C3 Door Panel Replacement

My '76 Vette came with the original, factory-installed door panels, and they were showing their age, as well as a few tears.

So it was time to bite the bullet and purchase new ones.

C3 T-Top Repaint and Chrome Trim Removal

Certain trim pieces date cars, and while that is not necessarily a bad thing per se, in the case of my '76 Corvette, less is more.

I tend to favor a cleaner, more up-to-date look for my car, so when the time came to have the T-Tops repainted, the chrome trim had to go.

My Stingray was originally silver metallic, and when the previous owner had the car repainted, the shop he used dropped the ball when the time came to tape the tops, which left a sliver of the original paint showing.

C3 Bubble Taillight Conversion

Finally made up my mind to replace the original OEM taillights with aftermarket "bubble" lenses.

The brake light lenses were cracked and dull-looking and replacement kits sell for around $185. Not excessive but not cheap either.

Conversely, aftermarket bubble taillights cost around $85 for a set of four.

The conversion kit also allows you to go from two brake lights to four, which does eliminate the backup lights, but those can be substituted with aftermarket LEDs or with an LED license plate frame.

However, since I rarely drive my Vette at night, I am not overly concerned about not having those.