Have a few minutes while the wife is running your bath water? Feel like saving a couple of bucks?
Here is a quick and inexpensive way to clean up any old plastic parts you might have on your Ford. As an example I picked on a rear tail light lense from a 1956 Ford. After almost 50 years ANY plastic is bound to look a little haggard. Mother Nature can be so cruel some times. If you just don't feel like plunking down $40 for a set of new re-pops then this could be what your looking for. This idea works just as well on knobs, Lexan Speedo covers or what ever.

The first thing you need to do is give your part/parts a good bath. A little kitchen soap and some scrubbing should do the trick. You could even put them in the dishwasher but remember to remove them BEFORE the drying cycle starts. If you don't do this then the heat from the coils will warp your plastic!
Another great item is your spouses' toothbrush, works great to get into tight places and remove gunk. Remember to clean and replace toothbrush before they get home.

Once you have a clean part, the elbow grease is needed. A lot of us will have metal polish or paint polishing compound kicking around the garage. I happen to have some good old Meguiars and Blue Magic on the shelf.
With Meguiars the polish is listed on the back with a number that corresponds to the coarseness of the grit. The lower the number the higher the grit, or, better cutting qualities it has. Before you begin with the compound, take a look at all the edges. If the edges are rough then take some 1500, or higher, sandpaper and very gently sand or smooth out the ragged edge. Don't get to carried away or you will totally reshape your lense.


Just like sanding paint, you want to start with a heavy grit and work up to light grit. Spooge the heavy grit onto your part and in a circular motion start working the compound. This will not remove deep scratches! It will however remove minor imperfection and bring back a nice shine.
Once you have completely dried and cleaned off the compound, CHANGE rags. You do this because your old rag will still have the residue from the heavy grit on it. With a new rag use the next numerically higher polish. Once it dries and is cleaned off repeat the procedure with whatever else you have. As a final step, a nice non-abrasive wax needs to be applied.

After the first step of compound you will notice a significant improvement, it just keeps getting better. If you're not satisfied then start over and take a little more time. Now, after all this work… $40 bucks doesn't sound so bad right? Well, look around your car and see what CAN'T be replaced. A good example is the lexan cover for the '55 Ford speedometer housing.
Another trick is… a Dremel tool! Makes the job go a lot faster but it's a lot messier as well. Good luck! Max