A local junk yard posted on CL several vehicles they just got in. One was a Bobcat. I've been wanting to check out that yard for a while so took a ride over there today. Nice yard with cars all organized by manufacturer, pretty neat, and all the vehicles are up in the air. Asked the counter guy what he'd want for the Bobcat tail lights and he said $10-$15. Sounds good. Find the Bobcat and the lights are in pretty bad shape. Chrome bezels are rusty and pitted and 4 of the 6 lenses are broken or cracked. I figure the two good lenses are worth $10-$15 ea so I pull them off and take them back to the counter. Now the price is $20 ea. Seems he prices them by size with no regard for condition. No sale.
Jim, the light portion uses the same lens as a Maverick, only the reflector portion is different. They are real easy to modify to make both work if you have a spare set of Maverick lights to cut down. The set I bought from M.A.V. were the ones with the cast bezels, and I knew they were pitted when I bought them. A little time with some sandpaper and a little filler and they were then smooth. I then painted mine black, like the Grabber bezels were. I wouldn't cull them because of a few pits or cracked lens. A body could do like I did if they wanted the lights and didn't mind black bezels. Just my
Good info. Thanks. I was thinking I might even get the bezels rechromed some day. Don't think painted bezels would look right on the Sprint. The reflector parts are the parts toward the center of the car, right? Those were the only good parts of the lenses. I have a LOT of Maverick tail lights. Needed to find some better ones than what was on the car when I got it. Every time I bought some I'd find and buy better ones later. Maybe I shoulda paid the price but I was ticked off that he told me one price before I pulled them and a higher price after I pulled them. Maybe I can get a friend to go back and buy them for me. I wouldn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me crawl back.
Mine were painted black when i got them, but not sure how the chrome looks underneath. I figured when it comes time to make them silver again, I might use silver powdercoating...
Powder coating would be an option too. There's a company here locally that advertises specials on Craigslist periodically.
Yesterday, a friend and I went back to that same yard. He needed to look for some Bow Tie parts. When we got there we learned they were selling everything half price this weekend. :bananaman The Bob Cat tail lights were sitting on the rear bumper. So, I got them for $9.50 each, less than the $10-$15 I THOUGHT I was going to pay on the first trip. Sometimes things work out. Has anyone found any reflectors that can -- maybe cut down -- be used in that portion of the Bob Cat taillights? Closer inspection revealed some defects in the reflectors too.
Bezel Material? Next question: does anyone know what the Bobcat talilight bezels are made from? Is it pot metal? Seems too heavy but I think its cast. What else could it be? I'd like to get an estimate on re-chroming so need to be sure of the material.
I have a set made out of pot metal but I also have a set made out of aluminum. I would have liked to be able to use the aluminum ones but they have too many little dents in them. At least you can fill in the corrosion divets in the pot metal ones and paint them
Its definitely cast, not stamped aluminum, so I guess its pot metal. The search will be on again for a good plater that will do pot metal. Was NOT satisfied with the job that was done on my boomerangs. The areas that were pitted turned out bumpy. Plating is probably going to be too expensive but will get a price. Did anyone replace the Bobcat reflectors with cut off Maverick lenses? Seems like that would look OK. Would make a good color match with the Maverick lenses in the other ends of the taillights.
I made my Bobcat tails all functional including the back up light area - changed that lense to red too - I used spare maverick bulb buckets to make the old reflector areas be able to take bulbs - I have a sequencer unit for the tail lights and I didn't like that the 3 lenses weren't all the same size, with the old Bobcat back up area being so small, so I went with 67 Caprice tails instead.
