11/17/99 I’m actually putting pieces back on!

The headlights went in today! It took quite a few weeks to round up the right screws, plugs, and paint to get to this point, but it sure gives the car another step towards completion! I soldered the new plugs into the freshly painted headlight buckets, and heat shrinked the wires together, a very professional job if I should say so myself!

Another piece that went back on the car was the interior dome light. I polished them the best that I could and reinstalled it. I think the metal under the chrome was brass, or there was a copper under-layer, because all the corrosion was green which meant that copper was present. Perhaps one day, I’ll get it re-chromed, but for now, it’s fine.

Some pieces are made of “un-obtainium” and one of them is the tail light lenses. This does not necessarily mean that they are not existent, just that they don’t exist new at my price range. Mine are not badly cracked, but do show years of scratches, and wear. 

I bought a plastic polishing wheel from “Eastwood Co.” and decided to try them out on the lenses. It’s amazing the difference a buffing can make! After a good washing to get the dirt and grime off the lenses, I carefully buffed all the scratches right out. You can see the difference between the two in the picture. I can’t believe with my other cars, I just threw away the old lenses and bought new ones simply because they were available brand new! I now know there’s no reason to buy new plastic colored lenses unless they’re cracked! I may have to go and polish ALL the lenses on my other cars because how great it looks!

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