1959 Chevy Kingswood project

Thanks.

Anyone know if the interior metal was painted the same color as the exterior?

 

I'd like to think that they were when that car was built, back in the day, and I don't see why it wouldn't be; I worked on a '55 Star Chief that was copper and white, and the copper color inside I'd have to say was the same paint as the body paint.

 

I delivered pizza's for a short time in my misspent youth and used a '60 Impala four door sedan. It had the same color of paint inside and out. It was a dark'ish blue, quite pretty.

 

another source of info is the gm heritage center you can download tons of info for free .also sometimes a dealer sales album comes up on ebay. this has color charts,fabric samples etc.

 

Thank you. Good to know. I do like that blue for the interior as well as exterior. And really, not much painted metal is visible on the inside of the car. Just the dash, and the frames for the cargo area decking. Most of that will be covered with linoleum.

The GM Heritage Center is a wonderful site!

I've been working on restoring a 1959 Oklahoma license plate I got from Ebay. Our state will let you display a vintage tag. Will get some pics up soon.

 

I've been working on restoring a 1959 Oklahoma license plate
About that license plate. Check with your license office before changing anything, especially the paint. Here in Florida and in Illinois where we are from the tag must be unaltered and not repainted.
After you get it authorized you can then restore and repaint it as close as possible to original, hoping it does not need to be sent back again for verification. Of course talking to different people and different states/counties will give different answers. But to be safe check it out.

​

 

Before pics (from Ebay seller)




The paint was kind of powdery and scrubbing the plates resulted in much of the paint coming off. So I went after them with a wire brush, coated both sides with Rustoleum rust inhibitor, then coated the front with Rustoleum black semi-gloss enamel. Let it dry overnight, then painted the ivory details with Testor's enamel model paint. Very tedious and my hand wasn't quite steady enough, but hopefully from a distance it will look all right. After this dries I'll coat it all with a clear enamel.







Ack... from here the letters look pretty sloppy. Don't know if I should try to trim them up with a razor blade... might make things worse.

 

In Oklahoma, we're good to go with a restored plate, as long as it's from Oklahoma and the number isn't currently in use somewhere else. :banana:

I will admit, I haven't verified that the numbers on this plate aren't in use, but I think it'll be pretty safe. Our modern plates all start with three letters.


How come you guys can't repaint an old plate?

 

In Florida and Illinois they must be in good shape and original.
We have to send them to the Sec of State with a form and the correct amount of money. Then the tag must be checked and approved for looks and not be a number that is used.
Some people here do repair and repaint their plates later. The good thing is Florida only has a rear license. I found nice originals for my 1955 wagon, 1941 Ford, 1931 Model A, 1933 Chevy, 1939 Ford, 1950 Studebaker, and 1949 Chevy panel truck.The Model A and Studebaker are long gone and I have doubts about ever finishing most of the other cars.
All plates are in very good shape. Cost almost as much as buying the car they go on at swap meets.
Of course even if the number is being used on a later license i'd think it could be used for cruising. That's another thing with no front tag. Some Floridians put their date of manufacture tag on front. I have my old Illinois vanity plate on the front bumper.
There's a story here about my 1955 Florida tag on the wagon. A Sheriff's deputy car in Orange County, Orlanda has the same number. I found out several times when he ran a toll booth.

 

Deputies running toll booths?! Wouldn't he be exempt? Or was he in his own car and off duty?

Wow - I didn't know it was so difficult to be able to display a vintage tag in other states.

About twenty years ago, a friend of my father in law's lobbied the state legislature to make it easier to display vintage tags on classic cars. I guess we have him to thank for our relatively easy process. I just have to take the tag to the DMV offices at the Capitol (only a few miles from home), get a brief application approved and pay $20. I don't think they're picky at all about the condition of the tag, as long as it's from Oklahoma. It's good for a year. I also have to keep the modern Oklahoma license plate in the car somewhere and that tag must be renewed each year as well. We only have to have one tag; on the back.

By the way, I smoogied the lettering with my thumbnail in the places that were messy and straightened the lines a little. It looks better. Now I have to leave it alone until it dries, and the clear coat will go on.

 

For the painting, I would've used a white Rustoleum first to cover the letters and numbers, then used 3M Blue masking tape to mask them off before shooting the black. But that's just me.

 

The toll booths are operated by most likely state or county employees. I forgot now just where, but maybe Arizona is where the toll booth photos go and where the fines come from. Don't ask why. It's still better than from China.
The deputies have a pass or token they are supposed to show or deposit. He didn't. I got tickets two or three different years because the license is the same number yet it is not! Where mine has the dash the county has a * STAR. Also the wording is different. So they are the same only different. I was asked everytime I sent proof to change my plate. I'd write back and tell them I had mine first, change the deputies. Haven't heard anything in years now. But since i am writting this I will probably get another fine in the mail.
Funny the pictures showed the police car in several photos and it sure didn't look like a 1955 red and white Chevy wagon. Mine does not have a white plastic bumper, with a star and the words ORANGE COUNTY on the trunk.
As for the official license plate, when we get them okayed at the DMV that is our offical tag. We don't get a new regular plate.
However some people skip all of the hassle and extra cost and put their old tag on and carry the new one inside like you.
From what I've heard all they have to do is show the real tag if stopped. To me that's not legal. However one in four here don't even have a legal tag or insurance. This may or may not be true but those are the rumors.

I've worked on a lot of cars and other projects. But I am not sure I've ever smoogied !

 

I was reading some older posts yesterday about different methods of tag restoration, and one person painted black over white and then block sanded the black paint from the raised areas. I guess there are many ways to do it depending on the ability of the person doing it and the tools on hand; some methods are better than others.

I would worry about my skill at masking that many numbers and small letters... not sure my results would look very good.

No doubt, when hubby gets back from out of town, he'll be sure to advise me about how I should have done it...!

 

There must be a more technical term for pushing tiny bits of paint into a line with a fingernail...

A few years ago, hubby sold his little Nissan pickup to someone who was going to use it for commercial use. We had been "Pikepass" members, where you have the little box you affix to the inside of your windshield and it automatically debits your account whenever you pass through a toll booth. That way you don't have to stop and pay the toll. However, when we sold the truck and supposedly canceled the Pikepass account, we soon found out that the people driving the truck would repeatedly run the toll booths, and that the account has not been deactivated and was still in our name. My husband had to fight with the turnpike people for months over that one. He kept asking them to cancel his account, they said it was canceled, and then he'd get more bills, and eventually threats to turn us in to the debt collectors. Nuts!

 

Your license plate looks nice even if you did have to do some minor smoogying !
When fannie sees it she will think it's CUTE.

Actually the toll booth people I talked to were friendly and nice. It really wasn't their fault or the county police. The deputy just never did whatever he was supposed to do to clear the booth. The tollbooth office and Sheriff's department are reasonably close together in the same county. For some reason the cameras and fines are taken care of in another state.
Still it happened several times right when we were going on vacation. I was always threatened to pay or have my license suspended. Had we left days earlier I would not know for months. That could have been a problem if Rosco P. Coltrane stopped me in Hog Flats, Missouri.