Headlight

Headlights are a focal point on this car, and from the look of them, they needed a lot of work. On removing the chrome rings, I was presented with the horror of bad painting! The red of the car was painted onto chrome, and onto the base. This is simply sloppy quick work to get the most bang for the painting time. I simply cannot abide by this concept. If your going to do it, do it right.

Retaining Ring

Designed to hold the large light in place, they are pretty well abused. Dirty, painted, and rusted. The paint was chipped off, the dirt scrubbed off, the rust brushed off. The entire piece was polished, and the rust areas were resprayed with silver paint in loo of re-chroming or replacement. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Adjuster

The primary function of this piece is to be able to adjust where the lights are pointing. Cleaning this piece left most unsatisfying results. The rusted area was pitted and generally abused by the fact that there was no dust ring seal to keep water from accumulating on it. The paint was chipped off as usual. The rusted area was treated with several rounds of brushing, vinegar, rinse and repeat.

Base

What can I say, this piece took most of my time spent on the assembly. The red paint was chipped off, the rust brushed, the wires cleaned, the piece cleaned and it still looked like a worn dog.

Completed Adjuster

After cleaning, I spray-painted the adjuster with a lovely Silver paint. Other than a few runs, it looks simply fabulous. Considering what I had to work with, this piece came out looking good and should hold up to the weather of another 40 years!

Completed Base

The base was a nightmare. After chipping off all the ugly paint, I was left with primer over the original black, with the original black visible in most areas. I scuffed up the finish to prepare for spray-paint, and taped up the wires so as not to get them black. The first coat on both sides went on even, nice and clean. The only visible defect was a spot that the paint hadn't gone on as thick and you could see the defects underneath. I sprayed another layor of paint on it and to my horror, a section the size of a grapefruit crinkled up in a horrible looking orange-peel. I tried to sand it down and re-spray but it repeated the problem in the same area. I eventually took it back to the original condition, scraping off all the new paint and re-spraying. I can still see a few of the marks left by the sanding but as this will be under the bonnet, I'm not going any further on it.

Final Assembly

Overall the final assembly looks really a lot better than the original condition. I am going to have to spend alot of time on the other side as it is in similar condition. I am happy with the final product!