5 days until my brother gets his Christmas surprise!!!

[Don M]

...and *I'M* so excited, I can't stand it

I've already posted about the headlights in my brother's truck being oxidized and becoming so dim, even HE noticed they were no longer working so well.

Last week I called my new shop to get a price for total replacement, and he came back with a number I can live with - for all 4 "sections" of the lights. The high/low beam assembly (it's a 4 headlight system), AND the turn signal/DRL assembly, WITH all new bulbs. Since he had to order the light assemblies, he did ask for a deposit and it was given to him that same day. He also said to bring the truck in this coming Friday (December 16th), and that it should be a simple "plug & play" situation (fingers crossed).

My mother is in on the whole thing - she even offered to pay the deposit for me, which makes the cost of the job MORE attractive to me (although I would have gladly paid the whole thing) even though I am currently on an 'unpaid status' from work as all my accrued time has been exhausted, and my disability has not yet been decided. My brother has in the past, basically GIVEN me over $20,000 to help when I was off work for 10 months, for my house payment, medications, etc. WITHOUT EVER even mentioning paying him back - he believes that this is what brothers do for each other. But yet, he can be a real PITA when it comes to ACCEPTING gifts, no matter the reason. That's what makes what I'm doing so perfect. Dim lights are a safety hazard, he knows this, but is reluctant to fix the problem, which is why he asked me if I could restore them...he is VERY, VERY frugal and would never think of doing this for himself.

Which is another reason I'm paying to have them INSTALLED, once the lights are installed, they CAN'T be returned, the repairs will have been made and he will be "stuck" with them. The most he could possibly do is to try and pay me the money I put out to have the work done, of COURSE, I will refuse ... but IF he forces the issue (and he just might), I will take the the money and when he's not looking, give it to my mother to slip back to him (he still lives with mom, so it will be easy for her).

I'm also NOT going to tell him what I did. My mom asked: "What are you going to do, see if he notices the difference on Monday when he goes to work?" I just smiled and said: "Yep." We go to my mom's on Christmas Eve, and I plan on wrapping his old lights in a box (assuming he hadn't noticed by then) and "gifting" them to him from "Santa." I am also going to give him a long note in a card, explaining the "what" and "why," and ending the note with: "This is what brothers do."

Getting the truck away from him on Friday is going to be easy. I'm going to tell him the truth - part of it anyway LOL. I'm just going to say that I need it to go Christmas shopping and plan on getting things that just won't fit in the wife's Escape, every word the truth

These are the pictures of the current state of his lights. I sent these to the shop (even though they have his VIN to order the lights off of), just to make sure.





Yes, I know, the hood (and roof) have catastrophic clear coat failure, which is why I haven't given it a good inside & out ... polishing the good paint that remains (the sides) IMO, will only make the hood/roof look worse. But I do intend to give it a good interior clean-out come nice weather, when I take care of my mom's car.

[Flash Gordon]

That's great Don. Dangerous for your brother driving around at night with headlights like that.
You're a good man