69-71 300 front turn signal bezel ?

[moper]

Curious what the front turn signal bezels are made of, and how you might have repaired them. Looks like fiberglass, feels like metal, but flexible? Plastic? Metal? Any ideas?

 

[Rubatoguy]

Do you have the plain ones, or the ones with cornering lights?
I can check on my car, I do have the cornering lights.
I'm looking for a source for the gaskets for the side marker lights or a recommended material to make your own.

 

[moper]

Mines a 300. So the lights are in the “closures”. That’s what the service manual calls them. I’m told it’s the same plastic material as shaker bubbles, etc. I’m going to see what I can do to plastic weld, reinforce, and repair it. This is no show car. Just needs to look decent.

 

[ceebuddy]

@moper Are you referring to the front parking lights/turn signal, the front side marker lights or the fender mounted turn signal indicators?

1969 and 1970 was not the same part.

The 1971 Chrysler 300 had the front parking lights in the bumper cutouts as did any other 1971 Chrysler. To the best of my knowledge, there was no separate bezel.

Can you post a picture of the part you are referring to?

 

[Rubatoguy]

I was thinking side marker lights. @ceebuddy is correct. '69 and '70 had the turn signals at the edges of the grill, in '71 they moved them down to the front valence. Here is a 1970: Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[ceebuddy]

Mines a 300. So the lights are in the “closures”. That’s what the service manual calls them. I’m told it’s the same plastic material as shaker bubbles, etc. I’m going to see what I can do to plastic weld, reinforce, and repair it. This is no show car. Just needs to look decent.

What the parts manual describes as "closures" are the pieces that go in between the diecast grille (and in 1969/1971 also the parking lights) and the bumper, thereby also acting like a visual frame around the grille (almost, because there is no such part above the grille). They are made from some kind of plastic and painted a flat silverish color.

You should be able to repair mere cracks by reinforcing the area on the back side with a patch of fiberglass and resin. If chunks are missing you'd probaly first have to create a support structure (could be fiberglass as well) and then fill the void with bondo, later painting the piece an appropriate flat silver color.

 

[Rubatoguy]

I think the paint would be the mopar argent silver grill paint. Multiple suppliers carry it, here is one: Herb's Parts: ARGENT SILVER GRILLE PAINT, Grill Paint, PNT2033

 

[moper]

Thanks guys. Ceebuddy- yeah that’s them. I ended up grinding the cracks wider and used short-strand glass to fix them. The broken off section I reinforced on the back side with 1/2” wire mesh. It cam out good enough and plenty strong. See the pictures.
Rubatoguy- my car is not restored.. so I took some liberties. Closures are graphite metallic, bumper is now a non-metallic, satin green that’s similar to the faded repaint. Good enough for now. Eventually I’ll do some other repairs and paint the whole thing the factory color and color-key the bumpers.

 

[ceebuddy]

It's great you keep this cool car on the road and enjoy it!