Sul Ross license plate cover after 9 years of faithful service.

Let me tell you a little story about a car. It was the first new car that was my very own, purchased in 2002. It was a cute little silver Saturn SL2 and I loved it. It was a faithful car that did everything I asked it to do. One of the first things I did for my car was to buy a license plate cover from my Alma Mater, Sul Ross State University.

Well, my faithful little car was wrecked a couple of weeks ago, but not after 9 years of to-ing and fro-ing.  The car, fortunately, was the only casualty in the accident. The car was totaled earlier this week and claimed by the insurance as salvage.

When cleaning out my little car and saying goodbye for the last time, I remembered my license plate cover from Sul Ross. While sobbing in the front seat (yes, really, I was very sad!), my darlin’ husband removed the plate cover for me.

It has seen better days. Almost a decade of Texas weather had taken its toll. There was a crack on one side from when my kids were younger and, for whatever reason, thought the bottom of the plate cover was a handle. Yeah.

My first thought was to get a new cover, but looking at it, I realized that I held a piece of my first little car in my hands. It wore my Alma Mater’s name proudly for all those years, so why shouldn’t a new car, too?

So…this is what I did.

After scrubbing the cover with soap and water and allowing it to dry, I enrolled the help of a paper clip and my handy E6000 and glued together and reinforced the crack.

See, that’s not so bad!

Next, I covered all the chrome bits with painter’s tape.

Sheesh, that is seriously faded!

Now, for some primer.

White paint followed…ready for some color!

I used my favorite metallic Lumiere paint from Jacquard and gently (very gently!) painted the letters with a sponge brush.

And now a clear coat of Polycrylic and it’s almost there…

Ta-da! Almost as good as new!

Now, I just need a car to put it on…

 Etsy