Thread: Roadster Pickup gets tail lights

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While I am torturing myself about the cost of Big ticket hotrod parts, I am still making headway with the little stuff. I just installed these aftermarket 1950 Pontiac tail lights and a chrome license plate frame on the rear of the roadster pickup. I am not sure if I have ever seen tail lights installed in a tail gate before, but when I got this original 31 tailgate the holes were there anyway, so it was either fill the holes or use them. I had to do a little more grinding and sawing to get the holes to fit the new aftermarket taillights, but I like the look. I will fabricate a set of "boxes" that go on the inside of the tailgate to hide the back side of the lights, and I should be able to use the same bolts that hold the lights in place to hold the boxes on the inside. I have to get the truck a bit higher to finish welding the running board supports solidly (make that 2 cement blocks high plus safety stands), then I will bring everything down to ground level and start mocking up a seat so I can figure out my steering column.

While I was waiting for the pic to load, I read the text and was wondering what the Poncho taillights would look like in the tailgate.
Wasn't too sure how it would work out, but now that I see them I really like it.

Having the license plate down under the bed looks good as well.

I'm a big fan of the 39 Ford taillights and have them on both roadsters.
The 32's lights are pretty bright compared to my friends old hot rod - a 1938 Morris w/SBC, sorta looks like an Anglia - who also ran 39 taillights.
Mine were made brighter by the chrome paint in the taillight bucket as well as the Bob Drake replacement Halogen bulbs for the original #1157 buckets.

His new car is a full fendered 29 Roadster, again with SBC - works for him, runs hard and strong, danged Chevys anyway - and now runs Pontiac tailights with #1157 bulbs.

A totally subjective comparison with the 39 taillights in my 32 - now equipped with #1157 bulbs cuz one of the Drakes burned out (after several years of regular use) - showed the Pontiac taillights to be brighter.
His Poncho taillight buckets are still black inside, but may get some white paint later.

I ordered up a pair of the Poncho taillights and may install them in the 32 solely for the mo-bettah brightness factor.

One of the guys on another board I frequent ran some sorta scientific tests with a sensitive light meter and a pair of Poncho taillights.
The baseline was original black painted buckets with #1157 bulbs for all tests.
"Chrome" rattlecan paint was about 20% brighter.
White rattlecan paint was 60% brighter.
That due to the titanium dioxide in the white paint which offers better reflectivity than does the Chrome paint.
And way more than the black paint.

Lotta guys pooh-pooh the brightness factor of taillights and just don't worry about it.
My question is, after all the hard work to build a nice little car why jeopardize it with small and dim taillights?

Third taillights are a viable option for most hot rods.
Trick is to have a traditional looking one.
Perhaps made easier in a roadster pickup by frenching one into the rear of the tub.
My thoughts for the 31 on this subject are to adapt a 37 Ford or 39 Chevy taillight to a level adapter mount and set the single taillight on the sill in front of the trunk lid just behind the cockpit's rear rail.
I have a billet one on the 32 and it does seem to help the idiots following to see the stoplights.

I don't have a digital picture of this to post, but I will tell you a story about the 39 Ford tail lights. When I built my 27 Ford roadster I put 39 lights in the rear of the glass body, just below where the trunklid would have been, if the glass body had a trunk. These lights were not bright at all, and numerous times I nearly got rearended in traffic. I had cut out both doors and made then functional, and the only thing that gave away the fact that the body was glass was the lack of a trunklid. I cut out the glass trunklid area and fabricated a trunklid frame from 1" square tubing , formed to match the body contours, and skinned it with 22 ga. sheetmetal with 100 louvers cut into the skin (there was no inner solid skin). I then fabricated a trunk floor and sides from 3/4" marine plywood glassed into place. This had to be the worlds most useless and smallest trunkspace, due to the large frame kick up over the rear end, however I bought a pair of 4" diameter red stoplights and mounted them inside the trunk area, one on each side. Normally, they would be totally hidden, but when I stood on the brakes or used my signals, anybody following behind me could see those lights from 200 feet away, thru all the louvers.

I've got the Ponchos on my 32. Hardest part was picking up the drill with that big hole saw and pulling the trigger. Once you have a hole you are committed. No second chances.

The tailights look great in the tailgate, Brian. Sure beats the heck out of hanging them on the side of the box or mounting something on the fenders. The 3rd brake light in the back of the tub might be a kewl idea to consider, too.

Brian,

I really liked the bit about the big taillights inside the trunk.
When all those louvers lit up, I bet the drivers following thought the roadster had exploded.

Hmmm . . . better not follow that car so close....

I thought about putting a 3rd brakelight in the rear of the cab section just above the bed---the space looks like it was made for one. Sadly though, I am really pinched for leg room in the cab, and the back of my seat is probably going to be built right into the rear interior panel. Any 3rd brakelight frenched into that area would poke me in the back, and I hate the look of something hung on the outside of the body panel.