# 1939 Shelby Airflow restoration update part 1



## Reesatheresa (Jul 16, 2017)

The first photo is of the bike from the auctioneers website.  When we took off the tank the original Eveready battery was still inside.  The date on it was to be used by 1942.  Really cool find!  The bike and pedals have been taken off and the rust has been removed as much as possible.  When looking at the underside of the seat, the original Lobdell-Emery sticker is still intact.  The Torrington year drop pedals were a bitch to clean, but have shined up well.  The bike was washed but the yellow paint was stained from 78 years of dirt.  I used Meguire's compound to restore the clarity and remove some of the rust.  The white wall tires were yellow when I got the bike home.  They now look like they were intended.  There is still a lot to do, but this progress was made a lot faster than I thought.  Last photo is how it looks this evening.  I am pretty happy with the results!  


















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## catfish (Jul 16, 2017)

Nice!


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## blasterracing (Jul 16, 2017)

Looking good!


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## rollfaster (Jul 16, 2017)

You scared me at first when you said restoration. Cleaning up very nicely.


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## juanitasmith13 (Jul 16, 2017)

See now, already you are adding good info to the CABE knowledge base. I'm talking about your photo of the Torrington #7 pedals. I'm going to turn two others onto your post... tell me please, in a follow-up post, the measure on your pedal blocks. Are they ~3 1/2" long and ~3/4" wide?
@morton ; @rustjunkie . Really GREAT job on the clean-up!

Another suggestion, rustjunkie  has much experience with seat preservation. You might message him and ask how he would preserve the underside of your seat pan....


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## saladshooter (Jul 16, 2017)

Actually, I believe the pedals to be Torrington 17.
Chad


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## Spence36 (Jul 16, 2017)

WOWm
Nice bike. What type of reflector goes on these things can you take. Pic of yours ?


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 17, 2017)

juanitasmith13 said:


> See now, already you are adding good info to the CABE knowledge base. I'm talking about your photo of the Torrington #7 pedals. I'm going to turn two others onto your post... tell me please, in a follow-up post, the measure on your pedal blocks. Are they ~3 1/2" long and ~3/4" wide?
> @morton ; @rustjunkie . Really GREAT job on the clean-up!
> 
> Another suggestion, rustjunkie  has much experience with seat preservation. You might message him and ask how he would preserve the underside of your seat pan....




Thank you.  The blocks are 3 1/4 and slightly less than an inch wide.


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 17, 2017)

Spence36 said:


> WOWm
> Nice bike. What type of reflector goes on these things can you take. Pic of yours ?



Thank you.  Here is a photo of the reflector.



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## rollfaster (Jul 17, 2017)

Think it's a Persons reflector, but not sure the number @catfish.


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 17, 2017)

rollfaster said:


> Think it's a Persons reflector, but not sure the number @catfish.



It is a Person's #219

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## juanitasmith13 (Jul 17, 2017)

Reesatheresa said:


> Thank you.  The blocks are 3 1/4 and slightly less than an inch wide.



Thank YOU! One more question... As you read the number in the center of the pedal face plate: Is that number a '7' or '17'?


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 17, 2017)

juanitasmith13 said:


> Thank YOU! One more question... As you read the number in the center of the pedal face plate: Is that number a '7' or '17'?



It is a 17.  

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## None (Jul 17, 2017)

She's BEAUTIFUL!


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## Euphman06 (Jul 17, 2017)

A beauty!


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## vincev (Jul 17, 2017)

Holy crap ,nice !


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## Bikermaniac (Jul 17, 2017)

Really Nice!!


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## HARPO (Jul 18, 2017)

I don't know how many times I can say "WOW.....but..._*"WOW"!!!!*_


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## the2finger (Jul 18, 2017)

Not the deluxe version but here's our '40


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## blasterracing (Jul 18, 2017)

the2finger said:


> View attachment 646533 Not the deluxe version but here's our '40



Nice Shelby's.  All 3!


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 18, 2017)

the2finger said:


> View attachment 646533 Not the deluxe version but here's our '40



Nice!  It's pretty amazing to see something Pre-war still looking good.  Nice Mustang too!


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 18, 2017)

HARPO said:


> I don't know how many times I can say "WOW.....but..._*"WOW"!!!!*_



I feel the same way.  [emoji1] I would have ridden it out of the auction, but that would have been tacky.  No, really the tires were flat [emoji23] 

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## 56 Vette (Jul 19, 2017)

What a beautiful bike, it's cleaning up awesome! Congrats, most definitely looks like it fell into the right hands!! Joe


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## partsguy (Jul 24, 2017)

Reesatheresa said:


> I feel the same way.  [emoji1] I would have ridden it out of the auction, but that would have been tacky.  No, really the tires were flat [emoji23]
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk





Shucks, if I was there, I'd give you guys a pump to air them up!


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## partsguy (Jul 24, 2017)

Reesatheresa said:


> The first photo is of the bike from the auctioneers website.  When we took off the tank the original Eveready battery was still inside.  The date on it was to be used by 1942.  Really cool find!  The bike and pedals have been taken off and the rust has been removed as much as possible.  When looking at the underside of the seat, the original Lobdell-Emery sticker is still intact.  The Torrington year drop pedals were a bitch to clean, but have shined up well.  The bike was washed but the yellow paint was stained from 78 years of dirt.  I used Meguire's compound to restore the clarity and remove some of the rust.  The white wall tires were yellow when I got the bike home.  They now look like they were intended.  There is still a lot to do, but this progress was made a lot faster than I thought.  Last photo is how it looks this evening.  I am pretty happy with the results!  View attachment 645579View attachment 645580View attachment 645581View attachment 645582View attachment 645583View attachment 645584View attachment 645585View attachment 645586
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk





WOW....43 likes. I do believe that is the most "likes" ever given to any thread here.

