LED Tailights – HotRod Hotline

Story & Photos: Jim Clark (The Hot Rod MD)

LED Taillights are now available for many of the classic hot rod and muscle cars that we all lust after. The new LED replacements maintain the original style while greatly improving safety.

Original incandescent-style bulb taillights may maintain an authentic look to an early hot rod or muscle car but can be a safety hazard when vehicles following are not able to see your brake lights in time to avoid hitting the rear end of your vehicle during a panic stop.

This actually happened to the ’29 Ford roadster project built by “Rod & Custom” magazine Editor Bud Bryan back in the 1960s. The project was featured in multiple episodes during the build and became one of the better know magazine project cars.

Unfortunately, not long after its completion it was involved in a rear end collision on the streets of Hollywood when a vehicle failed to stop after Bryan’s roadster had stopped at a traffic light. LED taillights were not available at the time and the ’38-’39 Ford taillights converted to 12-volt with 1157 dual-filament bulbs still were not bright enough to warn the following driver.

The collision resulted in massive damage and the vehicle was considered totaled. Many years later the car was salvaged by a former fan of the car and restored using a body from another ’28-’29 Model a Ford roadster. Every effort was made to use as much of the original car in the restoration, returning it to its former configuration.

My “Deuce” highboy has original ’38-’39 Ford taillights with the sockets converted for 1157 dual-filament bulbs. They are the number one choice for traditional highboys and work well, but just are not very bright. This makes the rear of the roadster especially vulnerable during daylight driving.

I wanted to retain the original look while enhancing the light output, so I chose the new LED taillight conversion from United Pacific. Everything is self-contained within the polycarbonate lens and just plugs into the original 1157 bulb socket.

It is available with or without the blue-dot. I chose the blue-dot version that is not legal in most jurisdictions, but with United Pacific’s version it can be wired with an on-off-on toggle switch allowing the blue-dot to be turned on or off at will. It can be left fully functional or easily wired for independent control.

United Pacific offers a number of other options when choosing a taillight for your vehicle. The ’38-’39 Ford taillights that I chose come in every configuration from the original reproductions to different LED models. The following are some of the choices:

Installation of the LED conversion in my roadster was very simple.

The procedure is as follows:

The standard thermal flasher relies on the heating of a resistive wire wrapped around a smaller piece of spring steel to cycle, opening and closing the circuit, creating the flashing effect of the turn signals. LEDs draw very tiny amounts of current, which fails to activate standard thermal flashers.

A conventional thermal turn signal flasher will generally continue to work with LED taillights as long as there is a full sized (i.e. 1157) bulb in the front turn signals. If your car has tiny bulbs in the front turn signals, LED front turn signals, or no front turn signals at all, you will need a grounded turn signal flasher designed specifically for LEDs. This 2-prong grounded electronic flasher from United Pacific solves the problem. It has a ground wire that has be attached to chassis ground.

On some vehicles the polarity for the flasher may need to be reversed and this adapter makes that possible without having to rewire the vehicle. Whether this is needed can be determined by inspecting markings on the socket for the flasher or installing the flasher and testing the turn signals.

The problem can also be solved on some vehicles by installing a 50-watt, 6 ohm load resistor. It will simulate the load of an incandescent bulb allowing the standard thermal flasher to function normally.

United Pacific has original taillights and lenses, LED taillight replacement units and LED taillight conversions for cars and trucks from the 1930s to a few in the 1990s. The pages for these components on their web site currently contain 275 items. This example for a ’59 Chevy is typical of what is available:

Summary

Taillights on most early hot rods, muscle cars and pickup trucks are undersized and not very bright. Even the large ones like the big horizontal teardrops on ’59 Chevys are hard to see when applying the brakes during the daylight hours.

Modern LED taillight conversions are much brighter and the ones now available allow for this safety upgrade while retaining the traditional look of the original. Some LED conversions require the changing of the whole taillight assembly, while others only need to be plugged into the existing taillight bulb socket.

LED taillights draw far less current than incandescent bulb types so thermal style signal flashers do not always work after the conversion. Grounded electronic flashers solve this problem easily by just installing them in-place of the original.

If you have an early hot rod, muscle car or pickup truck converting to LED taillights is now very easy with replacements available for most models from the 1920s to the 1990s.

	This is the original ’38-’39 Ford taillight with the stock glass lens installed in the lower rear panel of my roadster.
	The bezel and glass lens are removed exposing the 1157 bulb. Interior of the housing was painted white to make the interior more reflective.
Taillight Reflector; fits – 1938-40	A better alternative to painting the interior of the taillight housing when using a bulb is this highly polished metal reflector from Bob Drake. It installs inside the taillight bucket surrounding the bulb socket. Really improves your taillight brightness when an 1157 incandescent bulb is used.
	With the bulb removed it is possible to see the dual contact staggered-pin socket. Socket is grounded through contact to the housing so no additional ground wire is needed.
	The 1157 style base on the LED taillight just plugs into the socket the same way as the bulb. White wire is for the center blue-dot. It can be left fully functional or cut and a toggle switch installed to activate or deactivate it.
	Lens gasket and the bezel are replaced and secured with the original hardware.
	The finished LED taillight installation looks just like an original early Ford unit but with greatly improved performance.


LED Flasher w/ Polarity Reversing Adapter 12VDescriptionUse on Vehicles w/ LED TaillightsFront Turn Signals & Side MarkerSimply Replaces the Original 552 Or 536 Under Dash Flasher, Plug & PlayIncludes 2-Terminal Flasher (90650) & Polarity Reversing Adaptor (90650A)Polarity Reversing Adapter Solves Reversed Issues on Some Applications


Polarity Adapter/Reverser (Can also be purchased separately)DescriptionPolarity Adapter for Item # 90650 OnlyEasily Reverses “X” and “L” Terminals without Modifying Vehicle Wiring

	1959 Chevy Impala LED Taillight – Retrofit – RightDescription98 Super Bright Red LEDs, Circuit Board Only to Retrofit1959 Chevy Impala Taillight Existing LensRight Hand SideEpoxy Coated, Fully Sealed Electronics, 1157 PlugSolid State Circuit Boards are Designed for 7.7-14.0 VDCFits United Pacific Taillight Lens, Item # (C5901-L, C5901R)Also Fits Original 1959 Chevy Taillight Lens
	1959 Incandescent Taillight Lens – R/HDescription1959Right Hand SideRed Plastic LensGM Restoration Licensed Product

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