How To: Ford CMP "Blitz" miscellany

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Euan,

Thanks for that info. Confirms mine was in about the right place as per attached photos. There is a flat bracket spot welded to the back of the holder. It was butt welded to the lower cabin rear frame at the door and lap welded to the lower cab sheet metal on the other side. Mine is about 7" off the deck based on the original welded areas. Maybe close enough was good enough then?

Well you sure learn a lot of useless trivia when doing a restoration. I now know there are at least four types of press studs. After contacting leather workers, saddle makers, shoe repairers, even a press stud distributor no one could match up the female part to my existing male press stud on the holder.
One offered to drill out the old ones- no thanks, and replace them with what he had on the shelf. Anyway after some research I found the type I wanted are called S spring type. After a few wasted efforts trying to get the hole size and not the outside diameter of the studs from sellers who didn't know, care, or understand, I decided they were either 17mm or 15mm press studs and ordered a couple of each on Ebay for the princely sum of $4. Should be here soon from Hong Kong. Sad I can't give the locals the business but I tried.

On another note: I got my chain box lids folded last week. After waiting 9 months for another firm to do the job I told them on the fourth call/visit to forget it. I am fairly patient but not that patient. Found a small firm in another town and got them made overnight. Just have to make the slots for the padlock then take it back to get him to spot weld the piano hinges onto the lids and boxes.
Thanks Ian Fawbert for your kind help with photos and dimensions of an original many months ago.


Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Well, now that I am on my way to finishing off the chain boxes I will now have a place to mount the tail/stop lights.
I thought it would be a good time to revisit the red lenses for those lights.

I have some original ones which I think are made of celluloid but have substantially perished. I remember reading here on the forum that small AA Maglite red filters fit well and do the job. All well if you live in North America but in Aus they are not available individually and with a set of other bits that you must buy works out to over $80. No one seems to want to sell you four red filters and post them from the US unless you spend heaps also.

Back to drawing board, pardon the pun from this old draftsman.
I had tried red Perspex, but again, the Stymied Goddess was casting her spell. The thinnest Perspex available in Australia is 3mm which is bit thicker than original and is a lot lighter shade of red. It fits OK, though, as the internal retainer spring compensates for any thickness of the lens.
I called the Maglite distributor again and found I could buy the D and C size Maglite red filter individually so I bought a couple of them after confirming the diameter.

Using a "MacGyver" jig to hold the filter and a 1" hole saw (with the pilot drill removed!) I was able to get four tail/stop light lenses from the 7/8" diameter plug it creates as per attached photos.
Note the different shades of red: left lens- original, middle lens- Maglite, right lens- 3mm Perspex

Hope this is of some interest and I am sure there are many other ways to get the required red lenses but this may give others some ideas.

Cheers,

[Mike K]

well done Jacques

the boxes look very nice ...yes its not easy finding places to fabricate stuff .

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your comments. Actually I only had the lids fabricated. The boxes were originals but highly banged up as per the attached "before" photo. they also had lots of extraneous holes drilled in them over the years but at least the steel was still solid. Still, I wanted to save them if at all possible even though I had drawn up plans to make replicas if straightening wasn't successful.

I welded the holes marked "X" shut then took the boxes to my local metal working genius at Klouis Bumper Straightening Service in Seaford where Lou knocked/pressed out as many ding and creases as humanly possible. He is truly an old fashioned craftsman.

Success!- boxes saved and only the lids had to be replicas.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

Success!- boxes saved and only the lids had to be replicas.

With Christmas rapidly approaching I wanted to get the lid hinges spot weld on before businesses shut down for a few weeks.

The guy who has the heavy duty spot welder was able to do the job last Saturday as he was flying out to South Africa to see his family for a month the next day. Now that is service plus!

To paraphrase Rick on "American Restorations" All I have to do is shoot a coat of KG3 on it and it will really pop!

A Merry Christmas to all.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Jacques Reed

I decided they were either 17mm or 15mm press studs and ordered a couple of each on Ebay for the princely sum of $4. Should be here soon from Hong Kong. Sad I can't give the locals the business but I tried

Well another loose end has been tied up. I received the press studs from Hong Kong two weeks ago and my gamble paid off. They turned out to be 17mm diameter to fit the existing studs. Local shoe repairer fitted them to a piece of leather for me and I just picked it up.

