Cheapo Packard tailight housing fix, metalflake baby!

[Nads]

Kinda!

[dv8]

Cool....You think that would work on Tim's whole Packard?

He's all about Kustoms you know.

[Nads]

Here's what I did. The housings were bought back in 1993 for $100 the pair, the backup lenses were missing. I ran the bastards for a long time on my '54 Chevy but they were all pitted to hell. The sled's being prepped for a full on paint job now and I didn't want these cruddy things on there.
I took a die grinder and ground all the pits and chrome off. Then I primed and sanded the housings smooth. After that I sprayed them with a slow drying silver enamel model car paint. Then I sprinkled some dry K-Mart kiddie flake on them. After that I drenched the whole shebang in about five heavy coats of Krylon clear acrylic. This stuff is great, non yellowing and crystal clear. Then I sanded that with 240 grit wet or dry. After that I sprayed on a few more coats of Krylon.
They came out great, hey I know it's not chrome, but until I can find a nice set for a reasonable price they'll do.

I made the backup housings ages ago out of sheet steel and welding rod. The prices being asked for the lenses was ridiculous so I found some chrome skulls and made these myself. BTW the eyes on the skulls light up when you hit the brakes. I did a similar trick on those using raspberry red flake found in the same $4.99 4 pack K-Mart kiddie glitter.

Now I don't know how well they'll last under our brutal FLA UV attack but if I can get a year I'll be happy.

Cheap/poor folk might want to consider this plan of attack for poxy pot metal trim.

[Nads]

Y'know dv8 it might. But he might have to spend more than the $11.00 than I did on these.

[lowsquire]

Wicked!!
might steal that trick for a few rusty chrome bits...
Ive found the craft store glitter is often the same stuff as "proper"metalflake,only thing is its expensive to buy twenty little vials to do a roof!good for doing trim like that though..
You can buy high UV resistant clear in spray cans down here,probably there too.

[Paul]

Nads,

you're my hero..

seriously.

that is so cool.

Paul

[Dan]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing with the rusty bumpers and grill on my '49. That looks pretty cool!

[Nads]

Thanks guys. Yeah I know I'm treading into cheesy territory here, but you've gotta make do with you've got.
Gone are the days of finding pristine 50s trim in junkyards.
Also one of the housings was broken in two because of some asshole hit and run driver in a parking lot. I know I should've given up 'raving' a long time ago.
The cost to get these rechromed would've been in the 100s of dollars. And yeah I know a decent set of '56 Packard tailights will set you back $300-$800.

Hey man I'm cheap, what can I tell you?

[Detonator]

Righteous! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Skate Fink]

OUTSTANDING!! Now THAT'S "traditional." http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[stresser]

Nice....good idea i might try it on the bullets up front on my 54 ,thanks for shareing ,maybe red flake though??

stresser

[Bugman]

All I've ever used is glitter. In fact, a student sprayed some on his practice fender today. I'm going to have our chemistry teacher do some glitter/flake comparisons to see if they are, in fact, the same thing in different bottles.

-Bugman Jeff

[Cannibal]

Slick I like it alot!!

[chromedRAT]

man, that is pretty nice, and just in time. i bought a 52 pontiac hood ornament for my '50, and thought that it would fit perfectly on the '51 hood chrome. well, it's off a good bit, so i'll have to use thin sheet metal to cover up a few holes and etc with the smaller '52 ornament. this could be just the ticket...

and that would be killer in the interior...

[Luke Jivetalker]

looks fuckin sweet Nads, you sure you live in Fla? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[D Picasso]

ha! you're amazing. what a great idea.

mother is the necessity of invention!

heck, if a guy wanted to get krazy with the JB Weld, he could do all kinds of wacky mods to the trim, peaks and such.

[Sailor]

Cool! What color is planned for the rest of the car?

[Nads]

Purple sailor. I was thinking about satin purple on the body and purple metalflake on the roof and under the Buick trim. But now I'm leaning towards all gloss paint. I hope I can get the body straight enough for shiny paint.
FA I had to epoxy one housing because it was broken. I use PC7 it's shiznizzy. I've used it to attach the rubber shock mounts on Eames chairs even. It's by far the best epoxy I've ever used, but it cures veeeery slowly.

[Honest]

Nads..Purple?........you might get mobed by them Koolsville Kats B?]>

[Fat Hack]

Gonna be one KICK ASS sled when ya get done with it, Bro...lookin' better all the time! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Antibilly]

I have seen those first hand and they are great!! my 4yr old is pissed though..all his glue and glitter sticks are gone!!
look what Nads has done now....cheated the west coast out of a fresh idea! all Hail FLORIDA!!!!!!!! thats east baby http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[repoguy]

That rules!!

[4t64rd]

Nads!
I asked my codger, painter friend if I could 'flake my bike parts that way and he said no. Thanks for proving him wrong!

I bought some HUGE bass boat chrome flake from that Innate company, it was on clearance $6.95 for a big jar, I'm going to use Nads method and paint the chainguard and fenders of the Fatlucky Domino banana seat Schwinn. Wish me luck.

After I get done with the bike, I'll try it on MY chrome smoothies.

What did you catch the "overflake" on? newspaper? Blue tarp? Was static a problem?

P.S. Codger, painter friend was from CA. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif HAIL Florida!

[DrJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Nads!
I asked my codger, painter friend if I could 'flake my bike parts that way and he said no. Thanks for proving him wrong!...


[/ QUOTE ]

He just meant No you shouldn't, not no you can't.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Good save on the otherwise no-good parts Nads!

[Sailor]

Purple and silver sounds cool, Nads.

[v8minor]

Very nice now your talkin . I always try to spend as little as I can .We get arseholes sayin I spent this much I am so furkin rich.Well useing the ole head is priceless.Can't wait to see it finished.

[DrJ]

I like Purple on Kustoms on account of Mother's hate it and it always clashes with the tail lights.
I thought of a name for the new idea "Nad's Original Crackle Chrome" http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif