bumper guard tail lights part 1

I bought some 62-67 corvette tail lights today for $10 at a swap meet . I had a different location in mind when i originally bought them but after getting home i did not like the idea so i ditched it for this custom idea. Any tips are more than helpful and welcome. But there is what i got done so far.......

Here are the lights i bought


Started with a stock bumper guard on my 1950 chevy coupe


Cut off a little too little


Taped up the lens and cut off the extra plastic with the grinder and cut off wheel


Cleaned it up with a grinding disc carefully



Test fit


My neighbor said it looks right like that and agrees with me that it does not have the pepperoni nipple thing going on.

 

At the bottom of the light instead of filling in the metal i want to reshape the guard with more of a curve into the bottom of the lens. Trying to figure a way to mount the bulb holder once i cut it down to shape. Maybe some little tabs with holes for a spring to clip into and keep the bulb holder and lens tensioned backwards against the bumper guard?

 

Part 2

Today i tackled the driver side guard. Still need to cut out the lens from the unneeded material and customize the bulb holders. I did start a little reshaping of the guard courtesy of my 3lb sledge hammer.







I used a grinder with cut off wheel to separate the center so when i hammered on it, the metal had somewhere to go. I reopened the slit 3 or 4 times to get to where i am now. I think a little more in and come back out on the very bottom of where the lens sits.

 

I have been thinking down the center on top of the lens it would look good with a peak that fades away. Maybe i will get some lead and experiment.

 

It's looking a lot better than I originally thought it would,,I like thinkig outside of the box. HRP

 

The white line is what i envision.

 

Here is the final shape.



Now the challenge will be to replecate that size. Oh well its a junk guard anyways.

 

I like em. Having only one brake/tail no turn on the back of my burb I am always. Looking for an idea that wouldn't bolt something to the body.

 

Here is the final work before welding and grinding. Then attach the bulb holder and wire up.

 

It looks like you have ambulance style doors on the back of your 'burb; so if you wanted to copy what the OP did, any bumper guard that you bolt on would have to be really short.

Two ideas: get a spare rear bumper to experiment on, and inset some older type lights in it, or, build some small light boxes that mount inside the rear door windows. Maybe mount them onto the garnish molding so it doesn't alter the truck if you want to keep it mostly stock.

Since your one light looks to be the '39 sedan style bullet or torpedo type housing, I'd be tempted to just add another with a red lens on the pass. side, then add a second one on both sides with an amber lens for the turn signal. That would lose the stock look, just a bit.

Oh, Yeah, GasserSteve, looks good, nice work!

Later, Kinky6

 

Cool mod