1948 Dodge Sedan to Coupe tail lights interchange?

[ebruns1]

Fellas,

All my coupe tail light chrome is deeply pitted all over...looks like 50 grit sandpaper!  The inside of the pot metal castings are stamped "COUPE".  In looking for decent driver replacements on Ebay I see many of the SEDAN brake lights available, but only a few coupe.  In scrutinizing photos I see little, if any difference in the castings.  Has anyone installed sedan tail lights or center brake lights on their coupe?  Would the curvature of the sheet metal be the same, or close enough to make the swap without large gaps where they meet?  The cost to re-chrome mine is astronomical and I'm just looking for some decent shiny ones with no moon craters!  Most on Ebay are sedan, and should be easy to find if they work.  Thanks!

[busycoupe]

According to the parts book the tail light castings and lenses are different on the coupes and sedans.  The trunk mounted light shell is also different on the coupe than on the sedan, however, the lens for it is the same on both.   That said, I agree with you that they appear very similar.  I suspect that the difference from coupe to sedan is the slope and contour of the sheet metal.  I don’t know if the sedan lights could be pressed into use on a coupe or not.  It may be possible to make a special mounting pad to take up any difference in the contours.  ... Whether this would be acceptable depends on how picky you are about appearance.  Probably the best way to find out is to get a sedan light assembly and hold it up to your coupe.  

[casper50]

as BC said.  they don't follow the body the same way.  The sedan is flater and the coupe is more curved.

[casper50]

I have two left side and 1 right for a coupe.  They are take offs from my coupe.  I found better ones on ebay, took me 2 years. You can have them for shipping cost from Alaska.

[busycoupe]

5 minutes ago, casper50 said:

I have two left side and 1 right for a coupe.  They are take offs from my coupe.  I found better ones on ebay, took me 2 years. You can have them for shipping cost from Alaska.

Those are better than the ones on my 3 window coupe.  If Ebruns1 doesn’t want them, I would be interested.  Please keep me posted. 

Dave B. 

[casper50]

Will do Dave.

[ebruns1]

Casper50,

You've got a deal, those will work perfectly!  I'll PM you my address info.  Thank you sir!

 

Jim T

[50fordtruck]

I had the same problem with my trunk lid brake light on my 47 Plymouth coupe. I sat in my garage for many hours filing a very good sedan trunk bezel to fit the curvature of my coupe. I taped the trunk lid to avoid scratches and kept filing and fitting, its good for a driver most people would not detect it. A couple of years later a fellow car collector at a local car show found a real good  coupe bezel and lens in a pile of junk and brought it to the next car show and gave it to me.