Restoration of our 62 4 speed Jetfire

[Greg Oakley]

You are right about that Eric, let us know how the new pin works and tell the guy other people are interested in them as well.

[jensenracing77]

I decided to do some simple things while taking care of my wife. I pulled the clock out of the cluster and fixed it. I tested the electronics first and they worked good. I then put the smallest touch of clock oil on the shafts and it started working great. I cleaned the contacts while I was there. Also polished the lens for the cluster and tested all the bulbs. I usually replace all bulbs when I restore a car but I am not going to on this car. If they are good I am reusing them. The only bulb I know of that was bad on this car was a boost gauge bulb.

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[jensenracing77]

Had some more time so I took the radio apart and cleaned it up. I did not touch the circuits because it works good. Some of the vintage tube radio people say it is best to fix these before broken but I am going to leave it alone other than detail it inside and out. The speaker also works good. The top side has faded but the back side looks like new. The cone material does not feel fragile at all. I will just add new material to the top and use it as it is. This sounded to nice to touch it in my opinion. Luckily, we have a great AM station local also. I did have to replace the bulb in the radio. I found a good one in another radio and used it.

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[jensenracing77]

Radio and speaker are done and ready to install.

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[graytoad]

That looks fabulous Eric, did you take a before photo of the front of the unit?

[jensenracing77]

The radio looked really good to start with. The worst part of the front was the lens was foggy. It don’t look that bad in the before picture but it was in person. Turned out that the worst part of the fog was on the inside. The chrome was real nice and I just polished it up. Other than that I just cleaned all the dust off the case and from the inside.

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[macf85]

Nice job on the radio! Coincidentally, I recently stayed at a Hampton Inn Hotel on business and their artwork program consisted of black and white travel related photos. The room I stayed in had a room number sign with a photo of the F-85 radio on it. I just had to photograph it.

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[jensenracing77]

My wife and I have seen that before when we stayed at one. It has to be 61 or 62 because the 63 says transistor radio on it. We have had good experiences at all the Hampton Inn’s we have stayed at.

[jensenracing77]

Just talked to the body guy. He is having problems with it now. He has several hours in getting the paint to match correct but says he finely got it. He said that he sprayed some parts and something went wrong and turned out terrible. This is the first painting he has done since the old shop burned down. He said he is adjusting to the new booth and gun and other things. He said he sanded those parts down and painted them again and still not right. Now he is sanding them down again and trying something new. I ask him to send me a picture or two and he said absolutely not and that if I come to look that he wants no cameras in the shop till he has it right. He really don’t want me even coming over, lol. I told him I was going to have a fortune in this but he said he is not charging me for his mistakes and he has already ate $500 in paint and many hours in labor. At least he is honest and wants it right. He has a good name for great work so I can understand that he don’t want pictures. I just hope he has it figured out before pool season starts. If not, it will be next winter before it is done. 

[jensenracing77]

Lots more hardware clear zinc plated. The 4 speed inspection cover turned out much better than I expected. It looks better in person than in the picture. It almost looks silver in the picture but it is clear zinc. I also had the oil fill cap zinc plated. The top is the only side that gets painted and wanted the bottom side to have the correct zinc look. That may have been a little overboard but what the heck. I got extra jack hold down parts zinc plated also. Lots of extra screws and bolts I had done just to have extras around.

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