(first posted 2/20/2017) Last week’s Citroen C6 article by William Stopford reminded me of how much I loved that model’s rear lights. My very positive response was not unanimously shared, which has led to today’s QOTD: what are the best taillights ever? You can choose from any form of transportation, or even static display cars. Factory or aftermarket, old or new. Your choice may be based purely on aesthetics, or on how well they did their job.
Now my favourite taillights ever in the history of the world are the 1967/68 Glamorbird’s, and there are others that come to mind as well. But rather than bore you with more of my own opinion (no, I insist), I’m going to turn this question over to you – our very learned CCommentariat.
As a kid, the rear of a ’69 Catalina was part of the view from my bedroom window. These tail lights always struck me as a bit odd and very ”sad face”.
Better were the lights on the tail of a ’68 Wildcat. Much more exciting and very sculptural.
Whuuuuut? No mention of these? I know they are failure prone (reader John C. can attest this) but we are not discussing reliability
Wow, I’m surprised there hasn’t been any love for these simple and elegant W126 specimens:
And to be somewhat contrarian, I was quite fond of the bold tail lights on the original Maser 3200GT, and I was very disappointed with the distressingly ordinary-looking replacements that were all-too-rapidly rolled out.
+1 was very sad when they axed these, always makes me smile when I see a “proper” boomerang-light Maser
Renault Talisman sedan:
Talisman again
Trying to compete with Lincoln – Alphabet-something
I’d like to see a QOTD on “What are your favourite re-purposed taillights?” – eg on low volume cars which borrowed lights (or other parts) from mundane mass market cars.
That’s a great idea! It’d be interesting, but maybe a bit of a limited selection. I think the cars that did it best were the Jag XJ220, although it did try to hide it’s (Rover 200) light under a bushel, and the clear winner: the Lotus Esprit with Toyota Hachiroku taillights. They looked exactly like they were always meant to be there.
Casting my (predictable) vote for the FIAT Coupe’s tail lights:
I’ve always loved the ones from the outgoing 1990 Cadillac Brougham. May have been used for a year before that as well. Heritage, and a bit long in tooth at that point, the mostly white taillights really dressed up the old car for it’s end.
65 Impala….My Dad had a 65 4 door hardtop in this same color with a white roof….He was always sorry that he sold it.
It’s hard to choose, for a Brazilian like me the incredible amount of variety of american cars makes me surprised with something I’ve never seen every time I see CC. For now maybe the Eldorado ’69 takes the cake.
It’s hard for an Australian too.
I thought I knew something about American cars, but I’m seeing so many I wasn’t really aware of. And some Europeans too.
Nobody’s shown my favourite yet, so I’ll keep on scrolling down…
We seem to have two approaches to this question. There are the showpiece lights and the ones we gradually came to love or respect for remaining unchanged over a decade or more. I’m a huge fan of the deep dimensionality in the last 15 years. They look like aquariums full of fish; you can lose yourself in them, stopped behind a car at a traffic light.
Once you get beyond the distance where depth of field allows you to see in, the overall shape takes over. Present tense, I like coming up behind a BMW with the Hale-Bopp look. It has fine associations with the two major comets that graced the night sky in the ”90s.
Older Curbivores like me also have deep memories of another aspect of tail light design that has been overwhelmed over decades by excited electrons: reflectors.
Before the early ’50s, tail lights were mostly small. At night, they played as red dots. Reflectors were integral, but their shapes within the lens were often a surprise.
As ever, light and movement attract the childish eye. Standing behind the front seat in the days before lap belts was a kid delight. From there, the nighttime view through the windshield was like looking at a movie screen. As Dad drove through the neighborhood, tiny white-red quasars would flash on the rumps of parked cars, A kid would cast eyes forward of the approach to the next looming rhinoceros in the dark and anticipate where the two bright blips would appear–a game similar to leading one’s eyes ahead of the course of a firefly–and giggling when the guess was wrong.
Some of those kds grew up to design the first video games.
