1959 Lone Star Malibu rescue

A new arrival at the rescue shelter..





When it looked at me with those sad eyes I just knew I had to do something....

Got the outside stripped down and the nose job finished.. The old girl is starting to look like herself again... It's sad to see these old classics that have been butchered up.....

Since it was already a full resurrection I decided to hotrod it up a little. I started by shortening the deck about 9" to give the driver more elbow room.... Trailer refurbished.... now the real fun can start...

Waiting for some dry weather to get the inside repainted. When it's 90 something in Tennessee there's always plenty to do in the cool garage...

Bought some old 1/16" aluminum from a local farmer... used to be part of a pig sty and smelled like it.... Cleaned it up and used some of it to fix the nose ... plenty left over so I decided to try to make some bomber seats.... always loved the look of those but they are crazy expensive...

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=578&ei=nPc1X8OxL6izggeS-ZWwBw&q=bomber+seats&oq=bomber+seats&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAA6BQgAELEDOggIABCxAxCDAVCSFVjDJmC0KGgBcAB4AIABtgGIAfYGkgEDNS4zmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWewAQA&sclient=img&ved=0ahUKEwjD74_M05nrAhWomeAKHZJ8BXYQ4dUDCAc&uact=5

I figured out how to do it myself.. if anybody's interested just ask... I'm pleased with how they came out...





The best part about them is that they didn't cost anything.... scrap materials...

Seats and boat look great. The lines of that boat are awesome.

Wow, those seats are awesome.

Lone Stars have to be on of the most distinctive boats around.

Beautiful boat and great work so far.

They do have a lot of that 50's attention to detail that made almost everything from that time interesting... even the cleats have style:


You can see in that photo where the old dashboard used to connect. All these old runabouts feel like you're wedged in front of the steering wheel... that 9" is going to make this a very comfortable boat to drive.

This weekend's progress:

Polishing:


Transom:


2nd seat:

That is going to be a gorgeous boat. Great workmanship.

Wicked awesome ... as only a guy from Boshtin (Boston) - me ... can say it!

Looks like a good time my 58 Malibu is coming along

They're nice boats... maybe not as expensively built with heavy castings like an alumacraft, but they definitely hit the style buttons... For this boat I'm not a bit worried about trying to restore it to Lone Star specs.... going to be more of a hot rod made from an old junkyard dog.... I might not even put the lone star emblems back on....

amazing work! love the paint job as well. How did you get the hull to its original metal? Sandblasting? looks hecka good and i didn't see the wave patterns of a wire wheel... Asking for a friend 8)

My intention is to leave the exterior unpainted. That boat looks best when you can see the lines. If you've ever tried to do that job with abrasives or chemicals you know that it's the very worst part of this hobby... especially in the summer.... I've done it enough times to learn to hate paint.

So when faced with the prospect of doing it again I decided to look into mobile wet media blasting... Cost me $400 and was worth twice that amount imo.... Took him about 2 hours total and the job was done.. It was very satisfying watching that paint vaporize.. :twisted:

Finish was very smooth compared to normal sand blasting. Just a few passes with a random orbital sander and 120 grit got it smooth to the touch and ready for the final polishing which I'll be doing as soon as it cools down a little... I don't want shiny, just an aged aluminum look.

[media]https://youtu.be/fGsgTMOUn4w[/media]

Holy moley, that doesn't even look like the same boat in post #1! Well done.

Slow progress... Test fit and upholstered the seat panels and transom.

WOW! 8)

SmilingBob

You're setting the bar pretty high!

How did you extrude the holes in the seat backs? Pretty cool.

It's been a slow couple weeks... lots of rain and humidity makes it near impossible to work outside without dropping dead. I did get the dash and foot boards made out of some nice cedar.



Since one of the side emblems had some damage, I decided to put the good one on the dashboard...

Got the new transom installed:



The seats were surprisingly easy to make. All you need is a 1.5" metal hole saw:



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DQBD7GH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And one of these dimple dies with an air hammer:

https://www.amazon.com/Sheet-Metal-Flared-Hole-Dimple/dp/B07B8V1KPH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dimple+die+1.5&qid=1598809012&s=automotive&sr=1-1



Trim the edges with this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017FMGV7G/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Totally happy with how they came out. Very comfortable too.

Nice work. The boats of that era definately had character and attention to detail. I like how you are leaving it bare aluminum. I really like the idea of the wet sandslasting, It would really make things easier.

Got the steering system installed today.