In high school, I got in a car wreck and had to drive without a front bumper for about a year. When the bumper got torn away, it also took the light housings for my blinkers and running lights.
My dad made new housings with zip ties and soda cans cut in half that attached to the back of lenses we bought cheap at the local auto parts store. He drilled slightly undersized holes in the bottom of the cans that held the bulbs in place when they were pushed through, and he’d polished the inside of the cans to act as reflectors.
It worked great! When we eventually got the bumper replaced, the body guy shop was amazed and said he didn’t see any reason why we should spend the money to buy factory housings, and when we sold that car it still had store-brand diet sprite cans as light housings that surely confused the hell out of someone down the line.
I once had a broken headlight and also broke pockets, so I grabbed some packing tape and made a new one. I was at an AutoZone and the guy looked at my car, looked at me and said “that won’t last past the first storm” to which my response was “it’s held up for three months. I’ll take my chances.” and it held up until the seals on the transmission blew out after driving it across the country again.
In high school, I got in a car wreck and had to drive without a front bumper for about a year. When the bumper got torn away, it also took the light housings for my blinkers and running lights.
My dad made new housings with zip ties and soda cans cut in half that attached to the back of lenses we bought cheap at the local auto parts store. He drilled slightly undersized holes in the bottom of the cans that held the bulbs in place when they were pushed through, and he’d polished the inside of the cans to act as reflectors.
It worked great! When we eventually got the bumper replaced, the body guy shop was amazed and said he didn’t see any reason why we should spend the money to buy factory housings, and when we sold that car it still had store-brand diet sprite cans as light housings that surely confused the hell out of someone down the line.
I once had a broken headlight and also broke pockets, so I grabbed some packing tape and made a new one. I was at an AutoZone and the guy looked at my car, looked at me and said “that won’t last past the first storm” to which my response was “it’s held up for three months. I’ll take my chances.” and it held up until the seals on the transmission blew out after driving it across the country again.