and the “Orange Blossom Special”. But really, that’s good news, I know how frustrating those little things can be. Been workin’ on exhaust manifolds for several days now so I can finish up the ’50’s engine. I’m making up drill fixtures with drill bushings so I can drill out the studs that inevitably break off with out ruining the threads in the casting. What should have been a one hour job has now turned into days.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
