3/20/11
Decals, Stickers, and More Details
1747
is headed to Savannah in June to attend the Ferrari Club of
America National Event, so a lot of little details needed to be fixed
to do well if we plan on getting this car judged. I set to work on the
PF Coupe fixing the little details to make this car "perfect."
The
numbers on the distributor caps were coming off, so they had to be put
back on. Kerry Chesbro has a digital file you can download from his
website that you can print on your computer to make these numbers, but
Parker Hall also has these numbers preprinted on self adhesive stickers
ready to apply. When I was working on my personal car, I printed my
own, stuck clear plastic film on the numbers, cut them out with a
special tool I made, and applied them to my distributors, but I have
found it's cheaper to buy the ready made stickers from Parker if
someone is paying for my time!
If you don't know who Parker Hall is, you have not detailed a Vintage
Ferrari! He publishes a beautiful catalog with pictures of original cars
with original details, and makes up for not having a website!
Parker Hall
Kilimanjaro Designs
940 Warrenton Rd.
Vicksburg, MS 39180
Ph 601-638-7856
Kilidesign@hotmail.com
1747
has a new set of Borranis mounted on the car, but they had the later
Borrani stickers on the wheels. Parker has the period correct labels
made in water transfer decals. Both labels are pretty delicate, and
care has to be taken when installing them on the wheels. The area these
stickers mount to the wheel has a compound curve, so getting the decal
to lay flat is near impossible. Order spares, and prepare to apply new
ones on the show field when one falls apart!
Here's what Parker had to say about the change in the Borrani Logo:
The
original company was a licensee of Rudge Whitworth, the English
company. During the war years Musollini encouraged them to use the
Italian names and to do away with the foreign licensee arrangements, so
you will see a mix of Carlo Borrani stamping and stickers and Rudge
Whitworth until the early 1950's. In the early 1950's Carlo Borrani
stamping was used, and I guess the Carlo Borrani water transfers were
also used but it was not unusual to see knock-offs with Rudge-Whitworth
stamping as late as the early 1950's (52 or 53). The theory being that
someone else cast and machined the knock-offs and they would continue
to use up the old stock.
In
"1961" Carlo Borrani sold the company and the stamping was changed to
"Ruote Borrani". Pronounced "Ru oat a". The stamping and decals were
changed at that time, finishing by 1962. Again because of the inventory
lag it is not unusual to see cars with Ruote Borrani stamping and
decals but with Carlo Borrani knock-offs as late as 1963. The latest
photo that I have seen, with the Carlo Borrani knock-offs, is Lusso
#4409 on pg 71 of Kirk Miska's book. The earliest photo of a car with
the Ruote Borrani knock-offs is #5063, pg 61 of the same book. This
documentation is based on the assumption that a change from Carlo to
Ruote happened at the same time as the change from the domed center to
the concave center, about April of 1963.
Here's the new sticker mounted to the wheel.
Another
neat detail Parker offers in his catalog are these reproduction valve
stem covers. It's a set of three pieces consisting of a stem cover, a
knurled keeper, and a valve stem cap.
Back
on the heater hoses there were some Pirelli stickers that were
occasionally found on the hoses. Now this is a topic that I am sensitive
about. As Francois explained when he apprenticed at the Ferrari Factory
in the early 60s, heater hose was installed on Ferraris from large
rolls
of heater hose delivered from Pirelli. A yellow Pirelli sticker was
vulcanized to the rubber hose once in a while. Meters of hose would be
unrolled before another one would be seen. When I attend Ferrari shows,
I often see Vintage Ferraris "over stickered" with these little yellow
stickers, often times lined up perfectly on top of one another.
I
had this discussion when I had my car judged several years ago, when I
intentionally omitted this sticker to prove a point. I told the judge
(whom is a well known restorer) my intentions, and he said "I guess
it's better to have it than not!" This is where I began questioning the
meaning of a restored car!
I discussed this issue with David the
owner of 1747, and we decided to throw a couple of stickers on this car
for good measure, but certainly not lined up perfectly. The end result
is we want to do well in judging, and if the current judges want to see
these stickers, we'll put them on. Just don't ever expect to see cars
that I do with perfectly lined up stickers!
Parker
was nice enough to send detailed instructions on how to get these
rubber stickers attached to the hose. He suggested using "Crazy Glue,"
or Ethyl cyanoacrylate glue and clamp the sticker to the hose with
something like
a beer can and some hose clamps. I decided to try some aluminum foil
and some butcher string. Wrapping the string tightly around the hose
allowed me to get the sticker to fit closer to the contour of the hose,
and I think it turned out well.
I did the same technique for the radiator hose.
The
stickers look good, and dress up the engine compartment, but I refrained
from more than two stickers on the car...and that's all I'm going to
say about that!
I refinished the steering wheel on this car a couple years ago, but I
found new cracks forming in new places on the wheel. Getting
all the cracks to stop was getting beyond my abilities so I decided to
send the wheel to someone with a lot more experience with woodworking.
Peter Gluklick was recommended to me by Kerry Chesbro, and after seeing
some of his work, I decided to send the wheel to http://pgluckwoodworks.com/
.
Here's what Peter had to say about the work:
This one was
well on it's way to self destructing. The wood
is extremely dry. Often the dents whether through usage or
created in the process of coaxing damaged areas open can be manipulated
back to near their original shape. In this case there was a
tendency for the wood to break apart in chards when prying.
Once I got to poking and prying there were a great many areas requiring
attention. For instance the inner lamination on the
back side with little coaxing opened about 2/3 of the circumference,
the joint just outbound of the black stripe on the front was loose
about 1/4, this in addition to the breakage from torquing some
of which was obvious and some which appeared as the poking
continued. The areas were opened and cleaned including the
aluminum rim and re-adhered. I did what I could to moisturize
and invigorate the wood itself but at some point it's a mother nature
thing.
Finishing was
approached carefully so as to maintain as much of the
patina as possible attempting achieve an end product that
appeared well used and maintained and not new or restored.
The finish is a urethane varnish which will yellow a small amount
over the next couple of years. The curing process will
continue for another couple of months so application of a wax to the
wood
should be held off for that time. At that a good paste wax
every year or two may prove beneficial in the long run.
Peter
The wheel looks great back in it's home, and we're getting closer to
seeing this car head home!
Reminder: If you have a Ferrari
related project, car, or idea
you'd like to explore, I'd love to talk to you. I can also help if
you're thinking of buying or selling. This website represents what I
love to do, share, and how I make a living, so if you'd like to do
something together, let me know. It all begins with an e-mail!
Save the Date! Fourth Annual
Radcliffe/Tomyang.net Spring Car Show on Saturday May 7th 2011. Richard
Garre and I are looking forward to planning this show and more details
will follow here and the Radcliffe
Motorcar Company Website,
but if you want to mark you calendar, the date to remember is May 7th,
2011!
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