From The Archives #1: A Look Back

I felt somewhat bad about starting my first entry into the Venus blog with such ugly body work photos (see first entry below). Unless you’ve read the whole restoration section on the website (however unlikely), you really don’t know how far this car has come. Naturally, I started with the chassis and engine, and I am now putzing with the Venus body itself. Here are some photos for your interest from the website! (Click on photo for full-size version).

The chassis is a 1949 Ford shoebox, and the engine is a 1951 Mercury V8 flathead. The clearance with the hood scoop will not allow me to use the air filters…I’ll simply have a screen across the top of the carb itself. The headers (Red’s) will eventually be chrome plated and internally ceramic coated.

Here is a before and after comp of the steering linkage:

 

Here is another before after composition of the clutch/brake systems. The work-arounds were so mickey-mouse, I seriously considered a T5 transmission and new hydraulic system. But a friend got a hold of me and told me to keep it period-correct. I’m glad he did. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I think the original column shift is going to work fine.

Here’s photo of my Dad with the full-size Venus plug he made by hand, back in 1953 or so. He is the 2nd from the left with the cigar. He was a mere 34 years old when he started this. The last guy on the right is still alive today and we correspond regularly on Venus issues. The blue stuff on the plug is release compound as they are getting ready to make a mold.

Here’s a composite of the engine as found. The old guy said “yeah, we restored it not too long ago”, to which I asked “well which part did you restore because I sure can’t see it!”:

Finally, here’s one of my favorites from the original publicity photos…the Venus next to the Battleship Texas. This is the only Venus I know of that received a folding top, no doubt a custom job.
 

Thanks for looking; please respond with comments or even subscribe!

Patrick

The Venus (Update #1)

Hello friends! This is my first attempt at writing a blog, so please bear with me. I will primarily be posting Venus progress updates from time to time. Please see “About The Venus” for links to the website which will have much more detail, and can bring you up to date!

So, on with my initial blog post. As I left off on the website, the Venus body was flipped upside down for better under-body access to perform repairs and to paint. I couldn’t begin sanding and spraying in my driveway due to the noise and dust (not to mention an unpleasant neighbor), and it just wouldn’t be right anyway. So I am now keeping the Venus body in an enclosed (and lockable) boat storage place near Katy Mills Mall. 

After ordering all of my fiberglass materials, and after dragging the air compressor, small work tables, and all kinds of stuff over to the stall, I finally began glass repair work today, 4/7/08. It has been quite awhile since working with fiberglass and resin, but it wasn’t too difficult. Although not shown here as I didn’t take my camera with me, I laid a 10×12 inch piece of glass behind the holes in the instrument panel, as well as a piece behind the radio cut-out. This will serve as a firm foundation to allow me to fill in the holes with progressive circles of glass and resin, building each up to the appropriate level. The inside firewall will get a complete sheet of glass.

Yep, I know…pretty darn ugly! But after I get these holes covered and some seams reinforced, the interior will be sprayed with primer, sanded smooth, and then painted. It will then look great! The plan will then be to flip it right-side up, and continue sanding and minor repairs on the outside of the body. This is taking longer than I expected, and I need to spend full-days on this if I ever expect to get this finished!

The work was pretty rough at first. Below are two angle-iron pieces that apprently held the windshield posts. These were not original, and were just globbed on with cruddy adhesive…took a lot of work in tight spaces to get these out.

One other on-going issue is that of finding the correct pieces that made up the spokes on the front grille. I learned that my Dad used the horizontal bar that mounted between the two bumper guards on the rear bumper of a 1951 Mercury. I have only received 1 of these so far, but I expect to get another 3 or 4 before too long. Here is a photo showing you the trypical condition of these pieces. They will, of course, go to a chrome plate specialist to make like-new. The light fixture will be cut out.

Well, that’s it for my first blog entry. Please leave a comment. I really don’t know if I’m going to keep this blog up….but it is a way to send updates without attaching a bunch of photos to an e-mail.

Patrick