Please allow me a slight diversion but I noted with sadness the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor yesterday. I was a bit dismayed by the lack of coverage of the commemoration in the Australian media. It seemed to be relegated to a 20 second bite late into the news programs. I wound up watching the service streamed on my computer instead. Was moved to see three living survivors there of the five still left from the sinking of the USS Arizona. Having visited the Arizona twice, in the 70's and again in the 90's I never failed to get a bit choked up at the experience.

As a baby boomer whose father served in the US Army Signal Corps for all of WW2 in New Guinea and Australia, Dec 7th has always held a special place in my Dad's life and even in my upbringing. I guess to the young movers and shakers who now control the media it is ancient history but for some of us it is still as significant and relevant as the 4th of July.

When Japan woke the sleeping giant on the 7th Dec 1941 the world changed forever. The day deserves to be more than just a footnote in a news broadcast.

Cheers,

[Private_collector]

As always, Jacques, Your work is exceptional! Don't suppose you Wanna finish my truck, do ya?

I had the same thought regarding Pearl Harbour. Strikes me as ironic that our media in Australia climbs all over themselves to get best coverage of ANZAC Day, yet similarly significant commemorations in other parts of the world hardly get a look in. I know it's not 'our' event, but it sure is our history, regardless of where it occured. If not for Pearl Harbour, it is just possible USA may not have entered the war. That could have proved disastrous for Australia.

As you would recall, I've been known to hang around Pearl Harbour on occasion. We were there for the last time on the 71st anniversary of the attack. What an event, what a suitably sombre day. If you don't get a bit of 'dust' in your eyes on a day like that, you are a cold hearted individual. I wonder how many people have leaned over the railings of the Arizona memorial, watched drops of oil rise from the depths of the ship to expand in that familiar rainbow colored slick, and shed the odd tear or two. I know I have. You just can't help it. I bet it fogged your eyes like it did mine! If that experience doesn't put a lump in your throat, I can't imagine anything else would, and you better check your pulse.

Last weekend I stumbled across a boxed DVD set on Pearl Harbour, and bought it. I'm still working my way through it, but can wholeheartedly recommend it. There is 12 hours of features in the 8 disks. I think you would thoroughly enjoy it, Jacques. I can get it to you if interested to see it. See attached images.

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[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Private_collector

As always, Jacques, Your work is exceptional! Don't suppose you Wanna finish my truck, do ya?

I had the same thought regarding Pearl Harbour. Strikes me as ironic that our media in Australia climbs all over themselves to get best coverage of ANZAC Day, yet similarly significant commemorations in other parts of the world hardly get a look in. I know it's not 'our' event, but it sure is our history, regardless of where it occured. If not for Pearl Harbour, it is just possible USA may not have entered the war. That could have proved disastrous for Australia.

Hi Tony,

Thank you for the offer of the loan of the videos on Pearl Harbor. No doubt it will include a bit on the salvage and repair of the 7th fleet. A subject of much interest in its own right. Will see if the local library or JB Hi Fi has it but if not may kindly take you up on the loan of the set.

The danger to Australia from Japan was driven home to me very personally two weeks ago. I traveled to Cairns to stay the weekend with my son who was laying over there. He sometimes is rostered to fly there on a Friday, spend the weekend in Cairns and fly the 737 freighter back to Melbourne on a Monday. A real tough assignment!
We both love old Warbirds so it would be a good chance to see the only P-39 Airacobra in Australia at the Mareeba War museum. A very unique airplane by any standard. I hired a car on the Saturday and we took off. Unfortunately when we arrived there the museum was shut and despite a few messages left on the phone we got no reply.

Oh well, we had a car, a full tank of petrol, our sunglasses on, and Daintree was only one hour away (apologies to the Blues Brothers)
Driving back, north of Mossman we saw a small historic marker which read "WW2 Bomb Site" A slight diversion was in order. I thought I knew a bit of Australian WW2 history but I never new Townsville was raided four times.
Most people can tell you about the midget sub raid on Sydney harbor or the bombing of Darwin but when I asked people my own age if they new Townsville was bombed I drew a blank. Apparently "Emily" flying boats conducted the raids flying from Rabaul in 1942. A single bomb was dropped at this site in the middle of a sugar cane farm injuring a 2 year old girl. On the 50th anniversary of that event she opened this roadside monument shown attached.

Hope this is of interest to all the readers.

Cheers,