It is dangerous to tamper with lighting on a road vehicle.
There may be people who won't know that your flashing light is a snow plow or a flickering street light.

 

I lied! I found a short to one of the unused pins in IC 1. However now that I fixed it, nothing works but I can apply voltage without any blown fuses or sparks. Yes, I was blowing fuses and before the second one blew I had a spark in one of the IC's simultaneous with the blown fuse, but not enough time to leave a telltale burn mark to let me know where the short was. I'm going to rebuild using IC sockets to space the pins further and eliminate the possibility of solder shorts like I had. Regardless of my amateur soldering mess-ups, am I applying the voltage correctly? It makes sense to me when I study it. I have the Vdd on the IC's connected to + and the Vss to chassis ground. I think I've got it and will post again after the rebuild. Thanks again for your guidance.

 

Yes, you were applying the voltage correctly.

Using IC sockets won't help that much to eliminate solder bridges.

Check your work carefully with a magnifying glass, and use a multimeter to test for shorts before applying power.

If you blow a fuse, you know there is a problem. Find the problem before blowing another fuse.