FINDING THE RIGHT CLIP OR SCREW-THE LITTLE DETAILS THAT DRIVE YOU CRAZY
FINDING THE RIGHT CLIP OR SCREW-THE LITTLE DETAILS THAT DRIVE YOU CRAZY
One of the most frustrating facets of any restoration is finding the correct trim clip or screw for your vehicle. This might seem like a minor issue but these little pieces can take up far more time than hanging a bumper-with far less personal satisfaction.
My own experience was, in a word-brutal.
I made so many trips to the local bolt supply business that I could have found it at midnight during a lunar eclipse in the middle of a whiteout blizzard.
One of the biggest problems stemmed from my geographical location-Canada. This is the land of the Robertson-head screw and it's almost universally applied in the 21st Century in Canada.
Back in 1959 (the year my car was built) the Phillips-head was used exclusively on Chrysler products.
Despite that obvious factor I had the same debate over and over with a guy who clearly knew nothing about restoring a car because his response was the same every time-"What's the difference?"
In fact he wrapped himself in the Canadian flag and actually challenged my patriotism because I didn't want to use the homegrown design. This bad situation comedy went on for several weeks and every time I had the same debate with this guy I resisted the urge to yank him over the counter and force-feed him 300 3/8" Robertson's screws.
The trim clips were even more of a nightmare because this old Plymouth had half the stock clips MIA thanks to a careless teardown and simple attrition over the years. That left me with 2 options-find new replacement clips or pirate pieces from donor sources. Both options had severe limitations.
Fittingly,I remember making a 200 mile round trip to see a guy who had "everything". He did seem to have everything...except what I actually needed for trim clips. He kept everything in his basement and he used the most random and haphazard inventory system I've ever seen. That's why it took him 3 hours to prove that he didn't have anything close although he did talk me into expensive "universal clips" that he guaranteed would replace factory clips.
Needless to say, they weren't as 'universal' as he said.
Using old clips was another adventure because they come out like most unprotected metal pieces-rusty and brittle.
Years later I finally found a place that can handle everything. Restoration Specialties is one stop shopping for virtually every old vehicle's trim and screw needs. These guys have a huge catalog that literally encompasses a fraction of their inventory. They have every little clip or screw that I could have used back in the 1990s when I took on a project car.
The clips are usually done to life size scale so you can eliminate the guessing game or visits to some guy's basement. If you want a Phillips headlight trim screw then you won't get pitched the wrong Robertson's type. This in itself is a big breakthrough in the "know-it-all" bolt business clerk arena.
Here's a link to the Restoration Specialties website-there's no doubt they'll save you a lot of time on the little things...http://www.restorationspecialties.com/
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