So if there is alredy a thread out there, I apologize... I did some digging and came up with nothing, my old friend google wasn't much help either. Now I wasn't around for the early days of hot rodding, so what I was wondering is how did one come about putting blue lenses in ones tail lights? Other than they look pretty cool, but what was the purpose, if any? Or was it to just tick off the squares? What were they originally from or were they an automotive application the entire time? Just trying to learn some more about the histoy of hot rodding.
Search for Blue Dots http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73318&highlight=blue+dot&showall=1
Awesome, thanks Tex... I didn't think to go the blue dots route... killing time at work and thought it was an interesting topic to look up.
Thanks, I missed that original post, and it was good to read theHighlander's reply. The first blue dots I ever saw were on a 1931 V16 Cadillac, a right hand grive one that came over from Australia. The bluedots were a factory feature on the big Cadillac and Packard models.
After reading that thread from 2005, this might be the only time that I disagree with Bruce, kinda. I grew up in East Tennessee in the late 50's-early 60's and remember seeing blue dots on many local cars at that time period. If memory serves me (and it doesn't always) the first I saw were on a '56 Ford Crown Victoria. I can agree with Bruce that in the 80's it became sorta the chic nostalgia thing to install on your street rod, but I think they were quite popular in the 50's as well. It may have been kinda "provincial" in nature, some areas of the country finding them more interesting than others. Keep in mind that all of the southeast was influenced by the proximity of Honest Charley's mailorder business. I find it fascinating how certain areas developed "localized" modifications for one reason or another that may have never taken off anywhere else. The safety issues are debateable as I've seen some blue dots that seem to dim the light being emitted while others, particularly the glass ones may actually increase visibility....Don.
My 53 Chevy came out of Kentucky. lived there all its life, until I bought it back in 1996. It had, and still has the glass blue dots that were installed in the original tail light lenses. I have been driving this car for the last 13 years and have not had one issue with the police ..(yet)..about the blue dots
I used to carry a roll of masking tape, and if I got stopped for them, I'd put a piece of it over the dot.
I ran them on my '54 Effie, in high school, and would get pulled over regularly for blue dots and my mutilated historic plates (2 rows of louvers popped in them). My '40 has had blue dots since it's been on the street, in '95. When I had it registered with "regular" tags, I would have to remember to swap lenses, so it would pass safety inspection. Same with my '92 S-10. The state of MO has the following in a bill that was passed in '04: Boils down to mean that most cops (in MO) will tend to not bother you for blue dots, no matter which way you have your hot rod licensed.
This is an interesting debate. I imagine we will never know the truth about this one. I'd suspect that if the true first blue dot's were on upscale Cadillacs and Packard's That the original intent was in fact to distinguish them from the rest of the motoring public. Perhaps as a way for the local constabulary to know that there is someone in that car who has special privileges. But I'm speculating. As for Bruce Lancasters take on it, (from the other thread.) I can't say but what I was told. My dad remembered them from the late '50's. I remember well the conversation we had in the mid '80's when I bought a pair for the back of my '67 GS 400. You see around here all us young punks wanted a pair of blue dots because it was cool. It was a fad in the '80's that went way beyond nostalgic street rods. There were more Comaro's Mustangs, Mavericks, old pickup trucks, you name it, running around East Tennessee with blue dots between, lets say 1983 and 1987 than every other car that ever had them previously. Dad won that argument by the way. He called them "cop callers" and asked me if I really wanted to draw that kind of attention to myself on Saturday night. He had the same philosophy about unnecessarily loud exhaust. Time proved him right on both accounts. From what I heard, "Blue lenses are for official vehicles only boy" was the inevitable response from the cop back then. I've run blue dot's on lots of stuff more recently and never gotten a second look. I guess things change with time
I saw my first set of blue dots (that I remember) when I was 4-5 years old. They were on a 49 or 50 Ford that my Dad was repo-ing. That was in 1955.
