5/15/10

Few more items to share. First up is the filler neck. This is a somewhat difficult item to restore properly. While Ford did service these, there is a minor difference in the service part and the original, which has to do with the "wrinkle" on the tube. The originals have a much more obvious metal wrinkle that does not appear on the service replacements. To get this part right requires restoring an original piece. It's not that easy though as finding one without dings/dents is kind of tough. Once a nice piece is found, they can be hot tin dipped. After receiving back, they will look almost like chrome. To get the correct finish requires being creative, but as can be seen in the pics, it can be done. Here's a couple comparisons of how they come back from the plating shop and the results of my finishing process:





Installed in the car with an original hose and original clamps:



Nice to see the gas cap installed on the car, it is obviously an NOS FoMoCo piece.



Last item to share today is the restoration of the speedometer cluster. This was done with all Ford parts. An original lens was polished, it came out great! The 2 chrome plastic bezels were re-chromed and an NOS instrument cluster bezel was used to finish it out. Original instruments were mint condition, just needed a light touch-up of the needles. Unfortunately, I found the black on the NOS cluster bezel to be too shiny, so I had to tape up and re-paint to get the right look. It was a lot of taping! The back of the cluster is dated December, 1964.