With snow on the ground and no garage to work in, I can't work on my engine swap until its warmer. So I decided to take off my tail lights to give them a good cleaning inside and out. So out it all came and into my living room for the tear down. Now something I had always thought would look REALLY cool is if the orange Bird emblem and "PONTIAC" writing in the back lit up at night.

I had always assumed it had been molded black plastic with orange inserts, so I never bothered to pursue the idea. Well after taking off the lights and housings, I noticed that it was actually translucent and painted from the back.

That old idea struck instantly! So I busted out my thin exacto-knife and started etching away at the back of the shell. Only 3 letters in and I'm very pleased so far. Not looking forward to etching out the bird tho.

 

Got the full word "PONTIAC" done. Very pleased with the results.

 

that is a really cool idea!!! i like it!!

 

Cool idea but what does it look like with the light off?

 

I liked the idea until that.

 

After the black is scraped off, should be pretty easy to spray a coat of VHT red on it from the back. That should look pretty good.

 

Always wanted to try that

 

Well right now the etch marks are visible, but I'm going to detail all of that out and get some orange film over it, so it'll look pretty decent while off I'm assuming. After I get out of class today I'm going to start etching at the bird emblem.

I'm going to buy some sheet plastic and try and form it to make bulb housings and paint them with reflective paint. I plan on running two bulbs behind the shell. The bulbs will illuminate with the running lights off of the brown power wires when the light switch is turned on.

 

Looks great so far! I always thought it should have been like that from the factory.

Instead of making your own bulb holders, I would maybe try and use 2 holders from the side marker lights. The ones that use the 194 bulbs. All you would have to do is drill the holes and use a knife or dremel to make the squared-off notches for the lock tabs. I just don't know if there is enough room behind or to the side of that plate for the tail end of the holders that would stick out though.

Just my

 

might try somthing like this for the lighting comes in red too http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-12V-LED-17cm-COB-Car-Auto-DRL-Driving-Daytime-Running-Lamp-Fog-Light-White-/141087306489?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d97572f9&vxp=mtr#ht_6483wt_972

 

Started etching the bird. Very tedious process.

 

Looking good.