A Frenching 54 Chevy tail lights question?

[delaware george]

i was wanting to put 54 lights on the back of our 53 chevy.i was wondering how to go about frenching them...can i sand the chrome of of stock bezels and weld them to the car?....lets see some and hear how you did it...thanks and sorry if this is dumb,but this is our first custom and it's alot different than the old rpu

[hotrod54chevy]

you should be able to french them...i dont know if they made any brass TAIL lights..i know some of the head light rims were brass and couldnt be welded..sand em down and see what ya got
Creepy

[delaware george]

i don't have any yet and didn't want to sink a bunch of cash on some that i couldn't use...i sanded the 53 bezels and they looked and felt like steel...i'll have to round up a magnet and check em out...thanks

[porknbeaner]

Those bezzels will be pot metal and won't weld to your body.
Make or buy some buckets, mount the lights in thew buckets and then cut a hole in the body to set the bucket in. weld the bucket to the body and finish.
Any number of '50s custom and hotrod parts houses sell the buckest for about 35 or 40 dollars, but with a little 18 gauge and some time they are nuthin' to make.
I made up a set to go with some '54 Belair lights for the doowapkid (ps) Harpoons little brother and it took me about an hour.

[delaware george]

thanks,that's what i was thinking

[Tony]

On my '53 i bent the housings from 19 ga steel, welded them to the body and mounted 54 Lee lenses from the back side in the trunk.
Because i mounted them that way without a 'insert' style bucket for the lenses, the're not only frenched, but tunneled too.

Just another thought. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Tony.

[glassguy]

[glassguy]

on this car we ground off the chrome and used 3m body fusor.thats the stuff the factory and body shops use instead of welding when hangin a quarter panel etc. it actually has a higher shear strength than a mig weld .so i donjt think it will ever crack

[Brickster]

fusor is great stuff but even after those seams are body worked and painted there is a very good chance of the line between the two surfaces showing because of the different thermal expansion rates of the materials.

[Sailor]

I know it isnt what you were asking about; but I think the 54s taillightbezels look just as good stock with the chrome intact, -just like on the chevy om the pic. The important thing is to clean up the taillight itself by getting rid of the backup-light etc. The easy route here is a couple of Lee- or Winfield-lences. The 53 frankly has very cheap looking taillights and needs taillights from a 54 or maybe something completely differant to look good? Just my thoughts..

[DrJ]

Only french the tail lights if you french the headlights too, and vice versa.
Don't glue them on if you are going to put $500 worth of real paint on it. If youre just going to primer it , have fun.
I don't see any point in just copying a 54 tail light in sheet metal, do something original! Do some tail light that isnt off a Chevy, or any GM or Packard product.
If the chrome is pitted on your stock'54's then the casting is pitted too and it will show thru the paint so go with a sheet fabricated copy if that's what you want.
I'd be puting early 50-something Oldsmobile tail lights on it, or '56 Chrysler molded in.

Been curious too long, George...Is that you in that avatar? :cool:

[delaware george]

thanks for the compliment drJ,but i'm not that good looking http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

thanks for the ideas also.this is my wifes car and she keeps leaning towards the 54 lights,but i keep thinking more about something different....we are frenching the headlights,and maybe doing an eyebrow like on the 55's.

right now,im working on floor pans and just gathering ideas for what mods we'll be doing....i'll post pictures as we progress

[Stephenrod420]

thanks for the info guys. i am in the process of doing the same thing to my 53 now i know i am going to put 54 tail light in with out the reverse light and i will look into finding a different tail light in stead of the 54's

[PBRmeASAP]

poor mans way......epoxy the bezels, bondo them in and your set! been working for 8 years on my 54...