The '80s material just didn't hold up well over
the years. The front seat had already been recovered a second time with
the same material, and a heavier cotton backer, but it still wasn't enough.
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The new stock upholstery. The pattern doesn't reduce well in the pictures
from my digital camera.
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The vinyl of the rear seat had split along the top. We use duct tape
to hold it together until we could find out what happened. When we
finally took the cover off, we found that the original paper wrapped
cord that held the springs to the frame had disintegrated.
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The finished rear seat. It has the replacement
foam instead of the batting. Overall, I'm not as fond of it since I couldn't
repack to get the wrinkes out.
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The original sunvisors held up fairly well
considering. We never recovered these in the '80s.
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The new sunvisors are a bit different in color
scheme, but I like the lighter vinyl better in this case.
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The '80s headliner held up fairly well, but
the '56 soundpadding above was disintegrating.
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The new headliner, pulled tight enough to get rid
of the wrinkles.
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The original tube radio in the dash. It still worked when we took it
out.
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The new radio is hidden under the seat, to keep a stock appearance.
Had to have tunes. After several years of sitting, the tube radio no
longer works, but was left in the dash for appearance.
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The original rims and tires, complete with dogdish hubcaps. These were
used during the restoration process, in various stages, and even on
Kurt's '56 Wagon for awhile. That's when we discovered that the vibration
wasn't the steering or suspension, but the rims going out of round.
For a quiet, safe ride, they would have to be replaced.
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New rims, new tires, and will have NOS dogdish hubcaps. Kurt thought
Michelle was crazy when she purchased 3 at a Spring Carlisle as she
would probably never find another NOS. However, that fall, she found
a single NOS dogdish at Carlisle. Some things are just meant to be.
The rims were the last Christmas present of Betsy's parts, Christmas
2005.
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Original parking light assemblies. These had never been replaced since
the factory installed them in 1956.
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The shiny new parking light assembly.
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The original grill, again, never replaced.
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A new chrome grill. The stainless one wasn't
out yet when the time came to purchase the grill.
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This is a replacement fender extension from the late 1980's. It was
originally replaced because the factory original had large holes in
it.
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The new fender extension. Hope the quality is
better than the '80s piece.
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A trunk emblem and V in sorry shape.
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The new replacements.
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