Here is what I ended up with. I did not put a final layer of gray over everything. Not sure if I will or not. I'm disappointed but had nothing to lose. The silver Testers paint became too gray when shining through the plastic which doesn't make sense to me. I put some aluminum foil behind the plastic and it came through shiny. Maybe they did use a special paint or mine was just plain wrong. Oh well, no harm, no foul and better than a blank emblem with no color at all. I still have some polishing to do on the grill emblem to clean up the white blotches. I also have some silver overpaint in some spots. I got a little sloppy when I realized it was not working as planed. For polishing the plastic I went as aggressive at 320 sandpaper first to get out as many scratches as possible. Most were too deep to get out though.

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The extra notch I think is so it works with the 51 circle and the 52 regular emblem. The baking soda did not scratch and polished very well. I think I need a more aggressive (sandpaper) method to get the deep scratches out first to make the emblems look better.

Here is where I am now...I painted the rear of the grill emblem and was disappointed by the dullness of the paint showing through. I Googled plastic restoration and came across a site that mentioned mixing baking soda and Murphy's Oil. I did that and polished for about 15 minutes and there was a definite improvement. I think my emblems are too far gone for such fine polishing. I might have to resort to more aggressive 600-1000 grit sandpaper first...

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8-4-16

OK here is a small update...I never posted pics of my wife's work repainting my hubcaps so here are some before and afters...

Also I have been painting my grill emblem but have been disappointed at the results. I looked up plastic restoration and read about using baking soda and Murphy's Oil so I tried that and I see an improvement in the clarity of the plastic. I'll also include this in my post in the "Post WWII" section.

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I watched the youtube video and he isn't doing anything special that I can see. His plastic looks a lot thinner than our emblems. I was looking at an old wind chime that has been outside for a number of years. It has plastic "crystals" hanging from it that have a yellow tint to them now. It appears to go throughout the plastic. Maybe that is what is happening to ours and it is exaggerated with the old type of plastic. Still nothing to lose by polishing. I'll see if there is an improvement.

Thanks guys! I've never soldered anything but electrical connections and copper pipe. I would assume silver soldering would be similar to the copper pipe. I only have a propane torch also. Epoxy or double sided/trim adhesive tape are interesting ideas too. Maybe I will try them first thinking it will be easier, then if they fail try the silver solder. I wonder if a jeweler might be an option too? Where isn't much on the stainless steel surround to attach it to the bumper if I used the double sided tape,but I could attach the surround to the plastic emblem with the tape, then use the tape on the emblem to secure it to the grill.

On a side note, the painting of the emblem is failing miserably. The back side looks great but when I flip it over, it is very dull and washed out. The plastic is not allowing the colors of the paint to reflect through. Maybe I'll try polishing it to see if that helps. Kind of like a fogged up headlight that you can clear up using a series of finer grade sandpaper until the surface is smooth again.

7-16-16

Morning: Today was the day...got up early so the roads would be less crowded. Checked the oil and anti-freeze and was good to go. Warmed up the car a bit and got ready to drive down the driveway. Promptly stalled the car! It would not restart. I turned the key off and pumped the gas 4 times and was able to restart it that way. I was about to give up right there.

Got my nerve back and headed back down the driveway. Made a few laps around the block and it felt great! I thought the brakes were rubbing a little, but when I stopped the wheels were not hot so I guess it was just things needing to loosen up. The brakes seemed to work fine,

Convinced my wife to hop in with me and we drove around the neighborhood. No problems and we both enjoyed ourselves with CCR blaring on the radio! Glad nothing happened and we made it home safely.

Afternoon: My son returned from his Grandparents and I decided we needed to take the car out again with everyone in it. The route I wanted to take was too busy so we went around the block again and then up another side street. Everyone enjoyed the ride! On the road that goes back to the house all of a sudden there was a bumping feeling coming from the front end. I decided to end the trip then and pulled in front of the house. Looked under the car and everything looked OK. Parked it and didn't feel the bumping again. I have no idea what it was but it was enough to end the trip early. Maybe tomorrow I will take it out again and see if it returns.

All in all...a successful day!

I took the grill emblem off my car and the holding pins sheared off at the surround despite heavy use of penetrating oil. Has anyone successfully repaired these pins? JB Weld? I was hoping to have my wife repaint the emblem and use it until the car was further along and warranted the Emblem Magic price for a new one.

Hahaha! On our first date, I took her in my 66 Cadillac convertible. Broke down and she helped push it into a gas station! After that I knew she was a keeper!

7-14-16

For the front spindles, I decided to tighten the nut to 20ft lbs, then loosen it 1 hex which made the nut really loose. I then tightened it to the nearest castle nut notch and put in the cotter pin. Hope that will work.

For the brake light switch wires, I reused the old barrel connector, but this time I soldered it instead of crimping it. I could not find any new barrel connectors for sale! As extra protection, I added more shrink tubing, this time covering the entire connector instead of leaving the end bare like OEM. Hopefully this will prevent shorts against the frame or brake line.

Got the front tires on and started the car for the first time in a few weeks. Started right up, but ran rough unless I gave it a little gas. Ran well when warmed up.

Ever since the car show in Lola, WI, my wife has had a new view of the car. She is more interested now. I talked her into repainting my hubcaps. I mentioned that I might be going for a test drive this weekend and she said she might come too! That's a first...she even found a decent classic rock radio station on the AM radio to listen to! Keeping my fingers crossed for an enjoyable and uneventful trip!