Other than a really nice paint job, nothing does more to
dress up a classic vehicle than the shiny chrome trim. The big
difference between yesterday's classics and today's vehicles is the
amount of bright trim that was a standard feature on the classics. The amount of
trim on these classics was a direct indication as to whether the vehicle
was a low-priced "base model" or one that was
"top-of-the-line". The level of trim on today's
vehicles might differ between various model levels, but not to the extent
that it did on these classics. A base model pickup might not
have any chrome at all (even painted bumpers, wheel covers, and
grill), while the top-of-the-line model for the same
pickup would have enough chrome to blind a person.
The Sierra Grande was GMC's
top-of-the-line model and it had a lot of chrome and bright trim.
This is both a blessing and a curse when restoring a vehicle. When fully restored, the
bright, shiny trim can make the vehicle look like a million
bucks. But
when the trim is shabby, it can make the whole vehicle look
shabby. Restoring the trim can also be very expensive if a
lot of it has
to be replaced. If all the trim on a Sierra Grande had to be
replaced, it could cost nearly as much as a good paint job.
A lot of classic pickup owners
choose to remove the original trim and give the pickup a
"shaved" look. Nothing wrong with that. If it's
done right, a shaved vehicle looks very sharp, like
this 1970 Chevy. But, nothing says "classic" vehicle
to me more than lots of trim - it's what makes the old vehicles
unique. That's why I decided to restore the trim on Maych
. I also wanted to keep as much of the original trim
as possible, only replacing those pieces that were beyond repair.
Restoring the trim is not really
difficult, but it is very time consuming. It's mostly, cleaning,
polishing, painting, and sadly, in some cases, replacing. If I
were forced to choose only two tools I could use use to restore the trim,
those two would be, without a doubt, 0000 steel wool and an
air brush. Of all the tools and supplies I used during the
restoration of the trim, these two items were, without a doubt, the
most useful.
I have a whole basketful of metal
polishes, compounds, buffing pads, etc., but nothing removes
rust, cleans off grim, and shines chrome like 0000 steel wool --
NOTHING! And I'm talking by hand. No hard rubbing, no
buffing, no mess, and it's dirt cheap. A $3.00 bag of 0000 steel
wool will do an entire restoration job. I still use the metal
polishes, but primarily to protect the chrome and other bright trim from the elements, not
as the primary cleaning agent.
The other indispensable item is an
air brush.
 A lot of the trim on
classic vehicles, especially
the emblems, have painted details. You can paint these with a
paint brush, but it tends to always look like it was painted with a
paint brush. Rattle cans will work, but the spray mechanism for aerosol
propellants just isn't made for painting very small details, like
those found on most emblems.
You don't need an expensive
air brush to get good results. The expensive models are great if
you're going to be painting pictures on T-shirts or doing other fancy "artistry". But, if all you need to do is apply layers of paint on an object,
a cheap model works
great. I bought my air brush at a model train store, but
most hobby shops carry them. Expect to pay between $15.00 and
$20.00 for one of these types of air brushes. I bought a Badger
model 250. Nothing fancy about this model. Just pour
properly thinned paint into the jar, hook up to compressed air, and
start painting. NOTE - If you use Badger's Modelflex paint, it
comes pre-thinned for spraying and the bottles the paint comes in screws right onto the
air brush. Another plus with these air brushes is you don't even need an air compressor. You can buy cans of compressed air that are
especially designed to work with these air brushes. I've even
heard of people using a spare tire as an air source.
The next several episodes will
describe the restoration of the exterior trim items.
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