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Paint it or leave it: '56 Corvette

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And a bent front fork that does not appear to have the hole for front caliper brake too. [wink]
I'm driving a couple of hundred miles this weekend to pick up this bike. The seller says it's a Corvette but it's missing the headlight and rack, and has an incorrect seat. I'll decide whether to ride it as is or paint it after closer inspection.

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Have you tried using Coke, Pepsi, or some other "soft" drink instead of water? The acid in the Coke is some additional help. I've seen Coke used to loosen rusted lids on old milk cans. Turn them upside down, fill the lip with Coke and walk away for a while. When you come back in a few days, the Coke will have eaten through the rust.

Here are a couple of pictures, before and after, of some chrome pieces off a Typhoon on which I used the aluminum foil method.View attachment 941849



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Thats one of the best before and after results ive seen!
 
Its original only once and in very nice shape. I restored a '51 Phantom and a '55 Chevy years ago. When all was said and done, I didnt like nor enjoy them any more then prior to restoration,probably less. It depends if you plan on actually riding it or just looking @ it. New paint is bound to get nicked or scraped a bit,that might bug you,it did me but I wasnt about to let my stuff just sit around and be useless. Its a nice one,enjoy it. My $.02
 
Just a couple of thoughts- it really comes down to are you going to be happy with the results when you look at your bike? I have detailed many bikes and some of them I originally thought they would need to be repainted but after detailing them I was happy with the results. Leave the painting to the professionals and ask others in the bike hobby who they recommend. I have had good results using Mother’s and Meguiar’s compound and wax. I use Mother’s mag and wheel polish on the chrome and use steel wool with it if there is surface rust. I tried the aluminum foil one time on a Schwinn chrome wheel and found that it left scratches so never again for me. Enjoy your project. Tim

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Just a couple of thoughts- it really comes down to are you going to be happy with the results when you look at your bike? I have detailed many bikes and some of them I originally thought they would need to be repainted but after detailing them I was happy with the results. Leave the painting to the professionals and ask others in the bike hobby who they recommend. I have had good results using Mother’s and Meguiar’s compound and wax. I use Mother’s mag and wheel polish on the chrome and use steel wool with it if there is surface rust. I tried the aluminum foil one time on a Schwinn chrome wheel and found that it left scratches so never again for me. Enjoy your project. Tim

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Chrome is actually pretty hard. I've used Quick-Glo which has pumice in it to take off surface rust and it doesn't scratch the chrome. The only way chrome would scratch with aluminum is if sand or something else hard and gritty got trapped in the aluminum. But then I've also cleaned off wheels that were scratched (somebody had lightly sanded the chrome already attempting to get rust off) and I couldn't see the scratches until I got them clean. Keeping things clean is critical when polishing, sand can ruin your work.
 
Polish the paint ,wax and redecal where needed. Put the money saved toward sending the fenders to a good stainless guy, like Bruce Dell in Ohio. The paint on your bike is way too nice to redo and those pinstripes on your fork are awesome and very hard to replicate. Once a bike is repainted, the other components have to be in nos condition for the bike to have a natural "flow" or appearance.
 
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