How to get this apart ? (1953 Terrot headlight)

[R]

The British world is full of such prefocus Lucas's.
Why pick on Terrots ??

Which actually raises the question - would Terrot have used Lucas. ?
Were there other alternatives. ?
Wipac, for one, Miller. Still British though.

[Rex]

Terrot would never have used Lucas, and I've never seen any French bike with British parts on it (other than some bikes with Villiers engines). Even the Amal carb made in France under licence (as I had on my last French bike) was labelled as a Gurtner.
 Ducellier maybe?

[mini-me]

I second Rex, french bikes used french equipment, the cost of importing would have been prohibitive back then to a country still rebuilding and with an unsympathetic government. 
French have always been very protectionist in regard to imports.

I did once have an 1948 FN fitted with Miller electrics and an amal carb, but that was a Belgian bike.

several french makes used their own lighting equipment, probably Terrot also.

check out  Chambriers pages, more productive than waffling n the dark here

https://chambrier-pieces-motos.fr/fr/88-phares?page=3

[R]

more productive than waffling n the dark here

If the questions aren't asked, its unlikely the answers will appear   ?
Few forum members are that clairvoyant ...

[Rex]

I know why you said that...and you're wrong on both counts..

[mini-me]

Few forum members are that clairvoyant ...

I knew you were going to say that.

The issue is not asking the question, but asking it in the right place, and frankly a lot of the answers have been speculative waffle about how to destroy the item.

No one asked why he wanted to seperate the unit, he should have been more specific, and if I had seen it earlier I would have sent him straight to Chambrier or one of the otehrs often mention on here, esier and cheaper to replace it than resilver it wghich is seldom worth it.

you can get DIY resilver kit from ebay which work well enough for this job.



i know what you are going to say next and the answer is no.

[JoeJ]

An update.....before and after pictures attached!

I was looking at the glass and housing (and thinking of the "vacumm sealed") and gave the metal a turn toward me while holding the glass in place.  Voila!  They came apart quite nicely.  So I soaked the metal in some derusting stuff that does a great job and a little steel wool pad and was very impressed with how it came out. I probably should prime the metal before it rusts again.....

[JoeJ]

Any thoughts how I can clean or buff the glass? There seems to be some stuff on it that won't come off - the areas are not scratches, but areas where the glass has some sort of film on it.

[Rex]

Glass is tough stuff so why not try the usual things like WD40, thinners, petrol etc?

[mini-me]

An ultra sonic cleaner will do the best job, every home should have one.

[john.k]

The moment I saw the glass...I said ..Marchal....the oval pattern the same as on my Citroen .....just like you see on Maigret.....except the Surete probably had the "Big Six",all of 1500cc. for chasing crooks on Mobylettes.

[JoeJ]

what is "An ultra sonic cleaner"?  Don't think I have heard of that.....