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Customs Need Opinions on My Proposed Tail Light Changes

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by cleatus, Dec 14, 2009.

  1. Nick32vic
    Joined: Jul 17, 2003
    Posts: 3,050

    Nick32vic
    Member

    I like how they are now. They are probably safer that way too, but out of the photoshops #6 is my favorite!

    By the way, I probably told you before, but Its worth saying again. Your car is amazing and one of the best customs out there. Ive always loved that car.
     
  2. pasadenahotrod
    Joined: Feb 13, 2007
    Posts: 11,775

    pasadenahotrod
    Member
    from Texas

    #5 is just right and puts the lights where they will be seen by the average motorist who will be paying no attention to his/her following distance while admiring your car at speed! A 3rd brake light wouldn't hurt either. It's period legit as all Chrysler products used them(as only not 3rd) from about 1940-50 or so.
     
  3. 333 Half Evil
    Joined: Oct 16, 2006
    Posts: 1,440

    333 Half Evil
    Member

    I like the picture in post #40 That is a very sweet looking light and to me fits with the flow of the rear of your car. I've always thought when the lights are brought together in the center, as into your bumper gaurds, that the rear of the car looks wide and appears to be missing detail/something near the edges of the car. Even moreso when viewed at a slight angle. Awesome car by the way.
     
  4. sinks88
    Joined: Feb 18, 2009
    Posts: 610

    sinks88
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  5. NoSurf
    Joined: Jul 26, 2002
    Posts: 4,461

    NoSurf
    Member

    Dude- your car rules.

    #5

    [​IMG]
     
  6. 49 lincoln
    Joined: Feb 28, 2006
    Posts: 251

    49 lincoln
    Member
    from reno

    Once I saw the front, I was thinking a second set of parking lights mounted to the side of each bumper guard. Then I saw Riksters post and saw that he beat me to it!
    <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
     
  7. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Thanks much for everyone's input - I've been going in circles on this for more than a year so it really is helping me sort this out.

    I think that IF I were to go with putting them in the bumper guard, then definitely I would try the Harley Beehive lights. However, I am not so sure I even like the looks of the back of the car without lights in the fenders. The look of the stretched fender/pods just don't seem to make sense anymore without the light there to complete the shape?:
     

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  8. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    So, I think that out of all the other options, I may try to do this one which would require bezels to be fabbed:
     

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  9. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    I think that would look good. However, the parking lights are already longer than the width of the gravel pan and bumper combined so they would need to hang out way past the bumper - especially to clear the opening trunk lid. I could shorten their housing, but they would need to be a lot shorter and may start to look odd.

    Besides, I'm beginning to think the stretched fenders look best with lights in them.
     
  10. ever see those nature shows on the TV where they send a camera 10,000 feet down in the ocean, and you see these fish swimming around with no eyes? That's what a car with no taillights on the fenders looks like.
     
  11. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Really? I can't picture those.
    Anyone got an example they could post?
     
  12. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Sorta agree, but sometimes it does look great. For example - Oz's Caddy. I absolutely love this car. But I think it works much better than mine ever would because his fender pods are much more pronounced.

    Looking at the back of this car makes me want to just smash mine all to hell and start over, ha, ha:
     

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  13. IL GIMMI
    Joined: Nov 18, 2007
    Posts: 221

    IL GIMMI
    Member

    #5 is def the way to go. It just looks odd to me when tailights are relocated to the bumper. Like somethings missing from the rear fender, which actually is.
     
  14. solo_909
    Joined: Apr 9, 2006
    Posts: 1,786

    solo_909
    Member

    #1 I like alot plus its a little bigger and safer for you. Other drivers will be able to see it better.
     
  15. Yeah, the Caddy's fenders have a sharp, ironed crease, if you will, like a pair of trousers, which provides some visual interest. Also, it appears the bumper guards in which the taillights are installed are situated farther outboard than the bumper guards on your car.

    You have a beautiful car, and any way you go, it'll look great. FWIW, I'd vote for the status quo for the reasons you expressed.
     
