I too believe in trying to do things on a budget even though it's getting harder when dealing with anything Mopar. We "spruced" ours up which involved a few things:
* wire wheel and steel wool to the die cast gear body
* replacing some wires and sliding insulation from new wires onto the existing wires
* steel wool the end of the motor housing
* masking off and fine-sanding the steel motor cover with up to 600 grit sand paper, polishing with steel wool and then spraying it simultaneously with a (just a) mist of gold metallic paint and clear lacquer
Looks decent and the only thing I didn't have around is the $5 can of Duplicolor gold paint.