Rear suspension cleanup, part 1

I spent some quality time under the Ghia today, cleaning and painting the right rear suspension area. There was a lot of surface rust that I wanted to address. It was over two years ago that I cleaned off years worth of grease that had built up, and rust began forming very quickly after that.



Early Type 3 swirl brake drums. I kept the wheel mounting surface free of paint—I never want to see one of my wheels passing me by when I'm driving down the freeway.



Here's a good shot of one of the early rear Type 3 axles, which featured stamped steel lower shock mounts welded directly to the axle tubes. Early in the 1963 model year these were replaced by redesigned axle tubes with separate forged shock mounts. Another example of early Type 3 weirdness.



With the wheel removed there was a clear view of the transmission serial number, 35694, which is consistent with a build date of March/April 1962. With this number there's no doubt it's the original trans.

When the car is completely restored the paint will be redone properly, but this will get me by until then. Next weekend the left side gets the same treatment.