After a few months' hiatus, my 1983 air-cooled is finally back on the road with a new MOT - thanks in particular to Dajwid for supplying new headlights last year and to Rusty for a spare set of steel rims.
I've already posted about the saga with the headlights and replacement column switch but the final twist was that the car failed the MOT first time round for having a light pattern that kicked up to the right instead of to the left. Turns out that if you fit the bulbs straight rather than align them to the small cut-out, you turn your RHD headlights into LHD headlights. Doh. Wonder if the same works in reverse...
Anyway, I repainted Rusty's rims and got the centre caps powder coated and the result is a distinct improvement over the hand-painted matt grey originals. I haven't touched the spare as that was in perfect shape and still shod with an unworn Michelin X - I think I prefer silver to the factory light grey (see pic comparing the spare to the newly painted rims) but I might try to refurb the original rims in the correct colour. I reckon Ford Dove Grey would be a pretty good match (had a Mk5 Cortina in that colour as my first car 20 years ago)
