The Earl Station remembers muscle cars
At the Earl Station we love cars! We grew up at a time when there were many American automobile companies. Names like Studebaker, Nash, Packard and Kaiser. I actually once owned a 1953 Henry J built by Kaiser. And don’t forget American Motors and the Iconic Pacer and Gremlin. Now those cars are just memories. However, we do have a few things to help remember those “Golden Years”. Check out the Gearhead section. We have die cast models of some of the big block engines from the 1960s. These models are great for showing children and grand children what a big block muscle car engine looks like. We also have the 1957 Chevy Bel Air clock. This clock is a tribute to Harley Earl’s designs. The tail fins of the 1957 Bel Air, like all of the 1950s General Motors cars, we inspired by aircraft tails.
In the section below, I wrote about the American Auto Industry in 2009. The American Auto Industry has survived, though very different than it use to be, and don't forget, Chrysler is owned by an Italian company. I can't help but feel a deep lose.
The Earl Station mourns the demise of General Motors and Chrysler
Like a lot of Americans, especially Baby Boomers, we are really upset by the bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler here at the Earl Station. As you can tell from the items we offer for sale, we are car guys.
I don’t understand what happened to the great car companies from my youth. Harley Earl’s designs of the fifties were cutting edge. These cars were part of America’s new space age. Those fins on the ’57 Chevy and ‘59 Caddy; the ’58 Impala with it sleek look and dual headlights. Then in the late fifties, the corvette got sexier. Look at the front grill and door panels of the ’59 vette.
There was innovation in the mechanics as well. GM put a fuel injection on the 327 CID vette engine in the early ‘60s. This gave the engine more horsepower with less weight than going to a bigger block. In 1964 the Pontiac GTO had a 454 CID engine. I had a friend with a ’64 GTO that could start in 3rd gear, because the engine has so much power. In ’66 Pontiac put an overhead cam on the 6 cylinder Le Mans. That was a hot car that was affordable. It was the "baby GTO".
What happened to these guys? Talk about the Sting Ray, the Z28 Camero and even the 1967 front wheel drive Caddy El Dorado. I never thought America would see this great competitive company go under. What a shame!
And what about Chrysler? MOPAR, the guys that invented the Hemi (hemispherical head) and the first funny car guys. I remember the first Road Runner, an affordable muscle car for all of us. In 1968 when the first Road Runner came out, it caught everybody’s eye.
Now that GM and Chrysler are memories. All we have are the memorabilia from these great car companies. At the Earl Station, we offer great memories from these great companies on our Home Décor pages.
Chemprime has been used commercially in the tough oilfields of Louisiana and Texas for over 50 years. Unlike other products on the market, this industrial grade compound protects steel and iron from rust and provides a chemical primer without steel brushing, sanding or sand blasting to shiny metal. Chemprime does not contain any organic compounds.
Chemprime does not require mixing chemicals. There are no mixing instructions, no worry about dew point temperatures or concern about introducing air into the mixture or letting a “paint skin” form. Just spray it on right from the bottle. Immediately, you will see the rust start converting to a gray-white compound. You can paint right over the converted rust.
In addition, Chemprime can be used to remove rust stains from most surfaces. When batteries boil over and leave rust spots on the driveway or garage, an application of Chemprime will clean to the original surface, no matter how old the stain.
Chemprime on the Patio Table
At the Earl Station, we wanted to use Chemprime as a metal primer. We have this patio table with expanded metal top that was showing a few patches of rust. We used Chemprime right from the bottle. We just sprayed it directly on the rust spots and let it dry. We then just washed the table with a garden hose; let it dry and spray painted the table. The photos show the rust spots before Chemprime and the repainted table back in place on the patio. The paint laid down over the rust as if it were on sand blasted or wire brushed metal. The Chemprime really worked beautifully.
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| Patio Table Before Chemprime | Patio Table After Chemprime |
We were really impressed with Chemprime as a metal primer.
