Bye Bye Suicide Doors

We had a set back on the 53 Kaiser project that is now at Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix for final body work fit and paint. The car was ready for paint when we got a call from Dean for a meeting with him.


At the meeting he told us of his concerns regarding the suicide doors that they would not support the door, glass, and upholstery which would cause them to sag.





They could not open correctly and hit the outside lower trim if both doors were opened simultaneously. They hit each other and would damage the paint.


After much discussion, Karen made the decision to go back to stock doors. I called Larry Barker (The Kaiser Guru of Phoenix) and made arrangements to pick up 2 stock rear doors and 2 "B" pillars from him then took them to Dean. When I got home I cut the latch side of door jams out of the parts car (with Latches in tack) 4 door hinges, sandblasted all the parts and took them to Dean. The car had to be rescheduled back to the metal shop where Ron (the metal fabricator) braced the rear doors, replaced the B pillars and door strike assemblies, then fit the stock doors. All this set the completion date back by at least a month.

The 51 Ford



The 51 ford 4 door upholstery work is now 90% complete.





All the suspension, brakes, power steering and engine work is done.










two weeks ago I went to LA loaded the car in an enclosed trailer and took it to MASA Muffler for the exhaust system. Then Last week the exhaust was removed and I delivered it to Specialized Coasting in Hunting Beach. Where it will be ceramic coated and polished.











We picked it up on Wed Oct 7Th when we were in LA and delivered it back to the shop to be reinstalled. We met with Martin on the upholstery that he is doing a great job on.
Hopefully in the next 2 weeks the glass will get done, paint touched up and be ready for pictures that will submitted for entry to the Grand National Roadster show to be held in LA in January 2011.