  16. 50Fraud
    Joined: May 6, 2001
    Posts: 10,101

    50Fraud
    Member

    I've pondered the same stuff that you are considering. I think your #1 looks great, and very much in the early custom tradition, but I'd only consider it together with a CHIMSL for safety's sake.

    In thinking about what to do with my own '40 Ford, I decided to use the Stude lights, simply because they looked better than anything else I could imagine. This is Dick Falk's '40, which I think uses them perfectly:

    [​IMG]

    Considering these purely from a design standpoint, I notice that I like having a chrome bezel around the light, and (for me, at least) having them surface mounted rather than inset. Seems to me that surface mounting is closer to what was done by the factory back when, while flush mounting adds a definite Kustom spin to it.

    A traditional alternative that I also kinda like was used on Earl Bruce's '40 many years ago. Somebody has identified these as '42 Buick, but I'm not certain that's correct:

    [​IMG]

    I guess I'm coming around to agreeing with your decision to use your swap meet lenses with fabricated bezels, IF the lenses really look like a perfect continuation of the fenders. I think the success of that solution will depend on the lights being really well integrated into the fender shape.
     
  17. #5 does look more natural to me.
     
  18. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Ok, I'll bite - what's a CHIMSL?

    I've also thought about those 42 Buick? lights, and thought about having the peak on my fenders form a little hood over that upper round light in them - sort of to mimick a certain part of a woman's anatomy if you will, and then the rest of the bezel sitting flush.
     
  19. hotrodladycrusr
    Joined: Sep 20, 2002
    Posts: 20,765

    hotrodladycrusr
    Member

    Don't do it! Do you remember back in 2004 or so when we tried that over the headlight bezels?? Looked like dog poo.:D
     
  20. cleatus
    Joined: Mar 1, 2002
    Posts: 2,277

    cleatus
    Member
    from Sacramento

    Ha, ha I would have bet money that you would be the one to respond to that one!
     
  21. 50Fraud
    Joined: May 6, 2001
    Posts: 10,101

    50Fraud
    Member

    Sorry, I guess it should be CHMSL (from Wikipedia): In North America since 1986, in Australia and New Zealand since 1990, and in Europe since 1998, a central brake lamp, mounted higher than the vehicle's left and right brake lamps and called a Centre High Mount Stop Lamp (CHMSL), is also required.
     
  22. indianhead74
    Joined: Mar 3, 2005
    Posts: 159

    indianhead74
    Member

    No. 1 looks good, Maybe run the pencil tips through the bumper too?
     
  23. I'm guessing it sounds better than it could look?

    Still wondering - what's a CHIMSL?
     
  24. Lone Star Mopar
    Joined: Nov 2, 2005
    Posts: 3,811

    Lone Star Mopar
    Member

  25. Janne
    Joined: Jan 12, 2004
    Posts: 1,185

    Janne
    Member

    I did quick photoshop after reading post one, before seeing those appeared in post #40:
     

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    Last edited: Dec 15, 2009
  26. PRIMERDAVE
    Joined: Jun 8, 2005
    Posts: 895

    PRIMERDAVE
    Member

    I was hooked on # 1 ...till added #6 to the mix....
     
  27. koolkemp
    Joined: May 7, 2004
    Posts: 6,005

    koolkemp
    Member

    I will vote for # 5 I usually love the lights in the guards but its not doin it for me this time...those fenders look real nice with # 5:D
     
  28. I agree with Pete. Having two much red in the chrome kind of makes it look "plasticy" to me.

    I think they look pretty good as is. If you want to change anything, maybe change the angle that they're leaned back so that it flows better with the shape of the fender, so that they look like they're frenched in evenly. Frenched lights look cool to me on a custom, and better than if they look just tacked onto the surface. Maybe just french them in slightly deeper and leaned forward at an angle that makes them look frenched evenly so the surface of the lens follows the same shape as the fender.

    Nice car!
     
  29. Those look nice. I think those fenders need tail lights in them to look finished. It looks funny on the pictures with no tail lights in the fenders. The tail lights make it look like there's a reason that those fenders flow way back there. Sort of like having a Flash Gordon spaceship with no rocket motor hole in the back if you have no tail lights.
     

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