Rusty Tools - Framing Square
Chemprime cleans rusty tools. We were going to build a small shed to protect plants during the winter. I pulled out my framing square. It was so rusty that it was hard to read the numbers and to see the division markers between each inch mark. This square originally had a plastic coating; I think to keep it from rusting. Unfortunately, the plastic had pealed from the edges where the inch markings were. The plastic was still present in the middle of each leg of the square.
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| Rusty Framing Square Before Chemprime | Framing Square After Chemprime |
I hung the square by the corner and sprayed both sides with Chemprime. I let it sit for about 45 minutes and went to work. Except for the area still coated with plastic, the square looked almost new. Reading the measurement marks was easy.
Rusted Gas Tanks and Rusted Mufflers
If you have a steel gas tank that has rust inside it or if you want to slow the rusting of a muffler, use Chemprime. With Chemprime, rust will disappear or be converted to a ceramic-like compound. Paint or commercial primer can be applied directly over the Chemprime. Inside a gas tank, no further preparation is necessary. Just let the Chemprime work to convert the rust to a ceramic-like compound and return the tank to service.
A friend has a riding lawn mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine that he decided to fix up a little. The muffler was pretty badly rusted, but still had some life left in it. Photo 1 shows the muffler after we removed it from the mower.
A close-up photo shows the amount of rust that we had to deal with on this muffler.
We wire brushed the rust to remove all of the flaking rust. In some areas, we used a wire brush wheel on our bench grinder to get all of the raised flakes off. We then sprayed the muffler with Chemprime. We let the CHEMPRIME dry and then reapplied. As you can see, the shiny tone on the muffler is the dried first coat of Chemprime. Some areas have the whitish ceramic look, while other area have a glazed look.
We let the Chemprime dry overnight and applied high temperature paint. The next photo shows the muffler after the Chemprime dried completely.
The next photo shows the painted muffler ready to install.
On steel and iron, Chemprime forms a rust barrier that prevents future rust. Be sure all flaking rust is removed and simply spray it on any metal surface. Any existing rust is converted to an inert primer. Spray the entire piece with Chemprime and the item is now primed and ready to paint! After the Chemprime has reacted with the rust, usually 4 to 8 hours, rinse the area with fresh water to remove any Chemprime that did not react. A severely rusted metal surface that has been sprayed with Chemprime and painted will never get rust bleed through. From cars to metal furniture to garden tools, the uses for Chemprime are endless!
How to Clean and Prepare Wrought Iron for Paint
I was recently asked by a neighbor to help get some wrought iron pieces in shape so that he could use them on a rail on his deck. The pieces were purchased years ago from a New Orleans French Quarter home that was being renovated. Each piece was rusty and covered with dirt, spider webs and general crud.
Our first step to get these pieces ready for paint was to clean them thoroughly. We scrubbed both sides of each wrought iron piece using a nylon brush with detergent and water. We then rinsed the pieces and let them dry.
We examined each piece looking for flaking rust, flaking old paint or anything that might break off later. We brushed off all of these flaky pieces.
We then sprayed Chemprime over the whole piece until the metal was thoroughly wetted. We let it sit for 4 hours and turned it over and sprayed Chemprime on the other side.
The rust was converted to a ceramic-like zinc strontium phosphate compound that will prevent future rust and provide a protected adhesion surface for paint. With both sides dry, the pieces were ready to paint.
Our neighbors, however, have not decided what color they want to use, so we haven’t painted it yet. Until they decide on a paint color, the pieces will be well protected with the Chemprime. There will not be anymore rusting and the neighbor can paint at anytime in the future. With Chemprime, there will never be rust bleed. No further preparation will be needed when they are ready to paint. They will simply paint directly over the Chemprime prepared piece.
Corrosion and how Chemprime fights it
Metal corrosion of is caused by electron transfer reactions between sections of the same piece of metal or between two dissimilar metals in electrical contact with each other. One metal piece acts as the reducing agent, and the other provides the conducting surface on which reduction occurs.
For example, iron (or steel) in contact with air and moisture corrodes. This corrosion process can be demonstrated by placing a drop of water on an iron surface. The area where the water drop contacts the iron can act as a corrosion center. The iron is oxidized by oxygen from the air. Moisture is necessary for corrosion because the water dissolves iron ions from the surface of the iron. These iron ions combine with oxygen from the air to form rust. Salts promote the corrosion by enabling a larger current flow between the active areas of the iron/air interface.
