Prime time
We picked up the freshly cleaned body of our Super Sports on short notice and painted it with epoxy primer to inhibit immediate corrosion. The body looked like brand new metal, thanks again to American Metal Cleaning!
At the metal cleaners…
…look at the shiny metal!
We placed the body on a cart for easy movement.
We were able to tip the car on its side to sand and paint the bottom!
After lightly sanding the whole car, we welded some holes in the rear left fender and fixed some bent metal (the flange on the front left seam was bent back slightly). After vacuuming the dust away and removing our tools from the area, it was time to paint!
It seems like the pitting in the floor was caused by water trapped under the original floor mats.
We will lightly sand this coat and then use filler primer and Bondo to smooth out the imperfections.
Engine-ering
We disassembled our 1950 Super Hotshot’s engine and painted it. After our new gaskets arrive, we can put it back together!
Painted engine block (red paint on letters will be done later)
First, we turned the engine upside down to remove the crankshaft and pistons (after removing the oil pan and oil pump).
This engine appears to have been repainted at some point, as evidenced by the dark bluish-gray color, painted crankcase, and overspray on the flywheel. While stripping the block, we found the original gray color paint underneath - thanks to Barry Seel for telling us the right paint color to use!
Every part in the engine looked brand-new, apart from the tower shaft gear, which has lots of deep grooves and will need replacing.
Engine block fully stripped and ready for paint!
We used masking tape for the large areas and earplugs to fill the smaller holes… they worked surprisingly well!
Preparing for the dipper again!
We prepared the body of our 1950 Super Hotshot for metal cleaning by transferring it onto the wooden frame we created for our 1951 Super Sports.
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Sanding the body reveals the original Ocean Foam Green paint.
As mentioned previously, we removed the original undercoating from the bottom of the hood to reveal even more Ocean Foam Green; we can use the hood to get our paint matched correctly!
Brakes
After we got the frame apart, I was able to disassemble the brakes completely. After sandblasting and painting, they will be ready for our new brake parts!
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We have been carefully documenting and labeling each part with a number, marking its location on a spreadsheet. This will prove very handy once we start putting the car back together, and minimize the chance of lost parts!
The brake lines cleaned up very nicely with steel wool and a Scotchbrite pad!
Wishy washy
We pressure washed the car and used degreaser to clean it up. We were then able to continue our disassembly, separating the frame from the engine, front end, and rear end.
Nothing a little sanding can’t fix.
We might need new motor mounts…
…and a new master cylinder.
Thanks Tim Freshley!
Tim Freshley graciously allowed us to check out his awesome Crosley Collection; he even gave us some original fabric to help us with our interior!
Original vinyl from Tim Freshley (top two) with original edging and the original trim from our car with replaced edging (bottom two)
We used Tim Freshley’s fabric and the original trim on our car (with non-original edging) as reference to come up with as close a match to the original materials as possible. (we are still working on our sewing skills!)
Learning how to sew!
Disassembly
Although our recently acquired 1950 Super Hotshot is an excellent example, it was repainted Canto Cream and seems to have had some minor ‘restoration’ done in the 1980s. In addition, most of the rubber gaskets need replacing and some work would be needed to get it running in its current state. Due to this, we have decided to take it apart very carefully and restore it to the best of our ability, using the knowledge and parts we have gained from our first Crosley attempt. If all goes to plan, we should be able to finish this car just in time for this summer’s car shows, including the Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance and, of course, the Crosley Nationals!
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We used our new car lift to remove the body, after we took out the interior, pedals, handbrake, wiring harness, and gauges. We are using trailer wheels as working wheels to roll the car around.
We found an excellent color matching vinyl to use for our interior. Thanks to Tim Freshley for lending us some additional original fabric and tops to help us recreate them!
Although the fabric of our top and interior trim is original, the edging was replaced at some point with a newer plastic material.
The original stitching holes for the edging can be seen behind the new material.
We removed the original undercoating from the back of the hood, which perfectly preserved the original Ocean Foam Green paint!
New car!
We picked up this mostly original, very low mileage 1950 Super Hotshot from northern California. We built a crate to ship it back (we did not trust car shippers!) and loaded the crate ourselves. It also included a few extra engines and some other parts, which we also put in the crate.
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Building the crate
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Loading the crate - We secured the car to the crate by replacing the wheels with wooden supports and then bolted them to the crate.
Installing wooden support
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Unloading the crate
Painted parts
We painted some suspension and brake parts and gave the frame another coat of paint.
