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Thread: Tail light location?

  1. #1
    Registered Member Old Buzzard's Avatar
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    Angry Tail light location?

    55 sedan.
    It appears that the moron that put the new 1/4's on my sedan, has managed to get the openings turned in toward the trunk opening.
    Being the t/l hsgs interchange left and right, I'm assuming the openings should be "straight across" with the inner, and outer edges all lining up. I've pulled a string line across the vertical edges, and the inside of the openings do not hit the string, on either side.
    It appears he's aggravated the situation by using the entire patch panel, that goes up from the tail pan. There was no need to use all of them. The rust stopped 8/10" below the top of the 1/4. It may be that those panels are not correct, and are the root of the problem. Not sure.
    If there's someone with the lights out , could you do the string line check, and let me know if I'm on the right track.
    I've pulled the car out of his shop, and can post pics, if needed.
    TIA,

  2. #2
    Registered Member BamaNomad's Avatar
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    Photos always help, OB... I'm not sure I'm following your situation or problem, but my '55 Nomad has the tail light assemblies removed if I can help??

  3. #3
    Registered Member Old Buzzard's Avatar
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    Tail lite pics

    Thanks for the help!
    I measured the tail lite opening 4" down, from the top. The string line is run across and taped to both qtr panels. The inside edges of the openings, are +/-3/8" toward the ft of the car, further than the outer edge the line is on. Thus, the t/lites are pointing to the middle of the car.
    If this is an issue, I'm debating: Do I add to the inner side, or shorten the outer side.
    [I have to redo the contour of the openings anyway, as he screwed up the fit].
    The pic is kind of distorted. The tie bar is actually welded in crooked, on both openings.
    Here's a pic.IMG_0214.JPG
    Last edited by Old Buzzard; 07-05-2020 at 03:24 PM.

  4. #4
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    I laid a straight edge across mine and to my surprise all 4 surfaces touched it. So your initial expectation is correct I think, as I made no attempt to make this happen myself.

    I have heard of replacement quarter panels too long. I replaced one of mine, but cheated and didn't use the whole panel - I left the original door jam and taillight opening on the car and fitted the replacement quarter to what I had.

    As for the cross brace in the crotch of the opening being bent, mine were that way. I straightened them and this made the opening fit the taillight assembly and bezels better, as the opening had collapsed in width compared to those pieces, collapsing/bending those braces.

    Good luck fixing it, I think I'd do any needed mods to the trunk side of the opening if the outside looks good - keeping in mind the fit of the taillight housing and bezel. And if you can make it look okay even with the inside of the opening a bit off, that might be a decent tradeoff.

    I also had to go through about 10 taillight housings (the cast piece) to get a pair that fit well. There is a lot of "core shift" and what looks like belt sanding marks on the originals I worked with. This tells me that the factory did some rework/refitting on the assembly line - that the fit was not so good sometimes.

  5. #5
    Registered Member Old Buzzard's Avatar
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    Rick, thanks for the reply!
    The body guy did my blue 55, and did a great job. This time, I have a mess. I'm in about 100 hrs just redoing his mess.
    It's obvious I'm in for more.
    He did the qtrs as you did. He had the castings,[originals that fit well], and new bezels, and still screwed it up.
    The castings don't fit well, at all.
    I'm going to add to the trunk side.
    Ill be at work today. My blue car is there. I'll measure the jam to tail lite on it. I'm betting your comment on the length is spot on.

    Thanks!

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