Hi folks. I bought these chrome bullet lights from an estate sale of a “car guy”. I would like to find out what they go to and/or were from.
There are 5 of them and they are 15 inches long by roughly 4 inches in diameter.
There is writing on the inside “GUIDE MB” and some numbers.
Any help is appreciated. THANKS!
I don’t see the pics I uploaded with my post so I’ll put links to the pics below.
My best guess is that they were the rear directional signals from a European car of the '50s or early '60s.
Perhaps the “MB” indicates that they were made for a Mercedes model marketed in the US. That is just a WAG, however.
Amber lenses for front directional signals did not come into use on cars in the US until 1963, but European makes had been using amber turn signals in the rear for many years, in order to distinguish them from the red tail and brake lights.
These might have been parking lights from a 1958 Buick with retrofit amber lenses. I have seen amber lenses on 1958 Buick parking lights when amber parking light/turning signals came along in the 1960s. Guide lamp was a division of General Motors.
Another possibility is that these were clearance lights for a GMC semi tractor.
Dag–I like the theory that they were clearance lights from a GMC semi-tractor.
The fact there were five of them makes me reject my 1958 Buick theory and go with the GMC tractor. I think that there would be a clearance light on each side and three in the center of the roof of the cab.
Possibly roof clearance lights form a vintage RV.
Yup, there’s 5 identical lights and they’re very heavy. They could have come from a trucks roof. They do have a slightly curved bottom so where they were mounted was also slightly curved.
That’s a good guess.
I’m wanting to put them on ebay but would really like to be able to accurately advertise them. Keep the guesses coming folks! THANKS!
Looking on ebay just now I found these reproductions with the exact same dimensions. I do believe that the lights came from an ooooold big rig.
The only question now is will he get $200 bucks for them…I think not…
caddyman I hope to prove u wrong soon
Yeah I think they are roof lights off a tractor trailer unit, Maybe OEM but suspect after-market. They say they are made in USA so they aren’t off a foreign car. I sure don’t remember seeing them on any of the 50’s or 60’s cars around. Take a look next time you’re in a truck stop and they probably have brand new ones there.
Bing, except for having amber lenses, the lights in the original post do resemble the parking lights on the 1958 Buick.
The give-a-way is he has a set of 5 of them…Almost certain to be a set of cab-top clearance lights…
They are not from a car. They are marker/clearance lamps from a road tractor (semi truck).
I was joking about the lights coming from a 1958 Buick. However, if you look at the grille of the 1958 Buick, the parking lights look like an afterthought. Maybe the stylists forgot about the parking lights and truck clearance lamps were added when the car went into production.
I remember the 1946 through 1948 Oldsmobiles (except for the 1948 98) had the parking lights in the bumper uprights. I always thought the stylists forgot about them when designing the front end of the car.
Look closely and you will see the parking lights in the bumper uprights. These must have worked great as turning signals.
Who knows what they were thinking. Maybe had some extra parts on hand or forgot to cut the openings in the bumper. Personally, I don’t think 58 was the best year. I liked the 58 Chev and the Ford somewhat, but the rest didn’t appeal to me much like the 57’s and 59’s. We had the 58 Chev and neighbor had the 58 Buick. I cried (almost) when the 57 Ford was traded for it.