'58-'59 tail light lens

[Dakota Boy]

One of my lenses is lighter-colored (not as dark red) than the other three. It says "GLO-BRIGHT" on it at the bottom of the big red circle.

Does anyone know anything about these? They must've been an aftermarket lens at some point in the past.

Does anyone want to trade me a Ford lens so all four of my tail lights match?

[DKheld]

I have a lens that came in a parts box I bought - not sure what year it is from probably considered driver quality. Be glad to send it for just shipping charges if it turns out to be what you need. I have a '60 so a '58 & '59 lens is of no use to me. You might need that Glo-Bright as a spare. I'll get some pics late today and post or send them as soon as I can dig it out.

Eric
registry 5347

[Dakota Boy]

I'm sure what you have is just as good as my current lenses.

Lemme know what I owe you... THANKS----

I'll PM you with my address

[Guest]

Dayglo lenses are an after market product. I found a pair of these lenses and chrome rings on ebay, all new in the boxes and was the high bidder. I got them for a very good price. Afterward I was looking at the pics and they looked a brighter color than the originals. I contacted the seller and asked if he had more, he did and sold me another pair. I paid less than $80 for 4 lenses and chrome rings. I am glad I got the extra pair because they are lighter in color. They are not as high quality as Fomoco but they do look nice, clean and clear. One little problem that I had with two of the lenses was that the chrome center part was rivited to the outside of the red lens. I drilled out the cheesy rivits and put them together the way they are supposed to be using small stainless screws and nuts about the same size as the rivits. The guy I bought them from must have bought out an old parts supplier because he had a lot of them and other old car parts and lenses. I dont remember who he was, not a good seller to deal with. He never returned emails as to if and when he shipped stuff out.
Here's one of my lenses with stainless screws. Geez I really need to detail my backing plates.

[Guest]

Hey Dakota, I have my originals and I think one of them is in fair shape. I know two of them have cracks around the center. If Eric's lens is not what you are looking for I will send one off to you. I have a box and shipping cant be more than a couple bucks. I will even cover that for ya. PM me if needed.

[simplyconnected]

One of my lenses is lighter-colored (not as dark red) than the other three. It says "GLO-BRIGHT" on it at the bottom of the big red circle.

Does anyone know anything about these? They must've been an aftermarket lens at some point in the past...

I know that Glo-Bright is a plastic injection mold company in Chicago that has been making Ford lenses for many decades. I use them, and have bought them from my Ford dealership. Tee-bird.com sells them, so does macsautoparts.com. They are quality lenses. This is the first time I ever heard someone found a difference in color/density. (They all follow the same SAE standards).

Now, all our new lenses are aftermarket, branded or not. What puzzles me is, I've seen original glass lenses fade in old classic cars over the years, but plastic seems to do better in the color department. Plastic gets brittle and cracks because the polymers bake out.

[Dakota Boy]

i'll post up a photo this weekend. the color difference is not huge, but pretty easy to spot. and it's more pronounced at night when lit up.

[simplyconnected]

Any idea of how old they are?

[Dakota Boy]

not a clue.

but all the lenses had several decades of dust settled into the bottoms. I cleaned them out.

All that dust was probably from driving on the gravel roads of 1960-1970's era Iowa (where the car originated from).

In fact, I chased about half a bucket of ancient, bone-dry gravel out of the cowl drain area last weekend. Fenderwell had a crease in it, allowing mud, gravel from the front wheel to be thrown inside the cowl drain/rocker panel area.

the right side cowl drain area was clean as a whistle.

[Dan Leavens]

Greg that's probably because they made more left hand turns than right. Your decal is in the mail to you today.

[Dakota Boy]

check it out: the camera doesn't really show how different that Glo-Bright lens (left) is. Sticks out like a sore thumb....









Note how well Stoner's Trim Shine works on the pot metal tail light chrome. That stuff is like MAGIC.

[DKheld]

Not much but here they are.
Eric