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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 21, 2014, 1:47 pm 
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rx7locost wrote:
I don't really see that much difference from the ubiquitous Britax taillights. I mean aren't they just trailer lights/fork lift lights? Yuch! (full disclosure, I used them) The fact that Caterham used similar lights must make the Britax lights acceptable for us.
They're trailer lights, and the fact that Caterham has the same light indicates that even Caterham uses off-the-shelf parts when it suits the car, but I'm told they get kinda pricy when they turn into Caterham parts (they're pricy enough as trailer parts, at least on this side of the pond--I get mine from Britax's NA agents and they come by slow boat in a box of 20, and they still cost me more than triple what Stranger7 paid for his VW lights).

The Britax lights are ubiquitous among Seven-Inspired cars, but that's a small blip in the automotive world; it's a few decimal points shy on the obiquitosity scale from air-cooled VWs. The only down side I see for the VW lights (other than aesthetic, and to each his own) is it might slightly increase the number of folks who ask you if your Locost is a dune buggy.

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 21, 2014, 6:28 pm 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
. The only down side I see for the VW lights (other than aesthetic, and to each his own) is it might slightly increase the number of folks who ask you if your Locost is a dune buggy.


I'll just have to smile and say" Why yes, that is exactly where I found it! :wink:

Maybe they won't look so over large if I use Model A headlights?
Attachment:
mr_magooglasses.jpg

:shock:


Ron


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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 22, 2014, 7:01 am 
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I like wavy glass buggies! They're comin' back man!

Seriously though, I think they look great on Moore's car. If you look at it from a regulatory perspective including side and rear reflector requirements, they are better than the typical lights used.

What good are cute little lights when you may be required to stick on side and rear reflectors?

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 22, 2014, 9:41 am 
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Truth be known, this is really what I had in mind. (By way of lights that is.)
Attachment:
VW,TD.jpg

These make the ones I bought look like double-wides. :roll:
BTTDB!
Ron


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Last edited by STranger 7 on June 22, 2014, 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 22, 2014, 10:42 am 
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Miatav8,MstrASE,A&P,F wrote:
What good are cute little lights when you may be required to stick on side and rear reflectors?
An excellent point!

Which for some reason reminds me...In the late '70s my wife drove a 1957 Speedster Carerra (with a street Super 90 engine but otherwise the full race real deal and surely worth a mint by now) and a Lamborghini Countach pulled up next to us. She pointed to it and said to me, "Look, honey, there's one of those Volkswagon thingies." I guess you had to have been there.

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 22, 2014, 12:47 pm 
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JackMcCornack wrote:
Which for some reason reminds me...In the late '70s my wife drove a 1957 Speedster Carerra (with a street Super 90 engine but otherwise the full race real deal and surely worth a mint by now) and a Lamborghini Countach pulled up next to us. She pointed to it and said to me, "Look, honey, there's one of those Volkswagon thingies." I guess you had to have been there.


And how did you respond? :o

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 7:01 am 
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In the end, the only lights that will give me the look I want on the rounded fenders i will use are....
An amber light from a MKIII AH, the bottom light from a MGA arranged so.
Attachment:
AH,MGA,STR7.jpg

By no means "Low Cost", but as my old gray haired Daddy often said " Anything worth doing is worth doing right!"

Ron


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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 8:03 am 
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That MGA bottom light was on a lot of late 60's early 70's Brit cars. It's a readily available repop

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 8:32 am 
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The MGA and the Healey lights are both offered in the Victoria British catalog.
The MGA light assembly goes for $29.95 and the MKIII AH for $34.95.

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 8:50 am 
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STranger 7 wrote:
The MGA and the Healey lights are both offered in the Victoria British catalog.
The MGA light assembly goes for $29.95 and the MKIII AH for $34.95.


IIRC, there are a couple of slightly different versions of that MGA light. I had them on my 69 Spitfire... I think the back angle of the plinth is more vertical than the MGA. Not sure...

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 9:38 am 
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A quick search yielded this early Spitfire
Attachment:
Triumph Spitfire.jpg

and this 1968
Attachment:
1968 Triumph Spitfire Mark III .jpg

To me the earlier light looks like it could be the same as the 1961 MGA.


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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 9:53 am 
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see what happens to memory after 30+ years :oops:

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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 10:49 am 
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What you choose is up to you but you might want to get some converters to LEDs. I think they have them for most Brit cars. I'm thinking about a high center stoplight for myself. I just hate being rear ended :x


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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 1:40 pm 
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The MGA lamps were also used on Jag D-types, so you could say that some parts on your car are interchangeable with a Le Mans winner.


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 Post subject: Re: 1974 VW tail lights?
PostPosted: June 24, 2014, 2:43 pm 
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Been there, done that! I would not recommend using the Lucas L549 taillights (MGA - Jag - Triumph - AH etc.) for today's traffic. They are simply too dim in my opinion. Follow one and see what I mean. They are classic, but not really safe.

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