MaxKlinger's Project "Peppermint Patty"

[MaxKlinger]

Okay, so I figured I'd start one of these since real progress is starting to happen. Most of my efforts so far have been to get the truck to pass inspection, which hasn't happened yet but will hopefully be next week. However, I did take the time to do something nice on the truck.

Thanks to mjhaltom of "Project Uncle Darrell" (who is a heck of a nice guy) I got my hands on hood trim and a new grille from a '71 F250. He shipped it up to me and I put it on the truck this weekend. Before it went on, I polished it up, masked it, and painted all of the black areas with Rustoleum semi-gloss black. Take a look!

Before leaving Arizona, June 2007:





New grille, September 2007:



Unfortunetly, Murphy's law struck and one of the headlights came out of the grille with all of its contacts broken off. I don't know how it was working so well! Anyway there wasn't much point in putting the right headlight back together without a new headlight, so that's why it looks like that.

Of course, it's all going to have to come off again soon, as I'm planning to strip and paint the inner fenders, radiator support, and frame this fall. I'll update this thread as I roll along.

By the way, I'm calling her "Peppermint Patty" because when I'm done it's going to be painted some combination of Red and White, and because I'm a fan of Charles Schultz's Peanuts comic, too.

[71 LONG BED]

Looks great! The grille made a huge difference.

[69F110]

Nice. That is a big difference.

[Darlingtonpride]

one step closer. lookin good

[dablack00]

How did you polish it. What was your technique?

[MaxKlinger]

How did you polish it. What was your technique?

Before I painted it, I scrubbed the whole thing very thoroughly with a brillo pad. This helped to get off some of the grime that had cooked onto the front of the donor truck for 36 years. Then I masked and painted the black areas. After I let that dry and removed the tape, I went back over it with a stainless steel and aluminum polish. I don't know what brand it is (my brother swiped a can of it from his job) but it foams up on the surface of the metal, then you wipe it down with a moist cloth. I can find out what it is.

[FLATBEDFORD]

Looks great! I love those easy improvements.

[mjhaltom]

It looks sooo much better on your truck than it did on that rusty ol donor! I will try to post pics of it when it was still on that crusty ole F250. I think that would be a cool addition to this thread.

[FLATBEDFORD]

I like when we hear about and see parts move from one truck to another between us.

[mjhaltom]

Here is a pic of the grille on the donor truck.

[FLATBEDFORD]

Wow! Much better. As dull as it was that grill was in great shape to start with. No dents/dings.