Finished installing the 3rd brake light today. Turned out exactly the way that I wanted it to. Its new, but still has a hint of a vintage look. And boy is it bright, itll certainly get peoples attention at night. I also installed my European tag that I ordered from customeuropeanplates.com. 68 for the year, KY for the state, then E272 which is my historical plate number. It also came with a free mounting bracket. Very pleased with the quality.

So Ive started on another project that may appeal to some and may be repulsive to others, but hey, its my Beetle and Ill do what I want. lol Anyhow, I wanted to add a 3rd brake light but keep the vintage look without paying the price for a vintage brake light. So I turned to Speedway Motors to see if they had a red lens lamp that would match the amber fog lights that I installed a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, they only offered amber and clear. As a matter of fact, finding a red lens fog light is pretty much impossible and since I wanted the style to match my amber fog lights, I ordered the clear lamp from Speedway Motors, ordered a bumper bracket to mount it on and set out to find a way to make it red. While waiting for the goodies to arrive, I went ahead and did the wiring for the new lamp. That took all of 5 minutes. I thought about replacing the bulb with a red bulb, but finding a red bulb that would work was also impossible. Then I thought about making a gel that I could put behind the lens. Again, these lamps from Speedway Motors are really nice, built to last and of course, theyre sealed. So that blew out the gel idea. While researching, I came across this product by VHT specifically for clear lenses. Its used to make them red or it can be used to freshen up your already red lenses. It stated that itd work on glass, so I figured Id give it a try. If it didnt work, itd be easy enough to remove and Id be back to square one. My bracket wont be here until Friday, but the lamp arrived today. So I took it apart, prepped the lens and gave the VHT product a try. Id already tested it on a piece of plexi-glass that I had laying around and it worked wonderfully, but I still wasnt sure how itd work on a glass lens. I gave the lens a total of 3 coats, waiting 15 minutes in between each coat. This stuff dries very fast, applies very smoothly and is very easy to work with. After 3 coats and about 8 hours of drying time, I put the lamp back together and tested it with the wiring that Id already installed. I think it looks great, now I just have to wait for the bracket mount to arrive.