Rust progresses from "green (new) rust" to "black rust" to "brown rust". Green rust crystals are small and angular. These are the crystals that form early in the oxidation process. Black rust crystals look like small column-shaped nodes growing from the base material. Brown rust crystals are larger and look like round blobs.
| Corrosion of Iron or Steel |
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| Iron ions combine with oxygen from air to form rust |
The corrosion of aluminum in air is not as pronounced as that of iron, because the aluminum oxide that forms on the surface is tough, adherent and impervious to oxygen, thus providing a shield against further oxidation. The same is true of other corrosion-resistant metals such as chromium or nickel.
What should you do about corrosion
Simply spray the corroded area with Chemprime right from the bottle. For best results, the area should be cleaned of grease and dirt so the Chemprime can get right on the corroded area.
How does Chemprime help?
On Iron or Steel:
A simple spray of Chemprime removes green rust from the surface, leaving a new metal look. Chemprime on black and brown rust removes the rust and leaves a protective ceramic-like coating on the surface. Chemprime reacts with rust to form a chemically inert zinc strontium phosphate film at the molecular surface level of the metal. This film insulates the metal surface from the oxygen in the air to prevent electrical conduction. In addition, the strontium phosphate film provides an ideal surface for paint or other coatings to bond with at cellular level to the metal.
On Aluminum and other corrosion-resistant metals:
Chemprime cleans the oxide from the surface of the metal and leaves the zinc strontium film on the surface. To restore a shiny polished look, the metal will need to be treated further with a metal brightener like Chembrite.
Heavy Duty Industrial Strength Liquid Hand Cleaner
At the Earl Station, we paint many of the items we sell at our site. A big problem with using oil base paints such as the glossy enamels is that the overspray gets all on our hands and arms. Personal cleanup is usually a major task. We recently started using Dab-A-Do Heavy Duty Industrial Strength Hand Cleaner with American Pumice and Plastic Beads and the results are great. Our hands get really clean, including the fingernails and cuticles. Dab-A-Do also has a great fragrance of Cherry, Banana, Orange or Grape. Even if you are working with gasoline, parts cleaning fluid or diesel your hands smell nice.
I recently repaired an old lawnmower. The photo shows my hands after digging in on the propulsion drive. I used Dab-A-Do with the Cherry fragrance and it really cleaned up my hands, including the fingernails and cuticles. Dab-A-Do is great!
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| Dirty, Greasy Hands | Dab-A-Do Clean Hands |
You can use Dab-A-Do after changing oil, greasing a chassis, or painting and be able to immediately shake hands with anybody. This hand cleaner is really great and smells good too.
A Note About Our Car Clocks
Our car clocks are imported by The Earl Station, Inc. and painted by The Earl Station Craftsmen. We finish our car memorabilia clocks like a car. The surface is prepared with 320 grit sandpaper to give it a smooth surface. We then spray paint the clock and finish with fine hand applied details. Our car clocks are the only ones sold on the Internet that have this type of professional finish.
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| '57 Chevy Bel Air Car Clock Custom Finished in Red and Black | |
Chemprime can be used to remove slime and sludge from boats, pontoons and cooling coils. Freshwater slime and algae formations can be cleaned away by spraying Chemprime on the area and letting it remain for about 30-40 minutes then rising with fresh water.
We have a 24' Pontoon boat that we have kept in the water at a fresh water marina for 10 years. It has been hauled only once to clean the pontoons in the 10 years we have owned it. We recently went to work cleaning it up to get it ready for the summer season. Below is a rundown of how we used the products at the Earl Station to get our "party barge" ready for fun.
Cleaning Scum Line with Chemprime
With the boat docked in the water, a scum line has formed at the water line on the pontoons. We sprayed the scum line with Chemprime and let is sit for about 30 minutes. We then washed the area with fresh water. As you can see in the photo, the scum line is completely gone.
After Chemprime, the scum line is gone.