17 years and counting...

[svono50]

I used some canned air to blow off any loose stuff from the OEM flocking and then applied 4 light coats of paint. The paint seems to have adhered well to the panels. I think that since it is formulated to adhere to fabric and vinyl, it ends up being pretty tolerant of surface conditions...to a point.

As for the warning lights, those lenses are mounted to a frame that is then heat staked to the panel, from what I remember. I was able to cut back the melted flanges of the posts and remove the frame/lenses from the panel. After cleaning up the lenses and painting the panel, I put the frame back over the remainder of the posts and used a little epoxy to glue them back into place. I may have done the same thing for the turn signal lenses as well, but it has been a few years.

[gbeaird]

Yeah, the warning lights look easier to cut loose than the turn signal lenses. Easier to reapply, too. I’ll have to look. I’m considering looking at plastic welding, too, but have to have a second look.

I have had decent luck with epoxy, though, so may just do that.

[svono50]

Holy cow! Today is my SVO's purchase anniversary...just turned 30 years with this car!!!! Purchased back on 9/6/1991, doesn't seem THAT long ago, but time flies.

Who knew my relationship with this car would last so long.

Now to get my rump in gear and type up some additional projects that I have done in the past few years.

[svono50]

Today is another anniversary of sorts, actually my SVO's birthday!! So my car was 'born on' 1/22/1986 per my Ford 999 report, so it turns 36 years old today. I remember back when I was turning 16, I wanted a 64-66 Mustang, but my Dad said that a 20 year old car was much too old and could never be reliable...and here I am today still taking a 36 year old car out on the auto-x and HPDE's.

[gbeaird]

Dad was thinking practically. 20-year-old car could be a liability when you need a DD back then, even though it was probably simple enough that not too much was out of the realm of fixable on the side of the road. I recently saw some photos of my family in Ohio around 1959, and saw my Dad's 50 Cadillac parked in the garage. I wondered that that was probably a very old car back then, and it was still running. But then again, my Dad was handy with a wrench.

[svono50]

Oh I know he was thinking practically. My parents started a 'bad' tradition by buying my two older sisters their first cars, so they couldn't back out when I came along 8 years later (ha,ha). While my first car was purchased for me ('79 Mustang turbo), it was 'all mine' as in I was 100% responsible for gas, maintenance, insurance, etc. My Dad owned an HVAC business and I was called into work the first weekend after I got that car...so I could earn some money so as not to be asking my parents for 'loans' to keep it running!

About 5 years later, my oldest sister asked me one day if I knew about the '67 Mustang my Dad went to look at for me. I am sure the look on my face was priceless, since I certainly didn't know that little fact. It probably is better that I didn't get that '67, since my '79 only lasted me 29 days till I pitched it sideways into a ditch and a tree. The joys of growing up in a rural farm town where asphalt roads turn into gravel roads w/o any warning. My replacement '80 Mustang (2.3L NA) lasted me 11 years/162K miles, so my early lesson taught me well!

[SVOeric]

Awesome!!
similar story, you probably heard at a reunion..
My 82 notch, 4-cyl 5-speed lasted me through college and first few years of work. it made it 280k, before I bought a house, and needed a truck. So it was traded in for a 93 ranger, which had the same basic motor, (just more spark plugs)
Gave that truck to my father-n-law with 315k on it. he traded it in on a newer Colorado, which he still says the 93 ranger was a better truck than the 2010 Colorado.
there's more, but I won't dirty your thread with it (hand me a drink at a Reunion, and I'll likely share)

[JTurbo]

Congrats Ted! Your SVO should thank you for the years of care that you have done.