39 tail light and 46 trunk light ?

[40plyrod]

I'm customizing my 40 ply sedan by changing the tail lights to 1939 plymouth tail lights and am adding the third brake light from a 1946 plymouth to the trunk lid. So far so good mounting them, but I was wondering if anyone on here has a picture of the workings underneath? Does the '39 tail light have it's own bucket or is the light socket on a bracket and just clip in from the back like my '40? As for the 3rd brake light does it have a bucket and what does it look like? Thanks

[BobT-47P15]

The trunk light has no backing, except for the trunk lid..........the light bulb socket has the springy legs that clip into a hole in the trunk lid.

I put some aluminum foil around the bulb to try and make it a little brighter.

Edited August 8, 2010 by BobT-47P15

[40plyrod]

Thanks that's exactly what I'm looking for.

[BobT-47P15]

You're welcome. Good luck with your project.

[Niel Hoback]

Bob, I, too, used tin foil around the bulb ,but I have since found a better way. Remove the housings and paint thearea behind them with silver paint for better reflection. Then put tin foil on the back of the socket to stop light leaking into the trunk. You didn't have anything to do anyway, right?

[Don Coatney]

If you have converted to 12 volts you might consider using the new Technostolgia LED light fixtures. I have installed them and they are a lot brighter than the stock brake and tail lights. Click on the second picture to see them work.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Don Coatney

[cole18cars]

39's have there own bucket. From what I've seen on E-Bay, they are quite expensive.

[Young Ed]

Yes very very common to find them rusted out with no bottoms. 39 fords are a very similar shape i bet you could adapt a set.

[40plyrod]

Thanks for all the info, but does anyone have a picture of the 39 tail light with the lense off?

[desoto1939]

The 39 Desoto, Dodge, Chrys and Ply all have an inner taillight bucket assembly that has the socket attached to a bracket. The wires then go out the bottom of the bucket and go throught the wire loom. This wire loom cloth is then enclosed in a tube that looks like a wound spring. The tailight bucket is held in place via a retainer bucket that mounts to the back of the taillight bucket. There are two threaded rods that come out of the tailight assembly that is used to bolt up the backing plate or outer retainer.

As stated above these are very hard to find because they rust out. You could bend some flat stock and make a bracket to hold the unit in place. This outer retainer is what holds the entire taillight assembly onthe car. If you do not have the inner retainer thenthe taillight will fall out of the car when you hit a bounce.

This is how my 39 Desoto is setup and this is the same for the 39 cars.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[40plyrod]

thanks again, I am expecting that I'll have to make my own buckets. I saw a nice pair go for auction on the bay for what I thought was a lot of money but I now understand that they're pretty rare. I was just wondering if the stock '39's had buckets (which I now know they do my '40 doesn't seem to)and what does the part (I'm assuming it's the bucket) that the tail light and bezel bolt to look like? I'll need to make something like that too.

[desoto1939]

If you have the outer taillight buckets and they are right and left buckets. Then you could push the bucket into some type of material to make a form of the inner bucket, This would be the back end that goes throught the fender

Then make a fiberglass retainer to hold the assembly together.

I will post some pictures of what my 39 Desoto taillight assembly inner and retainer buckets look like to give you and idea of how htey goe together.

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

[desoto1939]

Here are pictures of the 39 Desoto taillight bucket and the reinenforcement.

Rich Hartung

Desoto19392aol.com

[Powerhouse]

Hate to say this but on my 39, the passenger side tail light assembly is a repro of a 39 Ford. I couldn't find any 39 buckets or bezels... plenty of lenses though. I got two complete repro 1939 ford assemblies for under $30. Might be worth looking into. They look nice too.

[40plyrod]

Thanks for all the help guys. I already have two lenses plus a spare and a set of nos bezels (two years of watching ebay) They were the first parts I bought to customize my '40 when I bought it and I have my heart firmly set on using them and with the patches I've had to make so far, making light buckets should be quite do-able althought maybe modifing 39 ford buckets might be an idea. For some reason though my ideas always seem to take the path of MOST resistance. I will post pictures of how it goes stay tuned:D