^^^ I love this post! It’s almost poetic in its storytelling. I really almost FELT like that little kid, so clear was my understanding of the time and the feeling.
We’re not exactly a forum devoted to flowery writing here, but every once in a while a piece of writing in the form of the simplest of comments just strikes me as wonderful. I love it when that happens at the most unexpected moments.
+1.
My 1989 Cadillac Sedan de Ville was born with EU tail lights.
Fortunately the legislation is changing, why I will only have to reinstall them once more for the visit in the inspection hall, before I can keep the original installed.
Someone in Japan might want those. Weren’t they used on the Mitsuoka Galue? I’m always in favo(u)r of amber turn signals when possible, but I can sure see the case you’re making here. Funny, that’s so clearly a European hearse with those huge windows, but made out of an American car.
I like the original US tail lights a lot better.
The 1961 Canadian Meteor taillights were just plain odd.
Well, they sort of look like hockey sticks, and how Canadian is that?
And then there was the 1949 Nash.
The full sized Pontiac Grand Prix’s from 1963,65 and 66 were quite memorable. Trouble is they’re never seen anymore.
Was gone all weekend and missed this, a great topic! I’m sure it has come up several times and if not shame on you all but the best of all time has to be the ’69 Ford Mustang. It was a tribute to the ’65 original, then received its own tribute from the ’05 and ’15 generations. Honorable mentions go to the Lincoln Mark III, Jaguar XJ6, Mercedes 350SL, ’70 Camaro and ’49 Cadillac. I think the new Civic 4-door taillights look really nice.
I’m a big fan of these:
Love the ’89 deVille/FWD Fleetwood taillights. Classy, a bit retro, refined, elegant……made the deVille and FWD Fleetwood look like Cadillacs again!
+1
Had an ’89 Sedan De Ville way back when… and I concur.
Another style I love was from the ’79 – ’83 Riviera. They looked cool at night when the “R” in the middle lit up. Even though the reverse light was there, the “R” would glow in a reddish hue that looked classy. The strange thing was the middle bulbs tended to burn out prematurely and therefore it took away from the overall coolness of those taillights.
Lastly, can’t believe no one mentioned the ’71-’78 Toronado with its second set of lights? Cool all the way!
Do the Citroen DS retro-rocket turn signals count?
Shelby Mustang!
Also used on the 65 Thunderbird. Same light, different look.
1972 Toyota Crown. Decades before there were LEDs to achieve such effects, these taillights featured a slim red lamp area that completely surrounded the white reverse and amber signal lights. Must’ve been a very complex bulb-housing assembly behind it all… but such a good effort on Toyota’s part. Absolutely beautiful.
All Jag taillights look great, with the old SIII XJ6 being delightfully distinctive. But the lights fitted to the 2009-15 version of the current XJ are far and away the most glorious and my favourite:
Hyundai … bear with me … Sonata Hybrid … bear with me some more … from a couple years ago, I think synonymously with the previous generation of the car. The flower is a piece of art.
Wow. I never noticed that!
Artful, for sure, but functionally these things are a peeve. The stop (brake) light function consists of a very small, very high-luminance central dot that is a damn pain to be stuck behind in traffic. The US regs have minimum-lit-area requirements for the stop lights and turn signals to prevent this kind of glare, but they are written with 1968 technology in mind; today’s technology allows makers to meet the letter of the law while utterly violating its spirit and intent.
I was about to nominate these myself. I saw them at the NY motor show and fell in love. They’re works of art.
I’ve spent a couple days figuring out how to answer this one. I am very much of a form-follows-function mindset, so I’ll have to punt and say “Almost any of the ones in Attachment 7 of this document I put together some months ago. If you force me to pick just one, it’ll be the very last one in that collection.
Ah, Mr. Stern. I have been awaiting your response to this QOTD more than that of anyone else. Your choice reminds me of these words;
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
When amber rear turn signals (←that’s a link) are required in the US and Canada, I can die happy; I anticipate leading a long and cranky life.
