58 license plate bulb (cont)

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

Well, fellow Imperialistas, I guess you have to have a 58 to know what a
royal pain they REALLY are.  I have just spent a few good hours gaining
access to the rear license plate bulb.

First this is not covered in either the glove box book or the factory
manual.  The bulb is on a bracket with an opaque housing recessed into the
top of the bumper above the plate.  I decided to remove the license plate to
see how the bracket was attached and there were two Phillips head screws
facing me.  The obvious and correct conclusion: Simply remove them and drop
out the bracket to gain access to the bulb and its shroud.

I have never done this before and I am guessing it could be over twenty
years since the last time someone tried.  Needless to say they were both
filthy and rusty.  One came off reasonably easily.  The other stripped
almost immediately.  Not the threads.  They were stuck fast on the retaining
clip.  No, the Phillips head became a shiny hole pretty jolly quickly.

After a recent amount of struggle I got the plate off, clip and all.  I
still have not removed the clip as it is just spinning on the threads.
Tomorrows job.

It may be possible to gain access to the two small nuts holding on the cover
without removing the retaining plate but not to the two small nuts that hold
them in place.  They are suitably tiny, on each side, not to mention filthy
and rusty.  However they came apart easily enough and I managed to extract
the bulb.  The globe has come off the bayonet base.

So, tomorrow, its off to find the bulb, and replace some of the hardware.
Its all good clean dirty fun with a 58.

Hugh