Paul Iannelli of Johnston is property manager of The Steel Mill artist colony. He shows how the 1941 Chevrolet Master Deluxe looked before he started restoring it.

Journal Staff / Steve Szydlowski

Artistic friends of the owner painted the Chevrolet name on the hub caps.

Journal PHOTOS / Steve Szydlowski

There’s lots of chrome on the 1941 Chevy Master Deluxe.

It wasn’t enough that Paul Iannelli of Johnston is the property manager for The Steel Yard, the artist colony in the Eagle Square area of Providence at the site of the former Providence Steel and Iron Co. Owners Clayton Rockefeller and Nick Bauta wanted him to have a project so that everyone involved in the complex would be an artisan.

“They told me I should fix up an old car,” said Iannelli, who had been employed at the steel company for most of his life and worked on cars for some 50 years. “They said, ‘we all have our own projects and we want you to have this. Find something you like and get it.’ ”

Iannelli likes Chevrolets from the early 40s and was about to get a 1940 Chevy from Virginia when he was told about a 1941 that was mostly in pieces in a back yard in Johnston. He brought the Master Deluxe two-door to The Steel Yard and, financed by Rockefeller and Bauta, began the restoration. “That was in June 2004 and in October 2004 for my birthday they gave me a box with the key to the car,” Iannelli said. “I thought I was just doing a job for them, but they gave me the car.”

It took a couple of years working in his spare time, but Iannelli is far enough along in the restoration to take the car to its first cruise night, at the A&W Root Beer stand on Route 44, Greenville, not far from his house. His goal was to bring the car back to nearly new condition.

“Pretty much everything that’s on the car is original,” he said. “I kept everything I could.”

But Iannelli, 63, showed that there is some artist’s blood in him. He changed the color of the Chevy from basic black to Grenada Yellow, which puts the car into a whole new realm. “I wanted something different,” he said. The yellow is a factory color, but not many cars came out of the factory that way.

Though the sheet metal and drivetrain are original, there are many replacement parts. “Underneath, the car is new from front to back — exhaust, gas line, gas tank, and a whole new wiring harness,” Iannelli said. “The engine had been rebuilt but I did change some stuff on it. The fuel pump wasn’t working right, and I put in a new radiator and water pump. I had the starter and the generator rebuilt, but I kept the 6-volt electrical system.”

The fact that he wasn’t paying for the parts didn’t stop Iannelli from scouting around and relying on friends for some of the pieces. Other parts were machined. “I’ve got a lot of friends who are into this and they are on the lookout for things,” he said. “I got the trunk handle ornament in Virginia and had it rechromed, and the chrome [rocker panel] moldings are from a flea market in Amherst, Mass.

“I found the hubcaps and one of the artists here painted the nameplate on them for me. All the people here have been very supportive.”

Iannelli replaced all of the glass except for the rear window, the only piece that wasn’t fogged up. But he didn’t just order from a catalog, although he could have. He took the original windows to a glass shop that made templates and cut all new glass, cheaper than buying pre-made replacements. “You have to have friends to do things like this,” he says.

The mohair interior came from a retrofitter, however, and an auto-top shop in Glocester sewed it in.

Upgrades in the restoration include a clock to replace the blank round panel on the passenger side of the dashboard, fog lights (both true to the period), and the flying lady hood ornament that was optional in 1941. Iannelli added chrome spears to the front fenders and had the grille and other brightwork rechromed, but he had to paint over the Chevy nameplate and emblem on the hood. They were too badly pitted to be rechromed, but he is looking for replacements.

The heater is original, but there is a hole in the dash where the radio should be. Replacements for the old tube radios are available, but not cheap. Another interesting feature is the small pedal to the right of the accelerator. It’s the starter pedal. “My first car was a 1946 Pontiac, and it was almost exactly like this inside,” said Iannelli, noting that World War II stymied design changes.

Redoing the Chevy has been worth it, Iannelli says. “I get a lot of stares, and my wife was really surprised by the smooth ride. There are a couple of more things I want to do during the winter. It’s an ongoing restoration; I guess every one is.”