34 ford woodgrain

Here's one ,
 

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Here is a picture of the ashtray I removed from my '34 when I installed the radio-head in its place >

This is factory original...
415382
 

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Not to throw a monkey wrench into this, but it should be noted that early '34s utilized evidently excessive leftover '33 dashes with a special overlapping instrument panel insert that once installed could only be perceived on close inspection. That dash/instrument

My car was sold new in New Zealand in April 34 so I expect was made some time early 1934. Has the insert instrument panel and also 33 Bumpers -Karl
 
Slightly weathered but looks good .
My door has been waxed a few times over the years .
Is the knob a solid color or kinda grained looking ?
Mine is kinda grained .
I have some extra 34 ash tray radios and the knobs on them are like this also .

Here is a picture of the ashtray I removed from my '34 when I installed the radio-head in its place >

This is factory original...
415382
 
Jon Wright of Custom Chrome Plating does the dull nickel plating. I had them repair and plate my 33 grille and not polish the bars. They are Awesome..!!
 
Jon Wright of Custom Chrome Plating does the dull nickel plating. I had them repair and plate my 33 grille and not polish the bars. They are Awesome..!!
What did he charge for that IF you don't mind me asking??? And where is he located??? I have a original grill we need done.
 
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David J
I have been a hand woodgrainer since 1966. ( my goal has been to do woodgraing as close in color and patern to original as possible) I discovered Benney Esteies (Sarasota Flordia) at a Harras swapmeet in 1975 ? He had redeveloped the original method of woodgrain ( this process is what Ford and all others used on there cars )
Benney was wanting to sell franchies and I was very interested. So I flew to Fl and stayed with him and saw the process. I also brought with me my 33 victoria parts an extra 33 roadster dash and quite a few extra parts for him to apply the correct woodgrain .
The price at that time for a dealership was $50,000 ( my thinking at the time was I will never do enough woodgraining to pay for it and also I had just enough money to keep my family afloat )

For a long time I have been colecting original samples of wood grain. I have in my colection : NOS 34 glove box door . Mint 33 &34 radio cover(glove box radio ) over 10 mint inside 34 glovebox doors - several 33's (the color and pattern on these is close to NOS ) also to note : ash tray covers pattern are different than dash (33 & 34 ) and and not the same as each other. I have several samples.
David J : As to your glove box doors : This pattern is one I do not have . My thinking is (David G should correct me) that wood grain was done at dearborn and shipped to assembly plants. As it seems better to have all of the cars match. There were many assembly plants and I think they only assembled and did not stamp metal parts. (dashboards --window frames) I am not saying your doors are not right just ones I have not seen.
perhaps other FORD BARNERS with samples will chime in.


I will in the near future post pictures to confrim the above text. ( I do wish I had payed a little attension in school durning spelling .
 
I have had a few examples myself but did not keep them .
That equates to no pics .

Took down the pics of my $20 door and will leave this to the experts .

Have you or anyone else ever noticed the different patterns-colors on sedan rear seat ashtrays ?
There is a study in itself .

David J
I have been a hand woodgrainer since 1966. ( my goal has been to do woodgraing as close in color and patern to original as possible) I discovered Benney Esteies (Sarasota Flordia) at a Harras swapmeet in 1975 ? He had redeveloped the original method of woodgrain ( this process is what Ford and all others used on there cars )
Benney was wanting to sell franchies and I was very interested. So I flew to Fl and stayed with him and saw the process. I also brought with me my 33 victoria parts an extra 33 roadster dash and quite a few extra parts for him to apply the correct woodgrain .
The price at that time for a dealership was $50,000 ( my thinking at the time was I will never do enough woodgraining to pay for it and also I had just enough money to keep my family afloat )

For a long time I have been colecting original samples of wood grain. I have in my colection : NOS 34 glove box door . Mint 33 &34 radio cover(glove box radio ) over 10 mint inside 34 glovebox doors - several 33's (the color and pattern on these is close to NOS ) also to note : ash tray covers pattern are different than dash (33 & 34 ) and and not the same as each other. I have several samples.
David J : As to your glove box doors : This pattern is one I do not have . My thinking is (David G should correct me) that wood grain was done at dearborn and shipped to assembly plants. As it seems better to have all of the cars match. There were many assembly plants and I think they only assembled and did not stamp metal parts. (dashboards --window frames) I am not saying your doors are not right just ones I have not seen.
perhaps other FORD BARNERS with samples will chime in.


I will in the near future post pictures to confrim the above text. ( I do wish I had payed a little attension in school durning spelling .
 
Ford itself likely did not apply the wood grain to the various dash and window molding components. For that matter, it is highly likely that many small stampings such as those under discussion were made by outside suppliers. Original dashes often have stamped numbers on their back sides that do not correspond to Ford's part numbering system, which supports this theory (see photo below of the back of a mint '32 dash; it's an early one so the '34' part of the stamping is obviously not date related). When Ford outsourced parts manufacture, they usually did so to at least two suppliers to ensure uninterrupted supply. Those suppliers might be located in the Dearborn area, but judging from the known location of some of Ford's outside suppliers of the period, that wasn't a necessary requirement.

For those of you with a copy of Lorin Sorensen's excellent book, "The Ford Shows", page 114 is devoted to a Motor Products Corporation (a Detroit company) working display booth in the Ford Exposition Building at the 1934 Century of Progress in Chicago wherein the workers actually applied graining to '34 instrument panels.

Different suppliers often had different techniques and capabilities, so while it is likely that there was more than one supplier of woodgraining, it wouldn't necessarily mean that the process used by them was identical in all respects as long as the suppliers' methods met Ford engineering's specifications. This could give rise to minor variations in the ink patterns on the finished work, for example.

Further, Ford did change the grain patterns during the course of model years. This happened extensively during the '32 model year and I have to spend some time at the BFRC in Dearborn to determine if there were ink pattern changes during the '33 and '34 model years. (Based on originals that I've seen, it appears that the base red color did not change during those two model years.)
 

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I have seen a super 8 movie converted to Video taken at a exposition Building possible at the 1934 Century of Progress ,this showed the graining proses plus the clear coating, It was quiet a quick proses I think the video still exists .
 
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