Tracin' Tracin' Tracin'

(Sung to the tune of "Rawhide")
This evening I disassembled the old door panels from the silver Belair and salvaged the chrome trim.  All four panels are original and definitely showing their age.

Back Door Panel

Front Door Panel

The original cloud pattern cloth was sewn to the cardboard backing.

The silver insert has its own cardboard backing.

  I took plenty of pictures since I plan to recreate the original design with new/modern materials.

The chrome is the most expensive part and I am fortunate in that  all of it is in very good condition.  It should be easy to reuse.

My wife was kind enough to do the tracing of the inner cardboard while I kneeled on it to smooth out the bumps and wrinkles.

I am looking for some ABS plastic sheets to cut and trim to size.  Original pattern cloth and vinyl is available online.  I will need to figure out how to secure it to the door.

The adventure continues...

Reset! Well, sort of...

Sometimes you find a deal that is just impossible to pass up.  Yes, I bought another one.  Why?  Great price and everything short of a total frame-off restoration already completed.  It needs to have the chrome put back on and the interior redone.  

Consequently, I am selling my red '57 Belair ASAP (http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/3173821897.html) but I continue to tweak the basics on it.  This week I am replacing the battery cables, exhaust manifold gasket and oil pan gasket.  I may also do the rear main seal while the silver one is getting a good once over from Milestone Paint and Body.

I plan to pull the interior door panels from the red one and make some templates so that I can create new panels out of ABS plastic for the silver one.  My goal is to do most, if not all, of the interior myself.  Seatbelts  are already on order (three point for the front).  Looking forward to visiting my friend Jason who has offered to weld in the pillar anchors for me.

The best part of the red Belair has been the trip with my dad to buy it and joy rides with the neighbors.  Looking forward to focusing on the new Belair.