A while back I was asked by a customer if I had 6 of part number 1321161. I replied that I did not. For those that don't know part numbers off the top of their head, 1321161 is this:
After realizing how rare those spears are, the customer and I decided that I would try to find some trim that had the right curvature and width, and form the speared tip by hand. I have no problem with trying new things so I agreed to do it. A couple of weeks later the car owner was able to purchase one of the spears off of ebay, so he sent it to me so I'd have something to copy.
It took a lot of researching, but I finally determined that the only piece of stainless that was even remotely close to the right curvature and width, was the stainless that wraps around the door windows on some 59-60 Lark 4 doors. The "higher end" Larks had this trim, and those cars are pretty rare. Regardless, I knew that my friend George in Tallahassee had one of those Larks in his boneyard, so I called him up and he sent me the trim.
Well today I took a break from polishing the Avanti wire wheel covers and introduced my metal snips to the rare Lark trim. After cutting a piece longer than I needed, I placed a punch with a rounded end in my vise. This gave me something to use as a backing to hammer-form the speared tip that I needed.
This was the result after polishing.
The piece on the left is a "fresh" piece of the Lark stainless, cut down and yet to be hammered on. In the middle is the stock Hawk spear, part number 1321161. And on the right, closest to the camera, is the finished piece.
I bet most of you didn't know that Lark 4 door stainless would fit on a '57 Golden Hawk.
After realizing how rare those spears are, the customer and I decided that I would try to find some trim that had the right curvature and width, and form the speared tip by hand. I have no problem with trying new things so I agreed to do it. A couple of weeks later the car owner was able to purchase one of the spears off of ebay, so he sent it to me so I'd have something to copy.
It took a lot of researching, but I finally determined that the only piece of stainless that was even remotely close to the right curvature and width, was the stainless that wraps around the door windows on some 59-60 Lark 4 doors. The "higher end" Larks had this trim, and those cars are pretty rare. Regardless, I knew that my friend George in Tallahassee had one of those Larks in his boneyard, so I called him up and he sent me the trim.
Well today I took a break from polishing the Avanti wire wheel covers and introduced my metal snips to the rare Lark trim. After cutting a piece longer than I needed, I placed a punch with a rounded end in my vise. This gave me something to use as a backing to hammer-form the speared tip that I needed.
This was the result after polishing.
The piece on the left is a "fresh" piece of the Lark stainless, cut down and yet to be hammered on. In the middle is the stock Hawk spear, part number 1321161. And on the right, closest to the camera, is the finished piece.
I bet most of you didn't know that Lark 4 door stainless would fit on a '57 Golden Hawk.
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