I've got a simple tech tip for anyone in the same position as I was. I'm installing a 1940 Ford passenger car dash in my 1940 pickup. I have the bezel for the high beam jewel, but the jewel is long gone, and of course I couldn't find any for sale. I decided to make my own. Excuse the rusty holder, as I'll be purchasing a new one. I bought a pack of colored acrylic rods on Amazon just to get the red one. It was only $11 for the whole pack. I measured the inner diameters of my jewel bezel, and chucked a small length of red rod in my drill press. Using a small fine file, and different grits of sandpaper from 120 to to 1000, I carefully shaped the jewel so it would be a press fit into the bezel. When I was done, I polished it with some automotive compund, then cut it free, and carefully pressed it into the bezel. For $11 and 20 minutes of work, I now have a high beam jewel for my '40 dash.
I ran into the same problem, out of stock everywhere (you can get the backer that holds the bulb just not the jewel itself). You were lucky to have a bezel I had nothing. I found these on amazon, chrome with a rounded red LED. It does not have as fancy a bezel but fits in the hole with no mods. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFV77HQ/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Nice. I struggled to find a jewel but eventually with a wanted ad on fordbarn someone came through. Yours looks great! is it odd that I like the jewel so much that sometimes I’ll turn on the lights and then the brights during rhe day just to see that beauty light up? So satisfying!
Electric guitar amplifiers like a Fender have jeweled bezels that could work. They might be a little too big.
I have had a small random hole in my dash since I redid it and finished my car. I didn’t know what the hole was for so I didn’t fill it. I’ve been trying to come up with something to do with the hole! Thanks to this thread, I think I’ll make a second jewel (with the rods you mentioned and use a different color) that comes on when my electric fan is on. I never know if it is on or not. Hole problem solved! Thanks for the inspiration!
The Jalopy Journal
