Needles

Just a quick catch-up post.  For several years, I have been meaning to refresh the original florescent orange paint on the tachometer, temp and fuel gage needles.  When I had the clock rebuilt in 2012, it came back with fresh orange paint on the hands.  The paint on the fuel and temp gauges had long since faded to white, and the tach needle had faded to a very pale orange:

The aftermarket gauges I got for the radio delete panel have nice orange needles, making the faded needles on the stock gages even more pronounced.  

I purchased a small bottle of the "correct" color paint over a year ago.  Finally, a week before the recent convention, I decided to devote an evening to remedying the situation!

The gauge cluster/speedo on the '55/56 T-bird is marvelously easy to remove... disconnect the speedo cable and remove 4 nuts with a nut driver, and presto:

The fuel and and temp gages are held in the cluster with only 2 screws each:

Note the faded needle.  Some of the original color remains at the base.

A quick touch up with a brush, and it looks good as new:

The tachometer is even easier to remove/replace than the speedo/gage cluster.  I didn't bother to take pictures of repainting the tach needle.  Overall, it took me about 2 hours, working slowly and carefully, to remove, paint, and replace the gages.  It is just a small thing, but it makes me feel good every time I drive the car.