Exterior lighting, part one. As it sat in the field our Cruisette had lighting problems with both the stop/directional lighting and the clearance lights. For safety alone the brake lights and turn signals needed to be dealt with first. The lighting in the rear consisted of the original single stop & license plate lamp and two 1960's add-on plastic surface mount lights. The best thing about the plastic lights is that they no longer functioned. Turn signals were not required equipment when the Cruisette was built so there is no real "correct" light fixture to add, but I definitely wanted something period appropriate.
After looking fruitlessly at car shows and catalogs, I was browsing for Camaro speed-parts in a Jeg's High Performance catalog that had appeared in my mailbox when I spotted some fantastic reproduction '39 Ford taillights. They turned out to be high-quality pieces with glass lenses and stainless steel bezels, and a bargain to boot.
Installation was fairly simple once I made a flat template for the required holes. We used a hole-saw, aviation shears and some files to make the oval holes for the fixture, and a drill for the holes for the mounting studs.
Once connected to the wiring the taillights proved to be nice and bright and quite attractive. There is a little corrosion and scale from the plastic fixtures to be addressed when I do the final polish. The extra screw holes from the old fixtures will get filled with Olympic rivets.
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