1966 Pontiac GTO Taillights - Let There Be Light - Pontiac Tech

With the housings bare and clean, we could see the task before us. The outsides of the housings had all kinds of overspray on them (why red primer was used on the inside of the trunk we'll never understand), while the insides showed minor surface rust in some areas and some widespread pitting corrosion on one housing.

Our original lefthand taillight lens was broken when we purchased the car, which allowed all kinds of undesirable stuff into the light assembly. The end result was significant pitting in the housing. We decided the pitting was too deep to clean (without tremendous effort), so we sourced another used housing, with significantly less pitting damage, from an online auction.

The lefthand taillight bezel was also broken, forcing us to again source a replacement from an online auction site. Though the '66 GTO bezels are now available as reproductions, we found a decent used one for a reasonable price, cleaned it up, and painted it the correct Fontaine blue.

This was the starting point for our lenses (we replaced the broken lefthand lens with another used item). Lots of scratches, dirt, and overspray is typical. A general haze was also present on the lens from years of oxidation.

After disassembly and inspection was complete, we got on the job, starting with the housings. Some glass beading worked wonders removing any paint, rust stains, and stubborn dirt. You can do the same with Scotch-Brite pads and elbow grease.

We repainted the exterior of the housings with Eastwood TiCoat.

Then the interiors were painted with Rustoleum "Chrome Bright Coat Metallic Finish" spray paint. It duplicated the original reflective surface almost perfectly.

For the lens restoration, we first addressed the overspray. Using a razor blade, we carefully scraped off the bits of paint. As careful as we were, we still scratched the lens, but fear not-the scratches were removed later in the process.

Next, we used lots of glass cleaner and elbow grease (not literally, of course) to thoroughly clean the lenses.

After cleaning, "Dr. GTO" took the sandpaper to the lenses. While this seemed completely wrong at first, it was a necessary step in removing all the scratches, plus any really stubborn dirt. Using plenty of water, we wet-sanded the lenses starting with 600-grit wet and dry paper. (For really deep scratches, you might start with 400-grit.) After the 600-grit, we again cleaned the lenses, then moved up to 1,000-grit and repeated the process. When done, we had clean, scratch-free lenses, albeit very dull.

For the final polishing of the lenses, we used a plastic polish. Others have used regular paint-polishing compound (or even toothpaste) with acceptable results, but we chose to use the proper tool for the job.

Speaking of tools, power tools come in real handy when facing hours of polishing (ah, yes, hindsight). We, however, chose to do it by hand ("Nurse! Cancel my afternoon appointments!"), and literally spent hours with a soft cloth, polishing small sections at a time.

The end results speak for themselves. Our restored lens looks better than new compared to the original condition.

With the taillight assemblies back in position, all that was left to do was to reinstall our stainless steel trim (after straightening and polishing-see techniques from the Dec. '06 HPP), pop in the bulbs and harnesses, and enjoy blinding anyone behind us at night with our new-found brake-light candlepower.

Using new reproduction gaskets, we reassembled the lenses and housings then reinstalled the assemblies. Since the outer bezels clamp the whole assembly together, we had to carefully tighten the nuts by stages and in a crisscross pattern to compress the gaskets without distorting the outer bezels. (Incorrectly tightening or overtightening results in the wavy bezels on so many '66 GTOs.)