Technical 1955/56 Mercury taillights

Anybody know what is up with these taillights?
What are they? Where/how where they made? What’s the scoop? Thanks!!

 

@Moriarity

 

Looks right.

 

Woohoo thanks y’all!! Just ordered

thanks!!

 

Got em in and looks like I need to cut my bezels up but, I’m wondering if 55 taillights will fit a 56?

 

Unfortunately I haven’t snapped any when I get back from this work trip I will though!

I’m thinking about them and think I need to cut the bezels and probably glue in the lenses? Not sure

 

Yes, ‘55 tail lights will fit a ‘56 and vice versa, but as complete assemblies.

You don’t need to cut the bezel (‘55 or’56) to fit the new lenses. The lenses will need to be cut and sanded to fit the bezels. How much depends on the lense and the bezel you choose. For the ‘55s, the lense just needs a little fitting to sit in the bezel. The ‘56s require the top “point “ of the lense to be cut off and, of course, shaping for it to fit in the bezel.

Retaining the lense in the bezel was typically done with a single screw at the bottom of the lense. Look closely at the photo you posted. You’ll see the screws. Alternatively, double sided trim tape or RTV can be used.

Since the new lenses are darker than OEM, you’ll nee to decide if the old incandescent bulb is bright enough or if you want to upgrade to LED. I used a pair of truck body/trailer oval LED tail light assemblies. The tail light assemblies fit in the bulge of the new lenses but do require some modification the the back plates of the original tail light assemblies. The LEDs are much brighter and have a kinda cool diamond pattern when lit.

I’ll try to post some pictures, tomorrow. I have not mounted my tail lights onto my car, yet. So, let me know if you want any detail pictures.

 

Heck yeah!! Let’s see the pics!!!! And THANK YOU FOR THE WRITE UP VERY VERY MUCH

 

So, here are my custom ‘56 tail lights and how they are assembled:



This is the back side of the bezel. Notice the groove where the OEM tail light lense flange fits in.



The lens - the mounting into the bezel is what I wanted to duplicate.


I cut the “point” off and added a flange and top to the new lense. The foam across the to helps seal the lense to the bezel. The top “cover” helps seal the interior of the lense from dust.



The back side of the new lenses:



This is the LED truck tail light mounted to the ‘56 tail light backing plate. Notice the truck tail light covers the back up light and stop, turn, running light bulb holes. The seal is OEM.

Running lights on:



Stop/ turn signal lights on:



I know this was an over complicated way of mounting the new lenses. But, the tail light assembles are just as easy to dismantle for cleaning or repair as the originals.

 

Actually did similar on my led/Lee lense swapped 54 Chevy tail lights on my 53 bel air. Even same exact trailer lights lol

 

man!!! thanks so much that’s awesome!

 

I’ll add my contribution since rocket scientist was nice enough to help me immensely.

I ordered the 55 Mercury bezels. I decided not to play with my originals and I kinda liked the bigger lense opening instead of the flatter top.

I trimmed the lenses with a flap disk on a grinder very carefully.

Once I got them to fit into the bezel I drilled through the bottom hole that holds the inside piece. It used a 8-32 screw to hold the plate that holds in the bulbs then I drilled the lense and put a long 8-32 screw through the lense and then through the hole I drilled to the original threaded hole.

I then screwed the nilight LED lense to the inside of the bulb retainer with self tap screws.

And ran the wires through the original bulb hole.
I found these 1157 bulb plugs that have wires coming out instead of a bulb and used that to wire to the led wires. I only did this cause I don’t trust most parts now and at least if the led dies, I can plug my 1157 back into the light and make it on home.

 

That looks sooooo much better.

 

Using the LED trailer lamp looks like an almost perfect fit and I'd think the price should be reasonable enough. But I'm curious about how much light you might be losing by passing the LED's light thru two red lenses, the red lens of the trailer lamp plus the red lens of the Mercury tail lamp? Can the red lens on the trailer lamp be easily removed? I can imagine this would provide better visibility by using just the red lens of the Mercury lamp.

 

Your tail lights look great! There’s a big difference in the look between the ‘55s and ‘56s with the same lense.

So, I bought a second set of the lenses for some ‘55 bezels I have. A little over kill, but it’s nice to have options!

 

Yes, I thought the same thing. I wanted to remove the red lense. But, the lense does not appear to be easily removed ( atleast without breaking it!). A clear lense tail light assembly is available and it has red LEDs. So, chances are, both the red and clear assemblies use the same red LED array.

I think my ‘56s are adequately bright. But, brighter wouldn’t hurt!

 

i bought those lights he used but with a clear lenses

 

It is definitely nice to have options!
Let me know if you need some more I think I have another set of 55 and like 2 sets of 56 bezels.

thanks so much for the help on this