Bringin' It Back From The Dead - 70 Catalina Convertible

[Fitzy]

Well...who would have thought I could provide some useful information on this. As you must know by now I have just removed my skirts. There are 3 little bits of attachment hardware that locate on the wheelarch lip. Once the skirt sits in place, you move the lever across and the other end of that mechanism latches onto the top wheelarch attachment. You then lock the lever into the bottom skirt lip. There's a rubber seal that belongs across the top and probably some trim to complete the outside.

Checking tyre pressures and cleaning the wheels will involve removing the skirts. I have put up with it for years and I've had enough of them.

Personally, I like them on a luxobarge (like a Bonneville) but for something a little more sporting I think they tend to 'soften' the car's look.

[64 kiwi boni]

well Rick, fitzy justA pulled his skirts up and off !!!

it really depends on what your looking for the car to look like mate 

[B52bombardier1]

Hello,

   The skirts fit.   I took them to the paint shop today at lunch and both sides fit.  They will need slight amounts of metal work from being banged around in a box for maybe fifty five or so.   The latch mounting hardware to keep them attached to the quarter panel lip is in great condition but it does not appear that it would take much of a pothole to knock a skirt loose.

  The rubber trim around the edge is also going to need some adhesive to keep it in place. There is definitely a best fit for these - there is a left side skirt and a right side skirt.

Rick

 

 

[B52bombardier1]

Hello,

  I may not have a Cat car to work on but I do have parts that need it - the large trim pieces that are low along the rocker panels.  The pictures are somewhat confusing in that I'm working on three long trim pieces but I only need two for the car.  This Catalina was missing the rocker trim on the passenger side though that Mt Pleasant, Texas 1970 Catalina parts car had it but it was badly mangled - possibly repairable, I think.   So I grabbed the parts car rocker trim from both sides and I am now cleaning all three pieces up, hammering out the dents, sanding and eventually polishing these pieces.  The best one of the two on the driver's side will go on the car.

  As some of you may remember, I am a Summa Cum Laude distinguished honors graduate from the "Harvard Of The Internet" . . . You Tube. I have watched a lot of stainless steel trim repair and polishing videos to try and make these parts shiny and usable again. They use a double action sander a lot so I picked up a used electric "hook and pile" pad attachment DA earlier today and got to work this afternoon.

That first picture below with the black spots on the trim stopped me dead in my tracks for a while.  Those spots are some kind of fossilized road tar that would not easily come off and these stains must come off first before sanding can begin.  They would not yield to Coleman lantern liquid fuel and not lacquer thinner.  Some charcoal grill lighter fluid and the brisk use of steel wool finally softened up the spots for removal.  

  All three pieces are now clean and I will start light hammering on the backsides tomorrow with using a black spray paint guide coat to reveal the low spots. Some filing on the high spots will also likely be needed.  I used the DA a little on the cleanest piece of trim to find out that you really do need to start out with a relatively harsh 80 grit pad to get anything done for sanding on even a merely tarnished area.  I also have some 120 grit all the way out to 800 grit to keep sanding out the scratches from the harsher pad grit work.  This is going to take a while because stainless steel is a very hard metal.

  That mangled piece of passenger side rocker trim is the fourth picture below before it came off the Texas parts car.  It looked bad here on the work bench before some hammer work got out about eighty percent of the dents plus some straightening. Larry at LarryLawrence.com didn't want to sell me this piece of trim but finally did after some begging.    I will not be able to repair the cracked places in the steel but this piece will go on this Catalina because I don't have any other choice.

Rick