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1200 autocross project Texas


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Why not just polish it for the test? Or I can probably loan you some scrap chrome pieces if need be. 

It's got rust on it and I want a high quality job. I want to see exactly what a quality "Black Chrome" job looks like before I spend a stupid amount of money on it.

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Enter stage right, Jackie Peebles, El Jefe of North Texas Quality Chrome in Gainsville TX. I contacted Jackie and told him my story and he was intrigued with my project. He said he wanted to help me complete my project and that he liked working on "rare" cars. He does High End Restoration chrome jobs. I didn't really understand what "High End" meant at the time. When you are talking to Jackie, you are his most important customer. He has been doing this for over 50 years and has customer service down to a fine art. I am in the customer service business and am very impressed. Maybe it is a Texas thing. Outstanding customer service happens a lot around here. I have parts to be chromed on what is realistically a $500.00 car but I am treated as an important customer.

 

The re-chromed bumper guard.

 

 

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Another shot of the bumper guard.

 

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One more.

 

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More photos from North Texas Quality Chrome. 

 

30's something custom bumper.

 

 

 

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30's something headlight buckets.

 

 

 

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Grille from a 30's something Delahaye. A Dallas area collector bought this car for $6,000,000.000

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Super cool build! I had no clue that there was more than one chrome shop in the DFW area. I've always been told there was just one, I think I may call him and ask what getting some parts for my 210 chromed would run.

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Super cool build! I had no clue that there was more than one chrome shop in the DFW area. I've always been told there was just one, I think I may call him and ask what getting some parts for my 210 chromed would run.

 

Who is the one you know? We get all our stuff done at Economy Plating in Balch Springs. Great work and super good prices. 

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North Texas Quality Chrome is NOT CHEAP! Jackie only does High End stuff. If you want daily driver quality, look elsewhere. If you are going to take your car to a Barrett Jackson auction, Jackie is your guy. The chrome is so good I am considering changing the 1200's color to Black and keeping the trim Bright Chrome. A Texas car with a black interior and black paint with no AC is somewhere between insanity and a death wish. But Jackie's work is that good! The powder coating simulated black chrome didn't work out so well, so I am having to re-think the build plan. 

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Dammit! You are right, it does look good original color with chrome and it would better with Jackies' chrome. Maybe it is because the 40 year old re-paint is really faded and wasn't the greatest quality to begin with. Maybe I am tired of looking at that color for the most of my life. Going back with the original color would make the project much simpler and cheaper. For now I just need to concentrate on getting the car back on the road. This paint stuff is going to make my head explode.

 

Here is the powder coating test that started this dilemma. Left bumper guard is the black chrome coating over bright chrome plating. Right one is sand blasted, powder coated silver, and top coated with black chrome.

 

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The left bumper guard had to be scuffed with steel wool for the powder coat to adhere. That totally killed the high luster shine of the new chrome plating. It looks mottled with obvious scratches. And it is not black enough for the right contrast with bright yellow.

 

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I think the lack of consistency is in the scuffing. Different directions, probably different pressures. A few obvious scratches. Any alteration of that perfect mirror shine is going to screw things up. The back side of the bumper guard wasn't touched. The mounting bracket wasn't polished by Jackie, but was chrome plated. It wasn't scuffed by Pat, but was black chrome powder coated. Pat made some scratches on the bracket to test adhesion, and said it looked good. The DAMN BRACKET turned out like I wanted the rest of the guard to be finished!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Starting some rust repair. The left rear drivers seat mount. The drivers seat had a noticeable lean to the rear left corner. Dad was a bug guy and I thought he bent the seat, struggling to get out of the car after he got sick. Wrong! The seat is straight, but the seat mount was compromised. The vertical mount was torn away from the chassis and the rear horizontal mount was rusted away with about half of the mount missing and a half dollar size hole in the floor. 

 

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I drilled out the spot welds for the seat mount and this is the ugliness I found underneath the mount.

 

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Nearly half of the rear mounting flange is rusted away.

 

 

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The replacement mount will have to be fabricated. Since a new seat mount is in order, looks like it is time to decide what modern seats will replace the originals. I really liked the seats I had in my '85 Golf GTI. But that was 30 years and 50 pounds ago.

 

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When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time in the back seat of this car. 2 times on family vacation, 800 mile round trip, from Amarillo TX to Colorado Springs Co. 4 times on vacation, the family drove from Amarillo TX to Port Isabel TX, the southern tip of TX on South Padre Island. 1600 mile round trip. The last year we went on "The Family Vacation", I drove the whole way. The parents would hang out in the hotel and Dad let me drive the car up and down Padre Island beach, by myself, at 17 years old during spring break. Spring break in the late '70's wasn't anything like it is today, but I sure did feel like a Bad Ass. 

 

This car IS my road trip car. Denton TX to Canby is a 4000 mile round trip. It will essentially be a brand new Datsun 1200 when I do this. My goal is to do this by the time I turn 60. 6 years to go.

 

"The road goes on forever and the party never ends."

Credit to Robert Earl Keen.

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My 1200 is NOT comfy at all.  It's fun to drive, but 90 minutes is about the max for me...

 

 

Problem is, I'm thinking "what if I drove my 1200 that far?". I wouldn't wish that on anybody...   :rofl:

 

His being a bit more comfortable than mine, I'm sure he can do it.   :thumbup:

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I can handle about 7 hours in my 1200 ( with 3 to 4 stops worked in there). So let me know when you are planning Canby, I may tag along as I have thought about doing this for several years now.

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Doing more labor intensive work that doesn't require much money. I earlier found rust lurking under the seam sealer at the firewall / floor pan so now all the seam sealer is coming off. I think they put that stuff on with a trowel. The car will probably be 10 lbs. lighter with all of it removed.

 

I removed the the left rear interior panel because the wire wheel is coming too close to it. The panel looks like a new one.

 

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This is what I saw after I removed the interior panel. The top of the rocker panel has very little rust. 

 

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