I have spent a lot of time over the last few days looking for alternative rear lights for the car and I think I finally have a solution that works for me. 4" Truck LED lights mounted inside of spun aluminum tubes.

Notice how the tail lights in this rendering have the 4" LED recessed slightly inside the tube: (Click the image to visit Gallery Rendering page)

The LEDs I plan on using are these:

I now need to find an aluminum tube with an inner diameter of 4.25" and another aluminum tube with an inner diameter of 5.5". Check out this link to Peterson Lights to see some dimensions.

In other news; My good friend Jim Williams has helped me out once again!

Not many days ago I was bemoaning the fact that I don't have a table saw to make nice straight cuts in my templates. Go figure that Jim calls me up and tells me he has just bought a new table saw and wants to know if I would like the old one. ???! Why... Yes please and Thank you too! <grin> Now I have a table saw. It's nice to have friends that care.

Jim also saw that at some point in the bbodywork phase it might be nice to have the advice of a true expert. Someone who has decades of experience with fiberglass, prototyping, mold and plug making, production... You get my point. Advice that comes from actual knowledge can go a long way for someone like myself with a lot of desire to do the right thing but no practical experience to speak of. So Jim hired John Lee, an expert in fiberglass to come over to the garage for a few hours to impart wisdom, encourage, guide and lecture. It was time well spent. John isn't so sure that the foam/drywall method will be strong enough to support the shrinkage of 18oz of fiberglass mold and it's possible that the plug will implode in places due to the pressure of the hardening resin. So it's recommended to apply  a single layer of 3oz mat over the entire body to stiffen it up.

I am very encouraged by John Lee's visit and at the same time it's sobering to understand the path that lays ahead and the serious outlay of money that will soon be needed to make the production quality molds.

I have a lot of difficult jobs ahead of me in the months to come if I want to do the job right. I don't think that the car will be ready for that October weekend drive up to Jerome via the Arizona 89A.