sun visor

[Jim Clement]

well.. I was lucky enough to get a pair of sun visors for my car after 30 years of not having any..
have a look and let me know if I have installed them correctly .. does the lip go up.. as I have them installed.. or do I have it incorrect.. and the lip should be facing down ??

[Tom Wavrin]

Hi Jim,
I believe the lip should be up as you've done. That is how I installed them after a bit of research.
I put the finished side of the rivets on the opposite side as yours though as that is how I found them.
These visors are a great addition to the early cars - pretty cool shades to have as you drive towards the sun.

[Jim Clement]

good to know..
I have never seen an original..
I got these from Robert B at the lit meet two years ago.. and am just now at the restoration stage to install them.
I have spent may many hours squinting into the sun trying to hide under the sight line of the roof of the car..
so I to am looking forward to using them.

[Fred Otjen]

They look great. Is there a source for the just flat colored plastic ?

[Jim Clement]

i bought them a few years ago from Robert Brocker
he is sometimes at the Lit meet with them on sale..

[Rick Albro]

Sun visors have been discussed before see:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35519&start=15
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=38109
and possibly others the green plastic inserts are available from NLA which are reasonable given the options. There are several articles in the registry on sun visors as well. Rivets are also readily available, I use Hanson rivets because they will also ship small quantities. The original plastic inserts I believe were an cellulose acetate, whereas the new replacements are Acrylic. The original colorant may have been a pigment and not a dye. Pigments would have been more light fast and therefore would have been state of the art materials for the time. Given time and UV irradiation the cellulose acetate would decompose yielding potentially acetic acid which would dissolve and alter the pigment creating a yellow or brown color with time.

[Alan Hall]

I don't think I have posted this before but my brother bought a complete interior out of wrecked '55 coupe circa 1959 or '60 to replace the corduroy interior in his '53 coupe. This sunvisor has been around the family for years and I think it is probably from that '55 or perhaps his '53. As I understand how the small foot visors install, it would be lip down when installed. Also the rivet setting is very nicely done and must have been set by some type of setting tool. The back side of the rivet looks just as nice as the head side, except slightly smaller. I hope these photos show this.

[Rick Albro]

Good picture Alan, I think originally the rivets were placed with a riveting tool and some had some "peening" at some time during their life span. Usually the "peening" is done on the rivet closest to the "foot" to tighten the "grip" and keep the visor from falling. Sometimes owners remove the foot and "smack" it with a hammer to flatten the rod and tighten the visor. This usually distorts the spine of the visor and is hard to repair. One of the original drawings show the lip up as do several vintage photos. The earliest version does not have a "Lip" on the insert but is flat. This style was used until mid 53.

[Alan Hall]

Rick, my '53 super cab, which was a Hoffman "USA Deluxe" configuration was completed March 11, '53 and had two of the "big nut" sun visors with flat plastic. The '53 coupe my brother had was a Normal and was a Hoffman "USA Standard" configuration and had one sun visor (driver's side) of the footed type, even though I believe it's completion date was January 30, '53. I honestly don't recall if his visor was flat or not. (probably was flat and the visor I showed earlier was from the '55 interior).

[Rick Albro]

Alan I think what you report is at least consistent with everything that I have experienced... With preA sun visors most combinations exist and some cross over also happened. Some cars had drivers side visors while others had passenger side visors some had both sides and some had none. I always look for the holes where the screws would be but I also think that some cars were retrofitted by previous owners. Also if a visor was replaced by a dealer they would do so with the available stock which in most cases would be a newer version. Referring back to what Jim mentioned pre A cars look great with the sun visors in place. I have measured the hole difference for the large foot style and the hex nut style and the holes could very well be the same distance because the large foot style is somewhat adjustable. The original visors for 50199 a February of 53 car, were missing when I took custody of her but there are mounting holes on both sides indicating that at least at one time this coupe had both visors. Since I could not distinguish the style from the mounting hole difference, I have acquired both hex nut and large foot versions. My preference is for the hex nut style visors, but I am still a ways from making that decision. The registry article on pre A sun visors was from the 1980's that suggested the change from flat to lipped insert occurred with the change from hex nut to large foot. However as You have stated there are examples that exist that differ from this "rule of thumb". The registry article also suggests some uncertainty.

[Thomas VanTol]

I would like some advice as to cleaning the plastic 58 Cab visors. Not the tinted ones but the solid cream colored ones. First rule, do no harm. So?????

[Tom Coughlin]

Thomas: Good question and worthy of a separate topic. My C cab has cream colored plastic visors and the upsides were grungy since the top is almost always down. I got some improvement with Simple Green and a tooth brush. i'll bet others have done better, so let's hear how to do it. Tom

[Steve Shelton]

I'm in the final stage of a long (7 year) restoration on my 1953 Coupe. I have one visor (hex nut style) and would like to find a mate for it.
Any suggestions would be well received.
Regards
Steven