News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

tail light identification

Started by Lynn 10923, December 29, 2004, 12:03:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Lynn 10923

Several years ago one used to be able to look at the numbers on the edge of the taillights of a car and tell what year the car was. At least this was true about GMs and Phords, I dont know about the Mopars. When did the manufacturers stop doing this?

Lynn

Lynn 10923

Good grief, you forget about something for a couple days, and look where it ends up. Page 9!

So what you both are telling me is that this was never a hard and fast rule for every year, and that manufacturers are still doing what they always did as far as numbering the lights. The difference is that theyre using the same style of lens for more years. Correct?

I have noted that my 67 parts car and both my 68s, which have the same tail lights, have both 67 and 68 numbers on them.

Lynn

Mike #19861


 It was more accurate in the 60s when it was the norm to change much of the car on a yearly basis, including all of the lights. During the 70s, cars remained more the same longer, and they quite often used lights for several years. So, you would see the year of the earliest year used molded into the lense. Sometimes, it could be used for as much as a decade, as is the case with my Eldorado.

 Im not sure why or when this started, or why the SAE standard was used. And occasionally, as is the case of the old Jeep Wagoneer, they reused lenses from many years previously with their according dates. You could find an 80s Wagoneer with a 60s SAE date molded into it.

  Mike

Eric Maypother CLC #15104

These days not only are the tail-lights the same, so are the bodies, grilles, etc, at least up till about 1980 even if a car had the same body they would at least change the grill for the next model year, now everything on the car is identical for several years, I get new Cadillac brochures every year and they even have the same pictures as the past years, just the covers are changed and it might note some new advances, other than that thier the same pictures.
When I was in my teens I learned telling the years of Cadillacs from the "Auto Hunter" magazines and other car books my father use to get, up till about the 80s I could tell from a mile away what year and model a caddy was. I would surprise people when I worked at a gas station when I would say "how much gas would you like in your 1972 Cadillac today"
Eric :)

Johnny

Part of the fun of learning about cars in the 50s was the ability to tell the different years.  Back then, a car would change every 2 years.  As time went on it became harder to do, as the differences were less noticable.  An example is the 75-76 coupes.  The main way I can tell the difference is the front side markers.  On the 76, they added a couple of horizontal bars.