Both the original hubcaps and the beauty rings were very dirty, but a few hours of cleaning and polishing with autosol got them to a reasonable level.   (before and after).

It is also interesting to compare the two styles side by side:

The 250SE has a distinctive look and I wanted to bring that back.   I much prefer the two piece style to the later one piece hubcaps.  Next step is to change the v8 style headlights for the original style.

The post Changing the 250SE back to the correct wheel trims appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I also polished the front grille with some Autosol.   I wasn’t able to make that much improvement as much of the grille has lost the chrome coating and is down to the base metal, but i was able to clean it a little.     It is not apparent from the photo, but the bumper is a tad too high and would likely prevent the use of the starting handle.

I also looked under the car.  Overall it looked good.   Minor transmission leak, and a couple of minor rust areas, but mostly very solid.

The post Minor repairs to the Traction appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

This is a job that gets far easier with experience.   Some of the websites mention needing far less of the clips than I used, but the holes were all drilled in my door, so I used them anywhere.   Where a hole had been drilled I made sure I used some anti-rust paint, which is the black you can see.   The plugs are easy to guide in with the wooden handle of a hammer.   They need steady pressure or they will bend.

The old door cards were in a bad way – the wood was cracked in some places and soft in others.  The mounting points were worn, and the previous owner had screwed directly through the card into the door in some places.

The new card on the other hand had lovely new backing wood and all mounting holes pre-drilled.   The clips are sold separately and are easy to add if you bend them outwards a bit with a flat head screwdriver .   I figured the more the merrier.

Once you are ready to mount it on the door, the longest set of needle nosed pliers you own is ideal to slightly adjut the clips so they can fit into the door plugs.      The first job took me an hour or two, this time it took me 15-20 minutes!

The finished product looks great, especially after using some autosol to polish the window winder.

The post DS Door cards – Update appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The front bumpers (the rears were pretty similar):

The post Citroen DS bumpers polished. appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Citroen DS with new Mirrors

As well as the mirrors, I had bought some clips to re-attach the trim above the rear window.   The headlining and this trim are not perfect, but they are good enough for now.   Unfortunately I am missing the DS rear lights that are supposed to be there, and I still have not been able to find a set.

Rear Trim, sans lights.

Finally I spent some time polishing the trims around the C pillar.   They were terribly oxidized, but after a few hours with the Autosol metal polish they are looking much better.

The post More Citroen DS de-jalopification appeared first on Classic Jalopy.