In an attempt to return some degree of normalcy to thunderjetheaven.com, I thought it was about time I do a post on the topic this blog professes to actually be about! A novel idea, I know, but here is the long-awaited conclusion of the “Field Find” T-Bird started here. And as you’ll see, it’s another case of salvaging something out of disaster…an act that seems to be a constant in your humble blogger’s life of late!
The parts arrived a month ago, which consisted not only of a replacement windshield and back bumper/light assembly but also a 4-pack of drivers, and this was where things got interesting. The windshield went on fairly well and the bumper was a no-brainer, of course, but when I went to put the driver in, I was surprised to find that he was too big for car! I didn’t expect that; I mean, he did kind of fit, but his head was bumping the windshield frame, and it just looked wrong. Fortunately, I had saved the original driver I had initially pried off the seat, so I dove into my parts box and found a group of tiny, disembodies heads from 2-piece drivers that I already had in my parts stash.
I wondered if I’d have any success at drilling out the broken neck of the original driver so that I could push the peg of one of the heads into it, so out came my tiniest drill bit, and sure enough I was able to ream out the remains of the “broken neck.” A new head was then glued into place, the driver’s hat was painted black, and with a few more touch-ups it was time to reassemble!
And then disaster struck….aaaagain.
Some of you may remember this post, where I talked about the fragility of the tan T-jet bodies, something that I once believed was just a rumor but that I now know is true. And here it bit me again, because although I had already disassembled and re-assembled this car 2x, this 3rd time was more than it would take, and the side of the front post sheared right off…of course after I had just spent $25 on 3 new parts for it and put all that work into it, not before, right?! Of course!
OK, just keep telling yourself: it was free, it was free, it was free!
I had to walk away to let my fury subside, so when I returned a couple of days later, I started again on the process that I’ve finally learned to do and documented here: fabricating a replacement screw post. And as I’ve learned to do, it worked just fine! It took a while, including cutting the threads before gluing the post to the car, and fortunately I had my other “bullet-birds” to reference to make sure I got the length of the post exactly right, but after breaking away the rest of the broken post and grinding the jagged plastic down to create a smooth mounting surface, the little piece of styrene tubing adhered to the car fine; another day to let the epoxy dry and I was able to mount the body on the chassis just like it was original!
No problem, right? I mean, sure, it turned what could have been a nice $50 Aurora classic into a $5 scrapper, there’s that…but it looks good, it runs good, and after all, it was freeeeee!
It sure does make me wary of buying any more tan cars, though! And there are at least 6 or 7 more in this shade I still need for my collection, including the Olds Toronado, the Mercury Cougar and the Galaxie XL500, so I suspect I’ll be doing this again! The key, I think, is: don’t pay too much for one! Turns out that, considering the investment in parts, the price I paid for this one was about right!
I think this is a lot of great work. It is really cool how you have learned to work on these cars and the details. That is something about how certain colors can be more problematic than others. I think the driver came out great. Having the driver really adds a lot to the convertibles. I want to add some drivers to the cars on my layout. I know there was frustrations, but it must have been a good feeling saving this and bring it back to life!