Customs 1959 Edsel Marker light fabrication

Good day folks! I have a 1959 Edsel and without the need to say it, some of the parts are made of pure unobtainium. While this car shares most of its chassis parts with a Galaxie, some parts like the front marker lights are Edsel only (there was a crossover for the Mercury Comet, 1960 I believe) but they are no longer available. I ran the car for awhile with some trailer marker lights screwed to the bumper braces, but its time to do it right. Here is a video of the process. When I get some time I will try to do a proper forum post. I still have quite a bit to do on them, but this is the first part of the fabrication

 

New video should be dropping in about 2 weeks. I just got the car back from the transmission shop, so I havent been able to film some progress on the marker lights. Stay tuned

 

My caution is using that diffuser plastic. That stuff will break if you look at it wrong, it's pretty fragile. And it gets worse with age. It doesn't like heat either, so if you're planning on a incandescent lamp in that small housing, it will probably discolor and/or melt, even in just signal use. There is a heavier-duty version available, but it's special-order and won't be nearly so pliable, and still has some of the same other issues. I'm a retired electrician, and can tell you that whenever we got a fixture order, there was always broken lenses. The better suppliers usually sent spares...

I'd recommend using a LED array to fix the heat issue, use the diffuser as an intermediate lens, and use polycarbonate (like Lexan) for the outer lens to take any abuse like rock strikes.

Other than that, great job so far!

 

Thank you for the great advice. A lexan outer lense sounds like an excellent idea

 

Part 2 is finally here!

 

Just an FYI- the park lights were shared on Comets from 1960-1963. I know- late to the party.

 

All good. I tried a few times to order them, but apparently they are discontinued, this lead me to start making them