I recall lots of blue dots on different years of cars back in the early 50's in Ohio. dont recall anyone ever having problems with the the long arm of the law. Something to remember about when and how they came about. Up til I think about 1952, tail light lenses were glass so you didnt 'make your own' in the basement. If they didnt come as std equipment from the factory as the Packards/Cadillacs or if Whitney didnt sell them (lenses and all), you were out of luck. I remember wanting a set for my 40 Ford sedan but couldnt afford em then. Then came plastic lenses and you could drill and install 'em yourself. So good ole JCW along with Manny Moe and Jack, started marketing sets of just the dots and the metal ring for about a fiver. Now you can find em on the bay for 2 or 3 bucks. Some are plastic some are glass. Glass is better. Ive had many sets in cars since 1962 and nary a problem in Oh, Md or any state in between. A PS about dim taillights on older cars - youd be suprised how much brighter they get if you take em out and use a toothbrush to clean out all of the dust/dirt/gum that has accumulated over the years just my 2c.
Here in my area of the SOUTH ... back in the day Blue Dots were commonly available in the old gas stations and parts houses. I remember seeing displays with lenses ( for the popular models ) already done with Blue Dots in them. My uncle " King " almost always had a set in his Chevy. He traded cars a lot. ( He worked at the Chevy dealership as a parts man ). My uncle Wilton had a set in his 49 Ford coupe. Dad did NOT have any My 40 Ford coupe ( from mid TN ) had a set in it when I bought it. They were OLD and had been on the coupe for many years. The first thing I bought for the 40 was a set of non Blue Dot tail light lenses for it. The small town I live in ... the police must HATE blue dots. Any reason to write you a violation works for them. I do not run Blue Dots ... because they have become so " 80's " Every kid with 5 dollars had them in their Honda to S-10's ... I do like to see a properly installed set ... in a older vehicle.
the fella that built my 32 3 window into a hot rod in 1948 had installed 39 ford taillights with blue dots,he sold the car in 1952. that was in portland, OR. One of his many stories about the car was; on a trip to Yakima, WA to watch his buddies race roadsters at a track there he was stopped by the local city cop (Yakima) and was told that they were illegal in Washington, he told the constable that he had never had a problem in Oregon and the cop said, "That's o.k., I really only stopped you so I could look at youyre car and when you leave would you wind it out so I can see how it goes?"...."Yah right," Bo said, "So you can give me a ticket,huh?".."no,no, I just want to see how she goes." says the cop...So like Bo said,"I never understood how black tires make white smoke", but out the slotted back window of that chopped deuce you could see the cop nodding his head up and down in pure satisfaction amid billows of white smoke...and that's the truth as retold to me by a 75 year old hot rodder in 1995. By the way his chopped and channeled 32 ran a 296 Merc flathead with 4-2s and zephyr gears. RDR
RDR; I beleive that story. Cops had more latitude then. The other side of that was, of course "the long way to the station house." I have a blue dot in the taillight of my Valkyrie. It looks real cool and I've had no problems. I think it makes it a little brighter and the different color is attention grabbing. I tell myself that so if Im ever under the naked bulb in a dark room I'll believe it even when hooked up to electrodes. Great history lesson here.
That's what I know; that the first blue dots were on early 30's Caddies, especially the V-12 and V-16 models. (During the '80's I got real turned off by the billet/monochrome paint "rods" and hung with the AACA guys for awhile until the '90's (when I decided to rod my car my way like I did in the early '60's). Those dudes are real period correct and at several shows I judged at, the upscale early '30's Caddies had the blue dots and factory documentation for them. There's an old history book on Cadillac written in the '70's or '80's that has period photos of those lights. Author is MauriceD. Hendry. Title is Cadillac: Standard of the World: The Complete History ) Hope this helps
The blue dot taillights were extant in the early to mid 50s on customs and hot rods. First car show I attended in Spokane had several of each with them. Any cop that wants to hassle someone because of blue dots is just wanting to hassle someone. Many street rod clubs have gotten laws passed similar to the verbiage posted earlier. And to the person that said you couldn't get them for glass lenses - you are SO wrong. Glass can be (and was) drilled and then the lenses had a chrome sleeve with ears on the 'bottom' that were bent to hold the bluedot in the lens itself, as the other end of the sleeve was the escutcheon around the bluedot that was larger diameter than the hole. Someday we'll have to have a good cop/bad cop thread - I have a few entries.... My friend Bill who recently joined HAMB, received a haircut courtesy of the George, WA city jail. He had been a bit too aggressive in his GTX blasting his way to Spokane from Seattle. It was pretty hard to look 'hip' in those days with a buzz cut. dj
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