Choosing the Right Taillights for Your Build

When building a custom street rod or classic, it’s the little things that count. Choosing the proper taillights for your project can sometimes be tricky. The shape of the cab, fenders, roll pan and style of the vehicle all play an important part in selecting the proper taillights for your car or truck.

Shop Visit: Chattanooga Rod Design

On a recent shop visit to Chattanooga Rod Design, we found owner Anthony McDowell in the process of installing a set of Vintique’s reproduction ’50 Pontiac taillights in a ’48 Dodge coupe. McDowell purchased taillights locally at Honest Charley’s Speed Shop, also in Chattanooga. The new ’50 Pontiac taillights are available in both the modern LED version and in the traditional bulb, and the cool part is that the reproduction taillights have glass lenses whereas the originals were plastic. The plan started out as a simple, single light in the roll pan on each side of the car, but after speaking with the owner of the coupe, the decision was made to tunnel two taillights on each side, one on top of the other. This should provide plenty of brake lights on dark nights.

Fabricating Custom Taillight Buckets

After looking at the available taillight frenching kits available, the builder decided that it would be best to fabricate the taillight buckets from a few feet of 5-1/2-inch diesel exhaust tubing and a sheet of 16-gauge steel. It will be easier to cut the tubing down in size than buying a smaller size and having to stretch the metal. As we mentioned earlier, the taillights were new LED units that would provide the driver with the security of safe, bright taillights. The installation required a cutoff wheel, MIG welder, air drill and a variety of small hand tools. The complete fabrication and installation took about four hours, and the finished results looked great. Follow along as we light up the back of this ’48 Dodge coupe.