1989 740GL

Both of my license plate illumination fixtures have suffered rust failure of the tiny clips that retaining them in the body.

The plastic fixtures are perfect-it's just the clips that have failed. They appear to be molded into the plastic, or pressed in and now are frozen in place.

I'm not interested in spending $25 or more for a pair of new ones, and even then I haven't located the proper ones. The bulb assemblies slide into mine, where as all the new ones I see have terminals and internal bulbs instead (FCP and elsewhere).

I used a small strip of aluminum tape to hold them in place for a while, but that's impermanent and the tape lets go eventually.

I can easily make 1/4" X 3/4" thin metal strips that externally screw w/ #4 sheet metal screws to the light fixture and to the body ( totally hidden by the closed trunk lid), but if someone has found a more elegant, less brutal solution, I'm open to it!

The lens/fixture is shown in this copy-and-paste link, with the arrows pointing to the failed metal clips. Otherwise the vehicle is completely rust-free in the extreme (even the OEM exhaust just unbolted w/o penetrating oil)-I guess these were the sacrificial rust "lambs" to the Rust Gods:
http://screencast.com/t/qfP5QoiWQG4

I need to get through inspection, and the inspector said the aluminum tape was a "FAIL" even if the bulbs properly illuminate the plate*, which they did.

Bob
*Many states specifically prohibit taping any lighting lens, though since this didn't impact the light coming from the fixture I don't "get it," but "rules is rules" these days.