After doing the heavy job of the radiator, I decided to treat myself to a light (no pun intended) and somewhat relaxing job. That job happens to be sorting out the left rear light lens. Most of the readers of this post will find what I have to say next a bit strange. In UK (and most of the world) in 1940's (and earlier) the standards requirements for rear lights was not a rigid and safety driven as it is today. No need for high mounted brake lights etc. In fact it was one step more backwards. As long as there was "a" brake light in the back it was acceptable. With that short history lesson lets have a look at the rear light set up of this car. See the picture below.
This picture identifies the rear light setup. Note that there is only one brake light on the right side. My problem is the parking light lens on the left side - the red colour has faded to white
Both lenses are the original ones the car left the factory with (they are glass - not plastic). The one on the left is white with some type of red tint for the portion that is in front of the parking light bulb. The red tint has faded over time and as a result the left parking light shines white. See picture below.
Nowadays replacement lenses available made from plastic. The picture below is of a lens being sold on ebay for $42.00
Replacement plastic lens
I decided to re-tint the original lens using glass paint:
Glass Paint - Maroon 19
This idea turned out to be a disaster. The paint gave no coverage. Back to the drawing board I went. Next idea was to apply transparent red film. See picture below.
This red sheet proved to do the trick
I applied one layer of this sheet and found that though the covering was even but the colour was not right. I applied a further 11 layers of this material and below is the final result.
Left side parking light is 95% same colour as the right side
Total cost of this DIY Rs. 70.00
