14 results for tag: Ruthy


TD Customs’ 2019 Calendar!

It's that time of year for a wrap up of our coolest paint jobs, restorations, or jobs from the previous year. We've been busy and are fortunate to have a lot to choose from! For January we have the 1931 Chevy Cabriolet that we did body work on and painted in parts. When this one left our shop, it was in pieces The owner had done a lot of work on the case, and wanted to assemble it himself. He also added a black vinyl top that compliments it really well. This classic car is a beauty! Read more about the '31 Chevy Cabriolet. In February, we're looking at the impressive Polaris Slingshot. The owner of the Slingshot came to us from over 3 ...

‘A Family Classic’ ~ TD Customs featured in Hendersonville Times-News

  By Jason Gilmer Times-News Correspondent For years, Tim Donaghue had wanted to wrangle a car away from his grandparents’ storage shed to restore. The owner of TD Customs in Mills River finally got the chance two years ago, when his family in Caledonia, N.Y., told him he could work on a family heirloom. There was one car in particular he wanted to return to its former glory — his grandmother’s first car, a dark blue 1939 Chrysler Royal. It was the car his grandmother learned how to drive in. The restoration, started in 2015, became a major undertaking for Tim, his wife, Tara, and the others who’ve helped with the project. ...

Faux Burl Wood Grain Painting

Faux burl wood grain painting is a cool technique that lets us mimic the wood grain look on the interior panels of many classic cars. We recently recreated the wood grain look on the 1939 Chrysler Royal restoration, our family project. Tim's sister and nephew came to the shop to help with this project. It was fun to work on such an artistic project, and they were a big help! First, Tim painted the dash and all the trim pieces a lighter brown/ tan color for the base. Then, we used an assortment of brushes and gel wiping stain to get the desired wood effect. We painted dark brown dots in several areas to recreate the look of those darker knots ...

Prepping #RuthysResto for Paint!

We have been busy working on our family restoration ~ a '39 Chrysler Royal named Ruthy. It is Tim's grandmother's first car, so when we have family in town, they are always eager to come in and help. Tim's mom, sister and step dad were a big help in getting the car wet-sanded and prepped for paint. There is a lot of prep work to do before we can paint a car. First, the body has to be perfectly smooth. Body work is done first. This entails applying bondo to the waves and indentations to the body of the car. The bondo allows us to sculpt the body back into its original shape and condition. Many of the parts on this car, like the fenders, are ...

Family day with Ms. Ruthy (’39 Chrysler)

We've had a family project in the shop this year, a 1939 Chrysler that belongs to Tim's grandma. It's almost ready to be painted, so we've had a few family days to get it all prepped. A lot of sanding and bodywork perfecting need to be done before we can see some color. Once the paint is on, you'll be able to see any blemishes. Therefore, we are always very thorough before rolling it in the paint booth. It's always fun to get together with family at the shop. Everyone gets something to do, even our 6 year old nephew! Julie and Ethan worked on sanding down the window trim pieces. These will be getting painted back to the faux wood finish. ...

Cars are not just cars; they’re memories

For many of us, cars are not just cars. They hold special memories that take us back and remind us of where we were and who we were with. Right now we're working on a family restoration for Tim's grandmother. This car will take her back to being 16 years old in upstate New York, when she first learned to drive. It'll take her back to memories of when she first met and dated her husband of over 60 years now. We've already heard how she named the car Ruthy after buying it from a nice, older lady with the same name. This is a family project, and whenever family is in town, we get together to work on whatever we can. Tim's aunt owns an upholstery ...

Major Progress on Ruthy, the ’39 Chrysler

The last couple weeks have been very productive for Ms. Ruthy, our '39 Chrysler Royal restoration that we are doing as a family project. This week, while Tim was working on the more advanced body work on our F-150 restoration, Erick sanded down the surface of the car. We'll strip the paint off on certain parts of the car, like the doors and the hood. For the main body though, we're sanding it down with the DA sander. There were rust holes that needed to be patched with new steel on the rear wheel arches. This week, Erick welded the patches in and finished up the metal and body work for the back of the car. In the last update on ...

Ruthy got a visit from family this Thanksgiving!

Ruthy got to have some family time this Thanksgiving weekend! Tim's family was in town and all got together to work on this exciting restoration. Ruthy is a family project here in the shop. It's Tim's grandma's very first car - a '39 Chrysler Royal. (For those of you who are not yet familiar with this restoration, read Ruthy's story and browse through all the other progress updates here.) Little by little, we are chipping away at the work that needs to be done on the car to bring it back to its original condition. Every little bit helps, and it was a productive day at the shop! First, Alan and Chris removed the old radiator out of the ...

Ruthy: Interior Rust Prevention

Ruthy got some attention last week when Tim's parents were in town. For those that don't know, Ruthy is the family restoration project we have in the shop. The '39 Chrysler Royal belongs to Tim's grandmother and is getting a full restoration. It was her very first car, and the whole family is getting to help out on it. Gail and Rex wanted to do as much as they could on Ruthy while they were here, and were assigned the job of 'PORing' the interior and some other parts. They scrapped out more of the inside of the car and applied a full coat of POR over the entire roof on the inside, the entire floor, and all the metal parts in the back. ...

Ruthy Restoration: Full Clean

Ruthy looks like a fresh, clean slate now that we have cleaned out the entire car from top to bottom, as well as disassembled most of the parts. She's down to bare bones, and we can now start on the body work bit by bit. We had several messy days of working on disassembly, so we needed to clean up that entire corner of the shop and every bit of dirt and debris within the car and engine bay. This entailed scrapping dried on debris and rust, and vacuuming it all out. It's amazing the difference it makes just cleaning off the motor and engine bay. I'd say we took a good few layers of random dirt and grim off of the engine. The ...