Dreaming of warmer times

Here we are in the depths of winter where it seems only to get colder and more uncomfortable with each passing day. It’s at this time that a “young” man’s fancy turns to thoughts of new auto parts.

I’ve been making a list and checking it waay too often. I’m compiling a list of changes, improvements and repairs that I want to make to the Roadmaster in the ever so short months of summer. I still feel really badly about making the Roadmaster endure the winter. It was never the plan that it be out in the snow, but sometimes plans just don’t play out the way that we’d like. As a reward for meritorious service, I’m really looking forward to dressing the Roadmaster up a little and turning a few more heads.

One of the primary requirements is going to be getting the seats removed to de-rust and paint the seat mounting brackets. That should let me get to the bottom of my power seat problems as well. While the seats are out the carpeting will need to be removed and the floor pans scraped, treated and sound proofed. I noticed when I got the car that it was a little soggy under the carpeting on the driver’s side and I don’t imagine a Canadian winter has helped matters any. The rust under there isn’t terrible, but it needs to be nipped in the bud. I’m still digging through just what products I want to use for that but stay tuned for lots of pics and seemingly erudite descriptions. While the carpeting is out, I’m really hoping that carpet cleaner sourced from our friends over at Griot’s Garage will have the chops to make that rug purty again as it seems to have had a pretty hard life through the last 17 years. If I can’t get it clean, I may have to replace it. It’s not a huge expenditure to do that, but one I’d like to avoid both from a cost standpoint and to prevent the new carpet colour not matching correctly. The carpeting still seems to be in good shape, it’s just really dirty.

I’m really excited about removing the wood trim moulding from the side of the car and getting it stripped and re-coated. As you can see it’s peeling a bit and needs some work. The gang over at stationwagonforums.com have some great ideas on making that wood trim better than new. With that done, the car will really jump out at you as it goes by even if I haven’t finished waxing and polishing everything else yet. The whole process is very similar to the faux finishing that is often shown on decorating shows. With a bit of patience and attention to detail, I expect the trim to wind up looking better than when it came from the factory. I think that the peeling trim is one of the most glaring issues with the car as it is now. Here’s a nifty tutorial on revitalizing old woodgrain trim. That ’62 Falcon wagon practically glows with that new “wood” trim.
Restoring Woodgrain

This looks like one of the modifications that will be the most fun and rewarding to apply and I just can’t wait to get started!

I’m also thinking that I would really like to get some new rims onto the Roadmaster. I’m having a lot of trouble deciding what I want. It seems that a lot of folks are using the rims commonly found on Impala SS Sedans or American Racing Torque Thrust II’s. While I really like the look of the Impala SS and the Torque Thrust rims on a Roadmaster wagon, it’s an extremely common addition and I’m not sure what I want to just follow the pack. I would really love something a little different but not too over the top. It has to look really nice but not detract from the stock look that I want the Roadie to have.

As relatively uncommon as these vehicles are, those who have them are familiar with all of their options, quirks, and modifications. It would be nice if mine had that little something extra to make it stand just that much apart from the rest.

I have seen a lot of beautiful Roadmaster wagons but I’ve also seen a lot of them that were put together without any thought to sinergy. The wheel treatment might be fantastic, but could look awful on a Roadmaster. I absolutely love American Racing’s Ansen Sprint rims but after a little digital editing to put them onto a photo of my car I found that they looked awful on a Roadmaster. Clearly, I have to second guess my instincts to make a good choice here. This sort of stuff needs to be thought out ahead of time to ensure that the car looks the way I want it, without looking like something no one else will want to look at. There are a lot of wheels out there so I really have my work cut out for me to find something that looks as good as the two I’ve shown here but looks a little bit different.

I’m still planning and making notes while I shop around to find the look that I’m after. With a bit of luck, I should have everything sorted out and sourced by the time that the ground works itself free of this white crap that’s all over the place. The long Saturdays of summer can’t come soon enough!