[Healeys] Restoring Lucas L594 Lens

Sun Feb 27 12:47:29 MST 2022

Just randomly tried the paint stripper test on five of 15 Lucas L594 red lens I have in the bin.  No change, no red residue on the rag, It did remove some blue paint overspray that was on the outside of one lens! Perry

-----Original Message-----
From: Harold Manifold via Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net>

Michael,  All four L594 lens on my car had similar markings. They are all glass, front two are clear back two painted red.  Front ClearInner Ring – LUCAS L594                MADE IN ENGLANDOuter Ring – ICM 3137 LAX  Rear PaintedInner Ring – LUCAS L594                ENGLANDOuter Ring – ICM 3137 LAX  The script is very slightly different. For some history of my car. It was in storage from the mid 1970’s until I stated to restore it about 4 years ago. Having taken the car completely apart I could tell there was never damage to the rear of the car.  We need someone who wants to sacrifice a red lens to try paint stripper. Another theory is the factory was short on red glass lens and had some clear glass lens painted to cover the shortage.  I wouldn’t have known the lens were painted if the paint wasn’t coming off one of the lens.  Harold Manifold  From: Michael Salter
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2022 9:25 AM
To: Harold Manifold
Cc: healeys at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Restoring Lucas L594 Lens  This is very odd. Like Mark and Perry I have never encountered red beehive lenses with paint on them.Is the paint on the inside or the outside?I would have thought that if they were to be painted by Lucas, of which I'm very doubtful, the paint would have been on the inside.Can you confirm that the painted lenses have the word LUCAS cast on them and L594?  M     On Sun, Feb 27, 2022 at 11:54 AM Harold Manifold via Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
Update on restoring Lucas beehive lens. The original lens on my 1960 BT7 were painted glass and the paint had peeled noticeably on one of the lens. I used a common paint stripper I had on hand to remove all of the original red paint. I first tried to recoat with paint for stained glass from a hobby store. It did not work well and was a poor colour match. For the second attempt I used VHT Nite-Shades which is lens paint. Who would have thought! It worked very well. Picture attached. My total cost is about $30 which may be more than new but I was able to use original parts. Harold From: i erbs via Healeys
Sent: Saturday, February 5, 2022 7:09 PM
To: Perry Small
Cc: healeys
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Restoring Lucas L594 Lens I have two red behive lenses and the red is in fact peeling off.Ira Erbs
1959 AH 100-6
1967 MGB
Milwaukie, OR On Sat, Feb 5, 2022, 3:12 PM Perry Small via Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
HaroldAfter seeing Marks response I reread your email. The Lucas red lens were made of red glass not coated. True, the red color varies. Photo attached.Perry 
Harold,

 Your comment about the colour ‘peeling off’ puzzles me.I agree that the red beehive lens does come in a small variety of shades – some quite dark – but mine are all red glass right through.  No red coating. Mark ArdmoreNZ From: Harold Manifold <manifold at telus.net> 
Sent: Saturday, 5 February 2022 2:49 PM
To: Ken Fleming via Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net>
Subject: [Healeys] Restoring Lucas L594 Lens Hello, I have 4 red original glass Lucas L594 Red Beehive tail light lens. Unfortunately no two match. The colour is either different, faded or starting to peel off.Has anyone has good success stripping the old red and then recoating with a new red? I know you can buy new but these are original and I would like to reuse them. Any tips or suggestions are appreciated. What type of coating is recommended. Thanks….. Harold 

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