Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Where there’s a will there’s a way. If there are also stubbornness, playfulness, reckless optimism and a digital camera, there is probably another way too….

My ‘72 TR6 has a license plate light that bolts to the top of the back bumper. It was in bad shape. The potmetal base was bent and the captive anchor bolts at either end had snapped off–they were still with the car only because the hideous cracked, split, warped, bowed, gasket held them there. The lenses were dirty and the bulbs were rusted in the sockets–but still had filaments.

To replace the housing and gasket is over $200. Too much. This car’s a driver so spending a couple hundred on something outside the car that I can never possibly view while driving ain’t happenin’. So I thought maybe I just replace the gasket.

Amazingly Mark Brandow at Quality Coaches in S. Minneapolis didn’t have it. Not even Moss had it! But Victoria British does, for something like $22. It’d be a cinch to order it. But it would be a lot more work and hassle to make one myself, so why not give that a try?

First stop for that effort was Amble’s near Franklin and Cedar in Minneapolis. Amble’s is a like a hardware junkyard. They have old tools, machines, motors, wheels, sheet metal and all sorts of other odds, ends and raw materials. The owner pointed me toward the back door, and there on metal shelves gathering snow, was a piece of rubber mat that looked about perfect.

This job will be a few days in the making but this post shows what’s come so far. Captive bolts reattached with JB Weld. Housing straightened with small wood piece, clamps and then some two-thumbs fine-tuning. Rubber mat washed, marked with a Sharpie and cut to initial shape.

Still have some figuring to do to get it all to fit and look nice…because really, I need two gaskets–one between the base and bumper and one between the base and cover. “Every problem is an opportunity it disguise.” I’ll chip away at it in the coming days. Stay tuned….

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Car parts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.