The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs bullet taillights - Did I get burned?

I recently purchased a set of NOS bullet Taillights on Ebay, The lenses(DURAY and Guide on front and #5943497 on back) are plastic instead of glass and the bezels look good but the finish metalfinishing before chromeing doesn't appear to be as good as I would expect from OEM parts vendors. My first question is did Guide/Duray make both glass and plastic lenses for this light? Second, Was metal finishing less of a concern to GM than in this time frame than in later years?

I can't say for sure about the chrome, but in general Chrome was not meant to be show especially for trucks in those days. The lenses were glass originally in 1937 for Oldsmobile and 1939 for Chevrolet cars. They were re-introduced in 1948/9 for the Suburbans, Panels and Canopy Express as signal lights The 1949/52 Chevrolet station wagons also got them as signal lights. I am not sure what the year change is, but I think it was around 1952 or 53 when they switched to plastic. The panel barn door light and the CE/Suburban light also were changed to plastic.

Maybe he finally found that lost password??

Thanks Capopy express. i was thinking they prbably switched to plastic lenses at some point. The lights I purchased were identified in the installation instructions as accessory taillights for a 54 suburban.

Mike

By the way, the re pop lights are nearly identical to the originals. They also include the plastic lenses marked OLDSIG-DURAY. The inside reflector is shiny and the only visible difference from the outside is the use of a Phillips head screw instead of a slotted screw to hold on the chrome trim.

I haven't been on in a long time and my old posts were erased during maintenance. And yes I did forget my password!

Also another piece of trivia, the panel/suburban tail lights have longer wires than the 1939 tail lights. Everything else is the same.

http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cgi/htmlos.exe/004042.7.3096989654200016328

Another tip that I haven't seen expressed in awhile. Use the search tool at the top of the page and also scan the tech links. A good source of information is in the tech section of http://www.oldchevytrucks.com/cgi/htmlos.exe/start.htm

CANOPY_EXPRESS, Welcome back!!!

There are some repops on eBay right now that do have glass lenses. They are being offered by Chevs of the 40s.

The links given above by Canopy Express are to Jim Carter's Technical Articles (1947-55). You have to navigate to the Technical Articles by using the menu on the right side of the start page (it seems that JC does not allow direct links to technical articles).

These articles are a little confusing because this one refers to a "rear signal lamp" but only one filament/lead is used (as a tail lamp, so the light can be seen from behind when the rear doors are opened). In this case the "signal" is just a tail lamp (but could have been wired as a tail/stop lamp).

"1947-55 Panel Truck – A Safety Problem is Discovered
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Fig. 80
The installation procedure is as follows.
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5. Connect the 6 ft. of insulated wire to the plain wire in the lamp by means of the bayonet connection.
Note: A two filament bulb is used in the lamp. One 3 C.P. and the other 32 C.P. The plain wire connects the 3 C.P. filament. Cut of [off] the other wire.
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. "
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In the other article on JC's site about dual tail lamps, it it not clear he talks about the Panel Body dual tail/stop lamps as being tail/stop/directional lamps but the directional aspect/use of these lamps was a dealer/owner adaptation of the GM option (from 47-53).

"Advance Design Taillights
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Taillights on the panel truck, suburban, and canopy express (single unit bodies) had no similarity to those on the pickup and big trucks. On panel trucks a single to light was placed near the center of the left "barn door". The lens retaining bezel was chrome with dimensions of three inch high by 4 ½ inches wide. A decorative stainless two inch wide strip on top of the housing has the stamped letters "GUIDE R17 T". A single socket in the housing holds a double filament bulb of three and 21 candle power. The license plate bracket is secured to the rear of the bucket and allows illumination of the tag below the light. During these Advance Design years, this panel truck lens and chrome bezel were also used on the rear fender of the Harley Davidson motorcycle.

The canopy express and suburban bodies also displayed a single taillight with suspended lower license. It was attached to a cast metal swing bracket on the center of the tailgate. This bracket plus a special vertical connecting rod made up an ingenious design. When the tailgate was opened to its horizontal position, the taillight and license would swing 90 degrees so that it could still be seen by the following traffic.

This round taillight was normally black with a 4 ¼ inch diameter chrome lens retaining bezel. Inside are two sockets holding individual bulbs of 3 and 21 candle power. Block letters on top state "GUIDCOLITE STANDARD". To save costs GM adapted this light from a prior application. It had been the GMC pickup taillight from the late 30’s through 1946. During these Advance Design truck years the light was also found on Chevrolet station wagons.

As the 1950’s progressed, there were increasing requests for directional signals. This soon became a GM dealer installed option to be placed on new or pre-owned vehicles. On pickups it was easy! The option included a right side light and bracket closely matching the standard left assembly.

Adding a turn single option today 1947-55 single unit body created problems for GM designers. Neither the single factory taillight on the double door or the center unit on the tail gate were in a good position to be matched with a second live assembly. GM solved this by offering a turn signal kit containing two matched taillights. These were dealer installed beside the vehicle belt line near the doors and above the edge of the tailgate. These small bullet shaped lights were actually from a 1939 Chevrolet passenger car. It appears GM dusted off the ten year old car taillight tooling and kept expenses on this option to a minimum. The letters "DURAY" are stamped in the top of the painted housing. The chrome bezel retains a 2 5/8 inch diameter red glass lens. Due to a small water drain hole, there is a right and left on these turn signal lights.

NOTE: It is interesting that both the pickup truck and the tailgate lights, each developed during the late 1930’s, continued with separate bulbs and sockets for each filament. The door mounted oval panel truck light, introduced in mid 1947, was provided with a more modern double filament bulb in one socket."
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The Panel Body dual/bullet tail lamps (RPO 249 A, B, E, F, G, H, or J) had a left and right lamp, and had dual filaments (that were used for tail/stop in 47-53 and for tail/stop/directional in 1954/55 (if bought as RPO 249, Part No. 986938 in 54/55, they came as a "TURN SIGNAL UNIT" with a GM self-cancelling directional switch and a full wiring harness - for just a few dollars more than the lamps/wire-only kits of 47-53).

Of course, owners or dealers could have wired any of these rear lamps differently from the GM instructions; and, the dual lamps for 47-53 could have been easily used for tail/stop/directional with an after-market directional switch.

Does anyone have the GM installation instructions for 47-53 dual rear lamps?

Also, did the 1939 passenger car lamp have one or two filaments/leads, and was there a left and right lamp? From earlier discussions of this subject, I think that the answers are both "no".

By the way (sorry to be so long-winded), the 1954 Panel Body bullet lenses are plastic and the words "DURAY" is at the top and "Guidex" is at the bottom of the lenses. The word "DURAY" is also pressed into the top of each housing.

I stand corrected, the repops do have the glass lens. One other difference is the location of the drip hole. The repos have them located ajacent to the screw hole making them usless but interchangeble for the left and right side.

I also forgot to note that the panel lights are different not only by the long wires but they also have dual filliments.

Thanks Tim "for the rest of the story!"