Brackets are easy to make. Randy Jack has nice ones made of aluminum that hides the wires etc. The original shield type taillights are on ebay all the time. You can do the whole thing for well under $50. I found my stainless ones in a junk yard for $20. I like the smaller lights from a 31-32 Ford like some of these people are using. I went with the original taillight because I want people to see me stop and they just seem to go with the truck. Lights in the pan or bumper are nice too. It's what you like and what you think looks and works for you.

 

So did I several years ago, and so when I painted my truck I bought what the catalog stores sold as 48-53, round with a chrome trim. Look at my gallery to see mine. After more research and looking at more stock trucks and looking at pics of old trucks in magazines and dealer brochures, I found out the 53-54 were slightly different, still round, but with no crome trim ring. The red lens screwed directly on the taillight. The Ford shield type came out in 1955. I bought one correct taillight but am looking for his partner. Will then get rid of the fancey chrome ones!!

 

I used 49 merc tail lights, I found mine on ebay and bought new lenses from carpenters, the bezel is chrome and they mount up on the 53-56 rear fenders real nice, if you cant find the bezzels on ebay though-good luck because I have seen them in real nice shape go for $100 each, I got mine for $25 and they look good. Keep in mind they are a match pair, a right side and a left side.



Kyle

 

Gary,

I used stock type brackets available in the aftermarket in polished stainless steel and 33-36 Ford passenger car lights with polished stainless steel housings and trim rings. I like shiny stuff.

They fit the stock brackets perfectly. There are subtle differences in the original lights for 53-54 although most aftermarket suppliers sell the same light for 48-54. Although 32 lights will also fit the bracket, I don't like them because they come with two bulbs (one for tail light and one for brakes and turn signals) neither of which is situated directly behind the center of the lense so if you run blue dots they aren't as noticible. Also, the tail light bulb in 32 lights is a small single contact bulb which is not very bright. There are some aftermarket replacement bulbs available for a 1157 bulb which are much brighter. I got my bulbs from Watson's Street Rod Works. If I remember correctly, the brackets, tail lights with blue dots, and extra bright bulbs were under $100 but I had to shop around and get them from different places.

 

I would use caution buying lenses on e-bay. I have seen many in the vendor areas of large meets where they are el cheapo repro's, more orange than red.

 

Good point! I bought mine from a vendor at a large swap meet. I had to go through several pairs of lenses to find a pair that matched. I don't mind the orange looking lenses as long as the lenses match. In fact, I think the orange looking ones seem to be a little brighter than the dark red ones...

 

Hey Vern, is that your house in the background of that shot of your '48? I can visualize that whole scene blanketed in snow with Christamas lights hung. Must be beautiful. Can you tell I've lived in Florida 30 Yrs.? Gonna be 77 today with 6" of brilliant sunshine on the ground. Happy Holidays, Jim

 

Here is a great link for taillight lenses, and accessories;

http://www.taillightking.com/

The guy runs the business as a hobby, he is very easy to work with. I have bought lenses from him in the past.

Bobby

 

Yes the Taillight King is great to deal with. He even had a park light lens for my 50 Merc. They are the same lens as the 46 ford car's were.
Don

 

Jim,

I was born in Florida and lived in north Florida 56 years before I moved to NH. It is very beautiful here with or without snow on the ground and we always have a white Christmas. We might hit 77 again sometime next summer but we do have brilliant sunshine even when it's minus 10 out...

Have you ever had snowburn?

 

I have seen full width LED strip lights designed to mount under the tailgate that have all the lighting functions (tail, turn, stop) built in. LEDS are extremely bright and I would recommend using them in whatever taillight you decide to go with. I recently found a manufacturer that is selling improved 1156 and 1157 replacement LED arrays. They have a forward facing array and a ring of sideways firing leds to light up the entire housing.

 

I made these up from what came on my truck. Yeh, they're trailer lights, but I mod'd the brackets extensively to pull them in. They are 2 - 3x as bright as the factory lights, and I mounted them at face level so they shine right in the eyes of people dialing their cell phones.

 

i bought these from speedway motors

'33-'36 Ford Taillights
Polished stainless case. Choose right or left. Left light has lens to illuminate license plate. Also fits later model pickups and wagons. 12 volt.


91137018-L '33-'36 FORD TAILLIGHTS, STNLS, LEFT $29.95

91137018-R '33-'36 FORD TAILLIGHTS, STNLS, RIGHT $29.95


check out their website same as the name

 

i like the taillight king's website

and everyone's lights here look awesome.

 

LEDs are great for brighter tail lights but they aren't worth a hoot if you want good looking blue dots. For nice looking blue dots you need a bulb concentrated directly behind the blue lens and LEDs just don't do the job. I saw a display of LEDS mounted in original style lights at a rod show last year. Not one of the vendors had a blue dot in front of an LED. I had just bought a pair of blue dots and held one up to one of the white LEDs and you could hardly see the purple glow. I think I'm just gonna stick with the old 1157s behind my blue dots...