With the fenders on and having rebuilt the headlight buckets, it was time to install the headlights and parking/turnsignal lamps and proceed to wire everything up. I ran all of the wires up to the front in plastic split wiring harness covers to protect them from anything thrown up by the front tires. After a few solder joints I got the headlights on and the turnsignal blinking as they should.
The final install was the radio antenna. I had run the power and control lines and the antenna cable back when I was finishing up the dashboard wiring. All I had to do now was to drill the 5/8″ hole in the fender out to 3/4″ and mount the power antenna. With all of the cars that I have owned over these many years, I never had one that the antenna would extend when the radio was turned on and then collaspe when it was turned off. For some strange reason I always thought that was cool and so now after over 50 years I have one! Woot! It wont matter now if the car doesnt run worth a damn, I can sit in it and turn the radio on and off and watch the antenna go up and down… KOOL!
The Last of the Wiring!
Its getting down to the short strokes now! Yesterday, I took the wheels and tires off of the ’39 to get an idea of how the car would look and what I needed to order for tires. Basically the rear 235R7015s at 9.25″ were just a tad too wide. I determined that I needed more like a 225R6017 which has an 8.8″ wide cross section and is just at 28″ tall. The 195R6015s that I have mounted on the front of the ’39 looked really funny on the wagon, way too small for the fender opening, so I went for a 215R5517 that is a bit over 2″ taller i.e. 26″ inches high. I would have preferred a 205R5517 but couldn’t find a tire in that size that would match the rear tires. I am having the tires mounted today and will take the car over to Performance Automotive here in Show Low on Monday to have it aligned and the exhaust system installed. On Wednesday, it will be going over to Black Diamond Auto Glass to have the windshield and rear window installed. Then on Friday we will head down to the dreaded valley to take the wagon over to Louie Contras to have the upholstery done.
I think we are finally getting to the end of the project! Hoping I wont have too many steps backwards between now and next Friday!