1934 Chrysler Restoration - A Combined Effort

The 2015 restoration of Simon Aurisch’s ‘34 Chrysler CA sedan was a combined effort by Trevor Gordon (TG Restorations in Katikati, NZ) and the owner. Simon recalls this car being in his family since his early teens in the 1970s. He has been fiddling around with the restoration on and off for many years, often losing momentum because of work interruptions. His first experiences were with engine valve grinds, cylinder head defouling, fuel tank repairs and replacement of suspension items with NOS parts. Simon takes up the story of the restoration…

This very slow progress was really getting me down, so in my wisdom (or otherwise) I decided enough was enough, let’s get this restoration done as quickly as possible. To get things underway, the body, rolling chassis, 15 boxes of parts, and the engine and gearbox were taken to the workshop of Trevor Gordon in Katikati, Bay of Plenty.

The body and chassis had been in storage since 1985. The chassis had deteriorated with some minor surface rust breaking through the old black chassis paint. The body, guards, doors and bonnet were removed from the chassis and put to one side. The rolling chassis had been stripped of the front suspension, rear axle and springs. The chassis was then returned to Taupo for re-grit blasting and POR15 paint treatment. Many other brackets, suspension parts and engine bay panels were also included in this delivery. Three weeks later I was called to the painter’s yard to see all my parts looking shiny and new.

The chassis was returned to Katikati and reunited with the rear axle and leaf springs. The springs had to be re-set to the correct curvature because of an error made many years ago when they were separated and reassembled. I was fortunate to find a catalogue on eBay a few years ago by a supplier, Temme Springs. This booklet has a lot of leaf spring data for cars and trucks 1924-1938. Part of the detail outlined the free arch from centre line of shackle eyes to the top surface of the top spring. This enabled me to have a local supplier Archer Springs in Rotorua, re-set them correctly. A catalogue also identifies the size of the rubber bushings that are typically found at the front of the rear spring assembly. Read the full story in Beaded Wheels issue 359