I have removed the 42 to 47 poverty cap skins. You need to carefully wedge a plastic edged tool underneath the skin on the backside of the cap and work it loose. It may be stuck on the front so be careful but persistent.

Todd

Thanks for your reply. I've removed one very carefully but took almost 30 minutes so not to bend the skin very much. The skin was kinda glued to the cap so had to be very careful. I was hoping someone had some kind of magic solution. I think you suggestion to use plastic as it should reduce the chance of damage.
Thanks again,
Bill

Thanks for your reply. I've removed one very carefully but took almost 30 minutes so not to bend the skin very much. The skin was kinda glued to the cap so had to be very careful. I was hoping someone had some kind of magic solution. I think you suggestion to use plastic as it should reduce the chance of damage.
Thanks again,
Bill

I'm curious how you made out with your hubcap restoration.  I didn't want to attempt removing the skins on my caps so I had a shop re-chrome and polish the entire cap with the skin and the steel shell together.  They didn't turn out too badly but I had to be satisfied with the dents that already existed.  Frankly, I've never seen a cap like this in a nice polished dent-free state.  I'd love to try a good restoration sometime.

Still looking for better way to remove skin. I very, very carefully bend up the crimp around the cap, work it around slowly and then pry the skin off. I saw examples years ago where a HET member did this and ended up with beautiful, replated caps.

I'm currently working on mine for the '36.  I called Press Kale a couple of years ago, hoping he was still restoring them.  He had given up doing hubcaps but shared his technique with me.  The only way to get a good restoration is what was discussed above, lift the edge all the way around and take the skin off of the the dogdish.  Tap out the dents from the inside, sand with high grit sandpaper to locate the high spots, continue to tap and smooth, then rub with 000 steel wool.  After that you can have them stripped and rechromed.

Jeremiah

Thanks for the reply. I saw some samples of his work and they were beautiful. I guess slow and steady is the way to restore them.