I received a call from a gentleman that has a beautiful 1931 Plymouth. His problem was that he wanted to restore the original burl wood grain look of this classic. He explained that his options had been limited and he liked none of them. He wanted to know if we could help as he was not familiar with our process. I walked him through the advantages of water transfer imaging and that it worked on most substrates including his steel dash and trim parts, he agreed that we needed to meet.
I offered to come help pull the parts from the car, so we set up a date and a time to meet. When I arrived and look at the car it was in pristine condition. It had been well look after over the years but the interior trim had faded and needed to be reworked. My client commented that until discovering water transfer imaging he was seriously contemplating painting the interior but could just not bring himself to do it. Indeed, I have seen many vintage automobiles interiors originally decorated with ink screened wood grain that has been replaced by a solid coat of paint.
As we worked, we talked about the car and its colourful history, about how the current owner had search for this model of car and finally found one in the Eastern United States. It was amazing to still see the faint pattern of the wood grain in the original pieces. As I look at the dash I held in my hands I was reminded that it was originally decorated almost 80 years ago by someone who had painstakingly applied the ink rollers to get the right look of grain into it and now we had the opportunity to restore that look.
After we had finished pulling the pieces we looked at the different patterns available and my client decided on one that he felt most reflected the original pattern. Getting the pieces back to the shop we carefully cleaned and prepared them for dipping. After dipping and clear coating, we hand polished each piece to bring out the depth of the wood grain.
Our client encouraged us to show off the work we had done as he was not in a rush to put the car back together. So we would take it with us when we spoke at car clubs venues, it was always the hit of the show.
The last venue we spoke at where the dash was present was at our client’s vintage car club meeting. The dash won more praise and so did the owner for not giving into the temptation to just paint it. After the meeting our client reclaimed his treasure with pride. As we parted company that evening I could not help but smile and feel a sense of accomplishment that we had recreated something special in that old car that a coat of paint just can not compete with.
Until next time,
Imagine it.....Dip it!
