Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

i REPAINTED THE TRUNK EMBLEM ON MY 1951 PACKARD 300. I TOOK ONE OF THE 20 BRUSHES I GOT AT HARBOR FREIGHT FOR 89 CENTS,
TRIMMED IT TO MAKE A TWO BRISTLE POINT, AND TRIED TO PAINT.
DIDN'T WORK. THE BEST WAY TO PAINT THE FINE LINES IS TO USE A ROUND TOOTH PICK. PAINT THE LOWEST PORTION OF THE EMBLEM FIRST.
THANKS,
CASEY ROG

Casey, not sure if you are away of it, but using ALL CAPS in a forum is the same as shouting. Better to use all lowercase if you are typing challenged.

This is a good subject. Has anyone out there been very successful at repairing the plastic emblem on the trunk lid? What do you do about the crazing lines. Is there something that will fill them and make them disappear? Tail light plastic develope the same cracks. What would work for one would probably work for the other.

If it's crazed, you are going to need to replace them. Nothing I am aware of will remove internal crazing. They are like stress fractures in the plastic from UV exposure, heat and age.

Plastics back then are not nearly as good as the modern plastics today. I ended up spending about $300 on 2 reproduction taillight lenses for my '54.

No way to repair the emblem to my knowledge.As for the lenses I polished mine out.Started with 180 grit then ran the gamut up to 2000.Spent over two hours on each one Their is four on a 51 "300" I challenge any of you to try to prove they are not NOS.It takes patience and time to do so.There are NO SHORT CUTS! Brian

If you were able to polish them out then they must have been surface crazing.

The crazing on my taillight lens extended into the interior of the plastic. The UV exposure really makes that old plastic brittle.

Kev, I did polish both sides.Worked really well. Brian

This may sound crazy (okay, it DOES sound crazy), but stay with me...

With deeply crazed/checked plastic emblems, you can temporarily eliminate the problem and make them look like new by wiping a heavy coating of light oil, like 3-in-1, over the surface of the emblem. Leave it alone for a day or so, and then wipe it clean. The oil is drawn into the cracks by capillary action, rendering the cracks invisible.

The problem, as I mentioned, is that it doesn't last long. A month or two for the horn button, and much less time for the trunk medallion. But if you've got a bad one, and there's a show coming up, it could help out.