Cortina full red tailights

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canadianmk3
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:13 pm
Location: Langley, BC Canada

Cortina full red tailights

Post by canadianmk3 »

I wasnt sure where to post this so I hope here is alright.

The owners of north american cortinas know that the fully red tailights can be a challenge to find. The passenger side on my Mk3 was badly cracked in one corner. Unacceptable. Heres what I did:

*Before I started this, I didnt realize the subtle differences between the UK and NA tailights. The NA ones are flat and have the reflector in the middle strip, while the UK ones are angled in the middle and have the reflector on the bottom. Although you could solve this by ordering a set of UK lenses, someone who wants it to look similar but not be perfect (Like myself) can live with the 2 being different.*

I ordered a new right side lense from the UK, masked the chrome edging and relfector and sanded it with 400 grit.

Image

I used testors candy apple red model paint for this. Its completely transparent and the testors paint is very sticky. Heres after one coat, next to a dirty old original. This is when I noticed the differences

Image

In total I did about 3-5 coats on the outside and 1-2 on the inside of the lense. This may seem like alot, but you can still see the light clearly.
I also did 1 coat on the other side lens for a color match. Its not that far off from a clean original.
Heres my finished result
Image

Hope this helps someone. Someday I will get the other side UK lens so it looks normal. Im fine with it untill then
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stanchfi
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Post by stanchfi »

Very cool. Thanks for sharing this. I never would have guessed the light would shine through the paint.

-James
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