Originally Posted by
leonf
...That deck will never be smooth enough for nice fabric...
Soak in Evaporust for a week, rinse, clean, turn, maybe more rust off product and cleaning. Sanding, primers, fillers, more sanding, a good 2 millimeters of shellac or enamel paint,... I have seen 1930s cars wrecks brought back to life, it can be done if you really want to. If they had chromed the whole thing it would be still be in pretty good condition.