I'm trying to keep a late 40s - early 50s feel to this car. I studied some early Barris and Westergard cars and decided that frenching the stock headlight rings would give me the "bullet look" I wanted. Rather than flip the old clutch head screws and old clips, I thought I'd just weld some bolts to the bucket so I could remove the buckets easier. The first thing was to drill some holes through the buckets and the fenders so the holes would line up when I flipped the buckets. NOTE: If I had it to do over, I'd just drill out 4 of the stock holes and re-use them. I had a few clearance issues with the holes I made. Plus, I'd have less holes that way. Next, I shaved off the lip of the headlight buckets so they'd seat right up against the fender and hammered down any high spots.
My long-time hetero project parner Kevin (a.k.a. MercMan1951) was good enough to help me out once again. We cleaned up the area around the fender opening in preparation for welding. To get in the little nooks and crannies, Kevin showed me a bodywork-ninja secret: the sanding star. It's great in the crannies, and the deadly art of the assassin. At this point we hit a snag. We started roughing up the stock trim ring (which I thought was supposed to be stainless ?) and it was brass or something. The "chrome" sanded off and it was a gold colored metal underneath. When I tried to tack it to the car, it wouldn't weld either. SO, NOW WHAT? Well, Kevin has a 51 Merc and he is going to use a Winfield style headlight treatment, so he offered up his stock 51 bezels. We tried the Winfield ones on for kicks too. So the pics of the bezels are as follows: '51 Merc, '50 Chevy, 52 Ford (light green one - Winfield style).
.....and it was brass or something. The "chrome" sanded off and it was a gold colored metal underneath. prolly a chrome plated steel repop. the gold metal is the copper part of the nickle copper chrome plating process. sand it down to bare metal and you will be able to weld it on.
The 51 Merc bezels looked good, and they sure fit the budget. We used duck tape to approximate the final shape and hit it with spray paint to get an idea of what it might look like. The Merc bezels also tunneled the headlights a good 3/4". I played around with tilting the top out, too. In the end, I felt like the bezel was just a little too long which caused it to disrupt the curve of the fender. Plus, it was a little more tunneled than I wanted it to be. Also, there was a gap between the headlight and the inner end of the bezel. I decided to lop 3/8" off of the end of them. I took a combination square and a sharpie and drew a line around the base and then took a cutoff wheel and trimmed off the excess. I taped them up and liked how they looked. There is still a "dented in" area where they meet, but that will be filled with "glamour putty."
I swear to god, it was gold all the way through. I had to sand througt the chrome and copper on the Merc rings too, and it was nothing like the Chevy one. I'll have to see if I can post a picture later.
So now I was ready to weld the rings on. There were a couple dents on the Merc bezels, so I dinged those out. I sanded through the chrome and the copper down to bare shiny steel. I had to cut out and make patches for the screw holes in the bottom of the bezels as well. I bolted the buckets in and shimmed the bezels on with cardboard to make sure I had an even gap all the way around. NOTE: Really, bolt them in solid. At first I didn't have them bolted in, and things were off. Then, when I went to adjust the bucket, it fell out and broke the damn headlight! Next I tacked the bezels up and pulled the cardboard out to make damn sure it was perfect before I started welding them in for good. I wound up adjusting one of the bezels. Then, when everything was perfect, I went around and tacked, moved, tacked, moved, tacked, moved...... you all know what I'm talking about. About a million tacks later, it was starting to look pretty good! I'll post more in a few days when I get the body work done.
Nice work! Good choice on using those bezels. I didn't remember you having that bumper on the front. Looks like it might look real good! Definitely looking forward to seeing it all "done".
I'm a big fan of the original bezel frenched in. I'll be doing mine like that some day before I die. what's that front bumper and the fancy bumper gaurds??
Pappa like, pappa like... Did you slap a rear '54 bumper on the front? ive been thinking about that move...
Me too. This is taking wayyyyyy too long! Front bumper is 54 chevy, bumper guards are stock '50 Fancy! They look nice and toothy though. The final front end will have a 54 splash pan and a 55 DeSoto grille in a custom surround. Might ditch the bumperettes then. I just need to find the time to do the surround. Lots of fabrication to mate the splash guard to the '50 fenders. Got to cut a lot out of the fender. But that'll be the final body mod, it'll officially be "full custom."
I'm not surprised. I had a set of inner window frames that were made completely from brass. I was expecting steel.
And I have a bunch of exterior trim that I have to cut and stretch, and I thought it was all stainless... I hope that it is, or that will really throw a wrench in my plans.
Looks cool Marc. Glad you picked my Merc rings...now I need to hunt for another set. Wish I could be playing with my car during the day...
Holy crap!!! Talk about good timing. This is one of my next projects. I checked my rings and they are stainless. One question. where did you weld nuts to? Were they on the front of the headlight bucket. I was planning on flipping the clips and using the clutch head screws from the back side. I wish there was a way to reverse the adjustment screws to the back side of the bucket so you could adjust the beam without taking the headlight out of the fender. Todd
You can buy longer adjustment screws at most parts places and drill a hole so that they pass through the back of the bucket. Then use a cut-off wheel and slot the ends so you can adjust 'em from that back without removing the bucket. Sticky...looks good...the '54 bumper is a nice touch too. Bryan
They are welded to the fender, pointing in toward the tires. The bucket slides on to them from the back and you put on bolts and washers to keep it in place. As far as the adjuster screws, well, just be sure and get your headlights all nice and adjusted BEFORE you french them in.
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