Restoring Package Tray 1965 Monaco

[65 Monaco]

Looking for some advice on the proper way to restore the package tray in my '65 Monaco. There are some areas where the paint is missing as well as the finish peeling. What's the best way to smooth it out before repainting?

 

[Polara_500]

I just scuffed mine with fairly coarse sand paper to maintain some texture then painted it. Looks ok yet after a whole lotta years.

 

[Polara_500]

Of course, if it's really bad, I think they're repopped now.

 

[jollyjoker]

Didn't know that anybody was repopping them . . . Any idea who? Maybe ABC (I know they do the side pieces in fiberglass)?

BTW . . . there are two versions of this piece. The "early" version was a sort of pressed fiber-board. With a little sunlight, it'll disintegrate right in front of you. A better alternative is what I call the "later" version . . . it was molded fiberglass . . . but I think it was exactly the same design. All of the 65 Monacos I've seen has the early style. I'm guessing the fiberglass was phased in late in the model run . . . all of the 66 I've seen have been fiberglass. Same for SF and Chrysler. Best bet is to get the fiberglass style, and you'll probably have to fill in some unwanted holes from the different medallions. But I've repaired the fiber-board style too . . . they're just really fragile, and you have to be real careful!

 

[Polara_500]

Jolly - I was thinking of ABC and their side filler panels, was hoping they also did the big piece but don't see anything so I guess not. And you're right about the fragility of the 65 pieces compared to the 66, light years of difference in strength.

 

[jollyjoker]

Yeah . . . I was chatting w/ the fellow from ABC over at the Indy show, a couple of weeks ago. I was going to mention to him that the big rear seat shroud seems to be pretty universally needed item. Most of the fiberboard ones have disintegrated, and a lot of the fiberglass ones have been hacked-up at some point, to mount speakers. Nice ones are few and far between. Anyway, he got busy, and I got distracted - so never got back to him. If they did the side panels, it wouldn't surprise me that they'd eventually get around to the actual shroud - although, I wonder if the large size/contours would pose any fabrication problems?

 

[rapidtrans]

I removed, with great care, and painted my Monaco rear shelf last year. It's a very brittle fibre/board/glass material. It had warped at the rear defroster slot so i bonded an aluminum bar to the backside to hold it flat. Mine had a texture to the finish so i just roughed it up as mentioned above rather than sand it. The rear seat side fillers are the same material.

 

[65 Monaco]

I removed, with great care, and painted my Monaco rear shelf last year. It's a very brittle fibre/board/glass material. It had warped at the rear defroster slot so i bonded an aluminum bar to the backside to hold it flat. Mine had a texture to the finish so i just roughed it up as mentioned above rather than sand it. The rear seat side fillers are the same material.

How did you rough it up? What did you use?

 

[Polara_500]

I think I used like 40 grit open paper in a random motion (by hand of course).

 

[rapidtrans]

I used a scrub pad to knock any loose paint off and scuff for paint. The pad is one of those dish scrub pads that look like a plastic poly woven wire thing.

 

[Verse]

What did you use for paint?

 

[rapidtrans]

Just a Krylon spray can and topcoated it with a clear dullcoat.

 

[Polara_500]