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Yet another idea for tail lights

CyCo

New member
Ok, I've been sitting on this idea for ages and keeping it for myself. But unfortunately for me they're not legal in my local state, indeed most if not all of Australia.

Cadillac Tail Lights

Now unfortunately the auction on eBay isn't active anymore, besides, they're in NSW, Australia (and even local to me), but I had the idea of sharing the idea with you guys since I can't uses them here. And I'm sure you could find a pair much cheaper over there as well.

As to why they're not legal here, the indicator isn't amber. As they're US tail lights, they're red not orange. At the least the indicator needs to be clear with an amber bulb to be road legal.

These lights are 16" long, each. Now they're vertical in the donor car I'm fairly sure, but horizontal across the back of a Sterling, they should look great I think.

And here's one in the US, for $30.
Cadillac DeVille or Fleetwood.

;)


 

Brett Proctor

Well-known member
Yep, thought about those many times myself. I think they'd work.

I looked at those when I was searching for tail lights. If I remember they were a little too long for what I was looking for and they had an arch to them that didn't fit the curves of the body.
I see them all the time in the yards here, if you want any dimensions from them let me know and next time I go I'll get them. They go for $16.50 here

The other day I was looking at tail lights because I was thinking of changing what I have for something that would look better with the new look of the back and came across these.

1997 Camry
They are about 4" wide and I think about 17" long(don't hold me to that).
The corner curve looks real close to that of the sterlings
1997 Camry.jpeg

These pop up now and then in the yard so they aren't to hard to find and mounting isn't that bad. They are a pretty compact unit.
The right side has a hole for the trunk key/lock and I was thinking of using that for a lock for the engine cover.
 

GS Guy

New member
I think those Camary lights fit the straight across styling of the Sterling rear nicely. If the wrap around portion fits the body lines it looks like a winner. I was looking on the way home from work yesterday at various car taillights. There was a late model Audi that caught my eye - looked like it had possibilities? Might have been an A6? Couldn't catch the model (4-door), but had a fairly narrow rectangular light shape.
Jeff
 

GS Guy

New member
Maybe the vintage 70's Chevy Monza lights would work? A little hard to find these days, but looked good on the Manta Montage.
Jeff
 

sector

Member
I like early style Buick Century taillights as used on this car
 

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ydeardorff

New member
These ideas are all good.
However, what i see when I see these choices are hard to find lights that are quickly moving or having already moved into the Classic car market. This would make finding them more and more difficult and expensive as time goes on. Why not shop for sources a little newer, cheaper, and more plentiful?
 

GS Guy

New member
True, sourcing used parts from a popular current make almost always saves $$$, sometimes lots, with many years of parts availability! From what I see, on more modern cars the light assemblies are integral parts of the body-work, forming corners, edges and general shape of the body - much beyond just providing light. They've become so specialized it gets really tough to find something that is "close enough" to try to make work - and even then the best efforts sometimes come off as "not quite right" looking. Lots of kit cars employ flat panel surfaces for lights, gauges, etc, comparable to 70's (and earlier) era detroit and import designs. To me at least, sourcing a part from a popular vintage car (especially the muscle car group) just about insures a supply of new, quality re-production parts, at least for another decade or so? I just saw a set of new re-pop 'Camino lights for about $130/pr at Original Parts Group. That seems like an extremely fair price for new parts that "should" be close to OEM quality. Has integral back-up, turn and brake lamp positions and works in a flat panel. It would definitely need to be flush-mouted to look good, but sure seems like it would fit the bill on a Sterling rear design. I'm sure many other lights would work too, depending on how much effort one is willing to go through to mount 'em!
Jeff
 

hotrodbones

New member
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Chevy-Camaro-Rally-Sport-Lights/dp/B00604SAUM]Amazon.com: 1969 Chevy Camaro RS Rally Sport 84 LED Red Brake Stop Turn Tail Lights: Automotive[/ame]

i bought these for mine, but i dont recall paying that much for them
 

hotrodbones

New member
the dodge lights look cool but following behind them,, that bright LED strip around the perimeter is super bright.

second thought,, we need more visibility in our cars being how low they are.
 

GS Guy

New member
I spied, of all things, a late model Olds Cutlass (97-99 MY) today that had a nice narrow light-like strip running across the back, between the trunk/fender mounted tail lights. I think that strip was part of a larger piece of trim work, but it looked like it might fit the general contours on the back of a Sterling. Maybe 1.5" tall, with only the car make emblems on the right side, attatched to the outside. Not sure if any lighting eminated from it, or if it was more of a reflector strip? I was thinking it could be trimmed to fit in between another pair of lights mounted at the outer flanks, giving the appearance of a light strip across the back? I don't think the Olds tail lights would blend with the Sterling body contours very well.
Jeff
 

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vpogv

Active member
Great thread. I eyed the Camry lights for a while as they were exactly what I was looking for. They had substantially more of a curve than I wanted to deal with. Something to keep in mind. The El Camino lights are straight and you can find good repos for them which helps with the cost, throw some custom LED arrays in there and it's even more modern.

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I also tossed around the idea of Hummer H2 taillights as they are flat as well and definitely would work.
$_35.JPG
 
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