1941 Plymouth Parking light question

[Andydodge]

Have a question that someone maybe able to answer....theres a 1941 Plymouth on ebay at present, ebay # is 280239474898 ......it has a different set of parking light lens than those that are normally seen, it has a flat lens thats sort of triangular/rectangular(?) in shape, whereas those on my 41 Plymouth are like a protruding helmet........lol........I have only ever seen these flat style of parking light lens only once before, here in Australia yrs ago before I bought my 41 Plymouth coupe and have always wondered why or what the difference was, the 41 Plymouth parts books I have only show the normal(?) more common helmet style........anyone got an idea?.........thanks, andyd

[40phil41]

Andy,

I have never seen the variation of parking light lenses that you describe. All of the Canadian '41 Plymouth's and Plymouth bodied Dodges that I have seen have what you call the 'helmet style'. FWIW, my Canadian '41 Dodge has the 'normal' style parking light lenses.

Phil

[Frank M.]

From what I read,some time ago, they came both ways. One preceded the

other,but I dont remember which. If it came to that--I have a Master Parts Book

which probabley shows the serial no. of the change. If you want--I will dig it up.

Frank M.

[claybill]

it is possible that it is a 1940 light. it is as you describe. also ossible that early or exported models ? might use them as a carry over. or even earlier 41's. just a possibility.

bill

[1940Mopar]

nope that's definitely not a 40 park light.

[Andydodge]

Its definately a 1941 piece, I have a 1940 Oz Dodge(since 1970) also that uses the 1940 US Plymouth headlight surrounds so I know what they look like but if you check the ebay number I put in the original post theres a real good view of these 1941 parking lights, its funny but I originally thought the flat style was the only ones used as 1941 cars in Oz are very rare due to the war, I was only really after 1940 stuff till the last yr or so, so I didn't take that much notice of them but always wondered why when I saw pics in US hot rod mags of a 41 plymouth they had these "weird", to me helmet type lens, not the flat style......and I know that either lens, flat or helmet style will fit in the same headlight surround.......check the ebay listing & you'll see what i mean........regards, andyd

[40phil41]

Andy,

I believe that the parking lights on the '41 Plymouth in the ebay listing are from a 1940 Desoto. I'll try to round up a photo to verify this.

Phil

[40phil41]

Andy,

I believe that the parking lights on the '41 Plymouth in the ebay listing are from a 1940 Desoto. I'll try to round up a photo to verify this.

Phil

I take that back. The Desoto is similar but has a slightly larger lense. Don't know what to think now.

Phil

[anthonyb]

Photo caption from Sept 1975 Cars & Parts magazine,

"Earliest 1941 production Plymouths did not have vertical parking lamp housings. The early lenses, slightly "ballooned," are shown on this P-11 station wagon with DeLuxe trim."

I haven't looked at the eBay ad yet but this description matches what Andy wrote.

FWIW

Just checked the ad. They are what was described in the magazine and shown in their picture.

[Andydodge]

Anthony.........sloppy kiss is yours........lol......its good to have some verification in writing in a magazine......I thought that they maybe an early production thing, but had never seen anything to back me up.......thanks, andyd

[Skrambler]

Actually, there are three different styles of H/L bezels for the 41 Plymouth.

Yes, you are correct, the very early production 41's had a one piece bezel. This bezel was a stamped piece, and not pot metal. The five sided parking light lens was used for this style. One of my 41's that has been in my family since purchased in late 1940 has this type of bezel. Note, the bucket, that sits inside the fender is also different! Yep, found this out the hard way!

The second type, or style followed as the type you all have been discribing, with a slight change. This pot metal bezel was formed to closely surround the headlight bulb, and it had the separate "bug eyed" parking lamp lens and housing as a separate unit.

Now, the third style.

This unit was a bit more advanced. At first glance it looks identical to the second style bezel. BUT!, the pot metal that surround the headlight bulb does not come close to the bulb as the one discribed above. In this case about a half inch gap was left, so you could adjust the screws on the head light beam without having to disassemble the whole unit to do this procedure.

Filling this gap, was a stainless steel spacer ring, this thin ring was held into place by only a tiny barb at the top, that slid under the parking light housing. Lots of times you will see a 41 without this ring, but it really looks bad. Kinda like missing a front tooth.

Over the years there has been some reproductions made from both stamped steel, and pot metal. Most of the stamped units used an attached inside ring to hold the bezel close to the fender. I personally can see the difference on the car, and do not like it. From what I have found, the knock off stamped pieces rust very easily too. Probably that "50's" chrome.

[Andydodge]

Scrambler........so are you saying that there is 2 versions of the flat style trapezoidal lens & its bezel and the one helmet style lens & its larger bezel with the trailing tapered tail that everyone knows of.......andyd

[Skrambler]

No, what I'm trying to explain is that "originally, from MoPar" there was two styles of the "helmet" type bezels. One allowed a person to adjust the headlight beam without having to disassemble the bezel from the fender.

Other aftermarket bezels were their own style. None of which had the removable stainless ring to access the headlight adjustments screws.

Hope that this made things a bit more clear.

[51wayfarer]

Big time thread resurrection. Thought it interesting that my '41 P11 that was most likely built on the LAST DAY of 1941 Detroit production (it is the 75th car from the last of about 135,000 P11s produced) has the "early" flat parking lens bezels. The faded original paint on either fender shows no sign to indicate that the "helmet" style parking light was ever installed, but I guess they could have been changed out a long time ago when the car was young. Who knows...maybe they were digging through the parts bin at the end of production? The passenger side lens is chipped and I suspect a replacement will be hard to find.

[Roadkingcoupe]

There are at least two styles of 1941 Plymouth Parking light lens'

Yours are rare....but I have seen a number of them.

In addition there are TWO kinds of bezels (headlamp doors) as well.

Most common - solid cast one piece pot metal

Less common - two piece; front pressed steel over a seperate steel frame.

Actually the parking light lens you are looking for does show up on eBay often but it is almost always mislabelled as a 1941 Chrysler or 1940 Plymouth or ???????

Edited April 5, 2012 by Roadkingcoupe
grammar

[Skrambler]

51 Wayfarer.

If you need a lens, let me know. I have several.