This cleaned up beautifully! I love the colors! It was a pleasure to meet you, your husband, and kids. A wonderful family with awesome bikes!


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 24, 2017)

partsguy said:


> WOW....43 likes. I do believe that is the most "likes" ever given to any thread here.
> 
> This cleaned up beautifully! I love the colors! It was a pleasure to meet you, your husband, and kids. A wonderful family with awesome bikes!



Thank you!  It was great to meet you as well!  She is completely clean now.  I need to find some uninterrupted time to grease the bearings before I ride more than 30 feet.  I will post the new photos when she is ready to ride.

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## Minnmarc (Jul 25, 2017)

Reesatheresa said:


> The first photo is of the bike from the auctioneers website.  When we took off the tank the original Eveready battery was still inside.  The date on it was to be used by 1942.  Really cool find!  The bike and pedals have been taken off and the rust has been removed as much as possible.  When looking at the underside of the seat, the original Lobdell-Emery sticker is still intact.  The Torrington year drop pedals were a bitch to clean, but have shined up well.  The bike was washed but the yellow paint was stained from 78 years of dirt.  I used Meguire's compound to restore the clarity and remove some of the rust.  The white wall tires were yellow when I got the bike home.  They now look like they were intended.  There is still a lot to do, but this progress was made a lot faster than I thought.  Last photo is how it looks this evening.  I am pretty happy with the results!  View attachment 645579View attachment 645580View attachment 645581View attachment 645582View attachment 645583View attachment 645584View attachment 645585View attachment 645586
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk



Just plain  lovely!!


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## Phattiremike (Jul 31, 2017)

Reesatheresa said:


> The first photo is of the bike from the auctioneers website.  When we took off the tank the original Eveready battery was still inside.  The date on it was to be used by 1942.  Really cool find!  The bike and pedals have been taken off and the rust has been removed as much as possible.  When looking at the underside of the seat, the original Lobdell-Emery sticker is still intact.  The Torrington year drop pedals were a bitch to clean, but have shined up well.  The bike was washed but the yellow paint was stained from 78 years of dirt.  I used Meguire's compound to restore the clarity and remove some of the rust.  The white wall tires were yellow when I got the bike home.  They now look like they were intended.  There is still a lot to do, but this progress was made a lot faster than I thought.  Last photo is how it looks this evening.  I am pretty happy with the results!  View attachment 645579View attachment 645580View attachment 645581View attachment 645582View attachment 645583View attachment 645584View attachment 645585View attachment 645586
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk



What wax did you use that really cleaned up nice!


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## Reesatheresa (Jul 31, 2017)

Phattiremike said:


> What wax did you use that really cleaned up nice!



Thank you.  In these photos, I had only used the Meguire's compound.  It really brought out the colors. I followed up with the Meguire's Polish for gloss and then used the wax.  Here is a photo of the end product on the paint.  Not a great photo, but it gives you an idea of what it did.  




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## Barto (Jul 31, 2017)

Wow, what a great bike...   I have two daughters so I'm a fan of step thru's.  Fantastic job bringing this lady back to her beautiful self...see, older ladies retain their beauty for years.   Love the pedals, kind of like a low cut plunging dress on a lady...just can't help but to look  (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, your eyes are up here (but I still need to sneak a peak

BART


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## Barto (Jul 31, 2017)

Never knew Torrington had Tear Drop style pedals...learn something new every day.


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## rick whitehurst (Jul 31, 2017)

On the 1940 pic you just posted.....I have had good results getting some 180 grit and sanding those fender braces down to metal... Then some 220, and finally some 400...  that bike is too clean to have rusty fender braces.


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## Freqman1 (Jul 31, 2017)

rick whitehurst said:


> On the 1940 pic you just posted.....I have had good results getting some 180 grit and sanding those fender braces down to metal... Then some 220, and finally some 400...  that bike is too clean to have rusty fender braces.




The pic of the '40 is by another member. I wouldn't do anything else to this '39 except ride!  V/r Shawn


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## Dave K (Jul 31, 2017)

rick whitehurst said:


> On the 1940 pic you just posted.....I have had good results getting some 180 grit and sanding those fender braces down to metal... Then some 220, and finally some 400...  that bike is too clean to have rusty fender braces.




NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Leave the braces OG (they are not bad at all)  Only original once and aged cad is hard to replicate.


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## Freqman1 (Jul 31, 2017)

Dave K said:


> NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
> 
> Leave the braces OG (they are not bad at all)  Only original once and aged cad is hard to replicate.



This confused me too. I believe Rick is referring to the bike the Twofinger posted (post #19) which is not the OPs bike. V/r Shawn


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## Dave K (Jul 31, 2017)

Freqman1 said:


> This confused me too. I believe Rick is referring to the bike the Twofinger posted (post #19) which is not the OPs bike. V/r Shawn




Oops sorry I must have miss understood.


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## rick whitehurst (Jul 31, 2017)

Dave K said:


> Oops sorry I must have miss understood.



Yeah the rusty ones on post 19.... The main bike is beautiful. My mistake.


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## Reesatheresa (Aug 1, 2017)

rick whitehurst said:


> Yeah the rusty ones on post 19.... The main bike is beautiful. My mistake.



Don't worry guys.  I have kept her as original as possible.  [emoji16]

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## removed (Jan 20, 2018)

they used tor 15s on boys and 17s on girls bikes


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