I NEED BETTER TAIL LIGHTS

And this is what I am talking about. If you can't see it but the car is safer because of it, give it a pass. We just had a thread the other day on the main board on O2 gauges in traditional cars. Yeah, that works...not! Disc brakes, lite bulbs, pertonix, radial tires, base/clear, timing boxes, in-tank pumps, electric fans, retractable seat belts, etc...where do you stop? All I care is when I do stop, you see me!

 

Good points, I totalt agree, its even worse over here in europe, all europe cars got orange turn signals, also classic euro cars, and today "normal" people hardly understands you have the turnsignals on (red) and if they are weak its gets even worse

 

I don't get the orange signals and the yellow headlights (France). I had a corvette when I was a lot younger and I put euro taillights on it (2 round lights each side, one orange). I thought it looked more like a Ferrari or something. So even on old cars like your avatar, do you have to run orange turn signals in back?

 

There is no issue with using LED lighting along with normal bulbs. My 48 Plymouth coupe has LED taillights and an LED 3rd brake light, but both front turn signal (and front parking) lights are normal 1157 bulbs. Those front 1157 bulbs are not nearly as bright as the LED lights on the rear, but I'm not as concerned about the people coming towards me not seeing the front 1157 turn signals.

The use of even just two 1157 bulbs solves the problem concerning the LED flasher. With just having two 1157 bulbs, they have enough resistance for the old flashers work like normal. My coupe has had the lighting like this since 2018. The LED tail lights on my coupe are LED replacement lights, they look like the original glass and pot metal originals, but are all plastic direct replacement lights sold as a pair. They were pricey ($170 for the pair, I think) back in 2018. The 3rd brake light is a semi truck version bought on line at the same time for around $50.

When I did all 4 turn signals (and rear brake) lights with the LED lights on my 49 Dodge truck, I had to invest in an LED flasher with a ground wire (it works great by the way). Those LED lights were around $70 for the tail and $40 for the front off ebay in 2021. They are in your face ugly, but bright.
Rear.

Front

 

I like that!

 

No, cars older than 1975 can run turnsignals white in front and red in the back.

 

Thanks for all the feedback back guys! I have some really small lights I’d like to use for third brake lights and it’s looking like some of those plug and play led lights”bulbs” are just the ticket. I need them to be BRIGHT!

 

Just another thought concerning the 3rd brake lights for older pickups. One of the trucks I had in the past (before LED lighting was a thing) had the round tube at the top of the bed sides. I used a PVC plumbing reducer of the size that fit into the open end of the round tube (I may have had to trim the od to fit, don't remember). Then I ran a brake power wire and a ground wire up through the stake pocket and into the round tubing near the stake pocket. Then I connected the wires to a single light socket and fit that into the PVC bushing. The bushing was held into the round tube with a small screw. This would have been real easy with a red LED light. The result was every time the brake lights came on (including the turn signals), the lights in the end of the round tube lit up. The lights I used were not very bright, but at night, it was really effective (LED lights would have been bright).

 

Bed roll lights. I have seen a few both home made and purchased. This is a pic off the web. I like the SS bezel and glass lens. I would run these. The ad on the Bay said they have 3 LEDs so they can be used as signals, running lights and brake lights. $74 bucks. They fit a bed roll 15/16 to 1" ID.

 

NOON!

 

See ya next Tuesday!

 

How's about a pair of these?????.......

 

Talk about being between the horns of a dilemma! You could get gored on those things.

 

Nope, they are gaudy and don't fit into the style BB builds to!

 

I was kidding....

 

They remind me of boobies from the 50's. Dangerous, pointy, illuminating.

 

Do you happen to have pics of these in your avatar? I am in the process of rewiring my 50 and need 12v bulbs anyway.

I already have the Hella H4 conversion headlamps.

 

I went through this a couple of months ago, before I saw this thread. My 32 coupe has 37 tail lights and had the 1157 led replacements but they were far from bright. I've never seen the big, flat leds BB has used, looked for them now but seems they're not available in the UK right now. Irrespective, I bought the United Pacific units and whilst they areng the greatest from an appearance perspective, they're very bright.

Whilst these were on their way from Summit ( no UK stockists) I experi enter with F1, that's motor racing series, not Ford trucks, rectangular multiple led units. They have brake and tail light, but the tail light mode is just high power on, like a brake light, not dimmed. The brake light flashes for a few seconds before going solid. I made an aluminium housing and have mounted it with GoPro type mountings until I can make a better mount, but still rather experimental for now! I made it all quickly removable with a stereo jackplug for the wiring. I bought a red unit initially and it worked brilliantly but looked rather hideous when not illuminated, so I purchased a black tinted unit which is very stealthy and works well but not quite as bright, but bright enough.

Here's a pic of the brake light with the poorer lens in the 37 housings. I'll have to take some more pics of the housing etc to post.

Still a work in progress but I'm feeling a lot happier. On the couple of drive outs I've done I can now tell my flashers are seen by the actions of other drivers, eg when changing lanes on freeways.

Chris

 

No my Buick still got 6v i used the Led on my 54 Chevy thats converted to 12v

 

@Happydaze , have you painted the inside of the taillight bucket with gloss white? It really helps brighten the light.

 

I had the roadster out for some spirited driving this morning, brought it home and my wife gave the new lights her seal of approval. She was worried about me driving the car before due to the low visibility of those taillights. And she noted that she could not see the LEDs through these domed lenses, and she was trying to make them out!

I am 99.9% satisfied about the upgrade. The missing .1% is due to the loss of my blue dots. May they rest in peace.

 

Yeah, that's bright! Well done!