Refreshing Those Old Rims

By Barb van der Veen

As some of  you may know, Harm (and others - me, Ken Edwards, Jodee Scott, our son Hendrik) has been working hard on Barbara Hillick's 1970 Trans Am Javelin lately.  Many of the parts required sandblasting (my job) and then repainting (Harm's area of expertise).  Unfortunately, some of the paints that existed in 1970 are no longer available and the dilemma has been - what could be substituted in order to match the original colours?

Case in point were the rims.  The Javelin's rims were painted in two tones - underlying semi-gloss black (easy to find at places like Canadian Tire) and the other being the Charcoal Glitter Magnum 500 Wheel Paint (see the original information in the picture below) which is sprayed onto the "spokes" of each rim.  We went to our local Napa dealer who tried (and failed) to match the charcoal.  There was just too much glitter for Harm's liking.  Then, as we were strolling down the aisles (again) of Canadian Tire looking for more paints for her car, we came across this can that was a match!

Original Label for Charcoal Glitter Magnum 500 Wheel Paint
Original Label for Charcoal Glitter Magnum 500 Wheel Paint
Hi Build Fleet Coating
Hi Build Fleet Coating
Textured Metallic Paint
Textured Metallic Paint
Bar Code for Textured Metallic Paint
Bar Code for Textured Metallic Paint

 

 

This picture shows the unrestored rim and the finished product.

Unrestored rim beside finished rim
Unrestored rim beside finished rim

And this picture takes you through the entire process - unfinished rim, sandblasted rim, rim with semi-gloss black paint only, and finally the end result.

Rims, from start to finish
Rims, from start to finish