T-Bird Project Part 15 - And Now For Something Completely Different! - Page 3

Satisfied that the new choke handle would thread properly, we polished it to a smooth, even sheen on the buffing wheels. Afterward, we took out our metal stamping kit and free-handed the word "choke" onto the top surface of the handle.

Filing away everything that didn't look like a handle.

We had removed the plastic choke handle and threaded the shaft, so now the two pieces could be mated.

We think it looks pretty cool!

Now we turned our attention to the ashtray. On the original cars the tray was pulled from the bottom, but the A/C unit will block access. Although we won't be using the ashtray we still felt it should be operable, so we created a handle to pull it out. Once again, the aluminum stock was pulled out and we cut an appropriate shape for a handle. Once we cut the basic shape we sanded and grinded and filed until it had smooth contours.

We drilled and tapped holes in the new handle and then measured and drilled holes in the ashtray face. The new handle was mounted and everything tested out.

This looks enough like something from the '50s, we think.

It's being buffed smooth at this point.

This will do nicely, won't it?

One More Thing

We decided on a last little touch of detail for the gauge area. Since the dash itself is trimmed with machined aluminum – and we had some extra pieces from another car – we played around with a shape that might be appropriate. The shape we settled on is a broadened version of the Thunderbird emblem. We made several test drawings that would mimic this shape and adjusted them to the gauges and console shape, then cut them out of an area of an old piece of door trim.

This is going to work out, we think.

Lastly, we prepped and painted the dash, ashtray, glove box door, steering wheel (more on that in another article) and console with several coats of the off-white interior color that matches the upholstery. After a few days of curing we assembled the gauges, backed with the aluminum trim, and cable controls onto the console.

Now you have to admit it, this looks right out of the 1950s!

We like the results.

T-Bird Project Part 15 - Return to Page 1