Florida "Key Lime" 76 Duster Build

Well, it's been over a year since I last updated the restoration........Sicknesses, scheduling, floods, etc.......WHAT A YEAR....... But here we go again.

After the last posts, I needed to get going on rebuilding the fold down rear interior of this strange beasty. For those of you who own one, you may know the plastic wheelwell covers are very brittle with age, and can be a pain. BUT, I repaired them using silicone in the holes, building what I needed for a nice surface, then textured the things with "Stone" paint....a really aggressive spatter paint, in various colors. Worked GREAT. I installed the covers after recovering the rear steel deck with black carpet. I rebuilt the rear fold-down out of 3/4 marine grade ply, using the same hardware and latches.....Used the old one as the pattern, including the exact screw holes. Recovered it with black carpet, and it looks great, and works perfect.

After I finished the install, I covered the lower lips of the wheelwell covers with a custom cut piece of birch to firmly hold the edges down and give it a nice touch (lots of woodwork going in this car)....those edges are very old, and needed some extra support and protection..........I recovered the rear upper deck too, and reinstalled the steel trim...the trim will likely be polished a bit when everything is done. It has a tough factory finish, and I wanted to leave it if possible. Looks pretty good.