Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021
Today I spent time waxing the Plymouth’s roof for the first time. I had to use a step stool, but it worked well. I also — finally — got around to aiming the headlights.
Both of the headlights were way, way out of alignment. The passenger side was way low, the driver’s side was way left and high. There wasn’t enough adjustment to get it perfect, but its much better than it was the night of the Christmas Parade. I still have to reinstall the headlight doors, but the job is done.
The one thing I need to fix is that the headlights right now only work on bright — they go completely out when you switch the dimmer. I’m thinking the dimmer switch is bad or there’s a problem with wiring. All the DC to the headlights goes thru the dimmer switch, so I should be able to troubleshoot it tomorrow.
Tomorrow — Friday — from 4 to 8 p.m. there’s a classic car cruise in nearby Bloomfield. The weather is going to be perfect, though I’ll have to drive back in near darkness if I stay until 8 p.m.
PARTS IS PARTS IS HERE. I had a lot of parts for the Plymouth arrive today. For starters, the wing vent latch arrived, which was quite a find given how rare they are to find for sale. My new high-performance plug wires arrived too, but I’ll wait to get those on. I’m really wanting to remove the valve covers first and repaint those before I install the new plug wires.
I have ordered a pair of vinyl fender covers to protect the fenders which will be here next week.
I still have my NOS cigarette lighter to install, provided I can remove the original one. The outer shell that screws on the inner part won’t come lose after 65 years for some reason, lol! I don’t want to destroy the outer shell of the original just to get it lose, but it may come to that.
And speaking of parts awaiting installation, I have my near-perfect hood bird and my working AM radio to install. No shortage of stuff to do.
It should be a fun time tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is my wife’s last day at her current job. She starts a new job on Monday. There’s no other car show or cruise I’m interested in going to this weekend. Next weekend the Kentucky Railway Museum is hosting a car show. I’m planning to go to that one, weather permitting.
LOOKING PRETTY GOOD. I’ll have to say that despite the flaws in the paint, the Plymouth looks pretty damn nice. I’m going to repair the rust spots in the Powder Blue first, and see how the paint goes. I may wind up repainting all the lower light blue … this would freshen up all the minor surface rust popping up along the seams on the rear panels by the bumper.
I’m going to order a quart of the Dark Blue poly paint and see how well I can touch up the spots on the dark blue.
There are several areas where the paint is cracking, as though there’s a very heavy film of paint there. I’m a little wary of starting any refinishing on those areas, I don’t want to get into a major repaint. I’m thinking I can do some touch ups and get another year out of the existing paint. In the next year I can get my garage better equipped for a complete repaint. To be honest, I’m enjoying driving the Plymouth and would love to have another season to enjoy it.
SPARK OF DESIRE? I’m going to install the new plug wires over the next couple of weeks and see how I like the look. They may look too “hot roddish” …. I probably should have gotten the blue wires. Time will tell.