SPID Cleaning/Restoring/Preservation

[LT7A]

I have a truck where the SPID came mostly unglued and the previous owner put it in an envelope with a bunch of other pertinent papers. So, fortunately, I have it. Unfortunately, it's dirty and folded in half. I would like to clean it as well as I can without "experimenting" too much. So I figured I would ask any of you has found something that has worked really well. Also, since it's folded, I'm hoping to flatten it out. And then put it into a clear 5x7 sleeve, semi-permanently mounted to the glove box door.

[dagnabbitt]

I would leave it alone, original, and in the envelope, and have a reproduction one made.

The below person does the 67-72s, I do not know about squares but someone must do them.

http://outintheshop.com/2.html

I realize that people frequently offer alternatives to what the question is about as opposed to an actual answer and that is what I have done, it can be annoying. So I would say that if you really want to restore your original SPID I would take it to a conservator. If you cannot find one, most frames shops could provide you with a contact.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

I would leave it alone, original, and in the envelope, and have a reproduction one made.

The below person does the 67-72s, I do not know about squares but someone must do them.

http://outintheshop.com/2.html

I realize that people frequently offer alternatives to what the question is about as opposed to an actual answer and that is what I have done, it can be annoying. So I would say that if you really want to restore your original SPID I would take it to a conservator. If you cannot find one, most frames shops could provide you with a contact.

I believe Jeff has done some of the later 70's blue border SPID labels. I believe they were turned out on the same printers as the 60's labels.

[TKCR]

Jeff redid mine. I still have the original, but I put the new one in the glove box. This pic is the original. I’ll gave to get one of the new one.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

I would leave it alone, original, and in the envelope, and have a reproduction one made.

The below person does the 67-72s, I do not know about squares but someone must do them.

http://outintheshop.com/2.html

I realize that people frequently offer alternatives to what the question is about as opposed to an actual answer and that is what I have done, it can be annoying. So I would say that if you really want to restore your original SPID I would take it to a conservator. If you cannot find one, most frames shops could provide you with a contact.

I appreciate your thoughts on this, along with the other folks who have made suggestions. Clean up, fix, and restore is my mantra for this truck though. Not going to spend multi-tens of dollars, haha, for something I already have. It was originally going to be a parts truck, so it's not going to be a concourse restoration. I drove it home 200 miles from where I bought it and halfway home decided it was too nice and ran too well to pull apart though. And it's optioned quite nicely, so I thought it would be worthwhile to put the SPID back into service. So what I'll do is start cleaning it up, and I can report back here on what works. Budget limitations also rule out using a conservator. But I'll try to stop short of doing any damage, so that if I ever wanted it professionally restored, it would still be possible.

[LT7A]

The first couple pictures are of it in its current condition. The next one is after cleaning it with a soft dry cloth and then a damp cloth. I was very surprised how much the damp cloth removed. I didn't realize until going through the papers from the truck recently, that the previous owner must have been a smoker. Maybe he had quit as I did not smell it in the cab when I bought the truck. But the papers all smelled like smoke, and I guess there's no reason I shouldn't expect it to have made its way into the glove box. So just the damp cloth removed a significant amount of dirt and yellowing. I'm going to let it rest, haha, and then try it with a damp cloth and a tiny bit of mild hand soap.

Update: Maybe pictures another day. For the first time ever I got the missing security token error. 3 times.

[65chevysub]

On my 84 Sierra 2500, my SPID was mounted on the inner fender. Why I dont know, but I managed to get it off in one piece, and made a few color copies of it. I keep the original in a binder with other papers, owners manual etc, and will eventually put the copy in the glove box

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by 65chevysub

On my 84 Sierra 2500, my SPID was mounted on the inner fender. Why I dont know, but I managed to get it off in one piece, and made a few color copies of it. I keep the original in a binder with other papers, owners manual etc, and will eventually put the copy in the glove box

That's a good hybrid of ideas. if I can get mine to lay flat, maybe I will make a color copy and have it laminated. Should be pretty cheap, and that way the copy can take the wear and tear in the glove box. That's one of the reasons I appreciate this forum. Something that's seemingly insignificant can get the attention of a few well-meaning individuals and trickle its way down into a solution that works for the given circumstances. My original has cleaned up pretty well and I'll try again to post a couple pictures.

[44th Miss Inf]

I would love to have a reproduction one, but my truck has a full SPID sheet (40 something options) and at $3 a piece after 8, just not worth it for me