A bigger issue, to me—and Daniel I know you’re the expert on this, so I’d be very interested to hear your opinion—why, oh WHY do some of the European carmakers (BMW and Mercedes-Benz, specifically) have many models that have LED signal lights, but incandescent bulbs for brake lights?!? This is madness to me, and completely irresponsible… anyone can deduce why an instantly illuminating brake light is much more important, safety-wise, than the signal light. Any thoughts? By the way, the very first Japanese car I saw years ago (early 2000s Infiniti G35) with LED lights had it done right: LED brake lights, and incandescent signal lights. Trust the Japanese to actually do things properly…
Cost.
You don’t seriously expect anyone to download a pdf in order to see your answer, do you?
…
Thank you! Nice.
I expect nothing. Whoever wants to see the slide show enough to spend the seven seconds downloading the PDF will probably do so. Whoever doesn’t, probably won’t.
1960 Chrysler
Pure elegance. These boomerangs are gorgeous! They must look lovely at night.
Or 1960 Imperial
I’ve been a bit busy and distracted, but have loved all of these nominations, which include a number of my favorites. So instead of a duplicate nomination, I’ll throw out on that I don’t think has been done yet, the 2015 Aston Martin Vulcan. If GM knew how to make these in 1957, they’d have been on the ’59 Cadillac.
For a utilitarian commercial truck, this looks so clean.
I can’t believe there are almost 300 responses and no one has mentioned the king of taillight designs!
another view…
can’t get enough…
Those are pretty damned cool!
Spacey!
Have the 1959 Cadillacs been erased from people’s memories?
Quite a few that have been mentioned here already, but some of my favorites include:
1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass
1973 Caprice/Impala
1974-1976 Mercury Cougar
1976-1977 Pontiac Grand Lemans
1977-1979 Ford Thunderbird
1978/1979 Oldsmobile Delta 88
1982/1983 Buick Century
1987-1988 Ford Thunderbird
1987/1988 Chevy Monte Carlo (incl. 86 LS)
1989-1993 Buick Riviera
1990-1992 Oldsmobile Toronado
1996-1999 Mercury Sable sedan
1998-2002 Lincoln Continental
2011-2014 Dodge Charger
Overall, I’m a fan of squares and full width.
Can’t add a photo in the editor, so:
The export version:
My favourite on any new car, and one of my favourite sets of taillights of all time: the current Hyundai Genesis, or Genesis G80. They have a very cool 3D effect… Captivating at night!
Maybe not my favourite, but I just figured someone had to throw these in:
59 Chevy.
Of note, I saw a new model Mazda SUV (CX-5?) that had the angle on their taillights that sort of reminded me of these.
My own choice(s) would be,
1955 Plymouth
1968 Charger
1974 Plymouth Duster
2014 Chrysler 300C
1974 Dodge Dart Sport
1973 Chev Malibu
1959 Ford Galaxie
1962 Ford Galaxie
1973 Olds Cutlass Supreme
1965 Oldsmobile Starfire. Better looking than the taillights on the ’65 Delta/Dynamic 88.
Always liked these – Renault Avantime
As a long-time disciple of our Mr. Stern, I think the *best* taillight design is the *most functional* taillight design.
There are several that come to mind, but as a long-time Certified Volvo Nut™, I’ll select the 1981+ 242/244 taillights. Simple, obvious, and functional, with a distinct “cell” for each function.
Round…works everywhere it’s tried.
These.
Sure it’s just a body-colour panel with slits over a larger light assembly, but for sheer visual difference, these get my vote.
With the’60 Oldsmobile it’s not just the tail lights, it’s the entire rear end!
1974 Buick Electra
What was interesting about mid-’70s Buick Electras was that the outer taillight built into the bumper had a clear lens, with no indication at all that they glowed red with the tail lights. I assume they also had a clear bulb for backup light duty, as I don’t see any other clear-lensed lamps back there. What I don’t know is if they glowed red because the main red taillight section was too far from the edge of the car to meet legal requirements, or if they blinked when signaling for a turn. If the latter, does that mean they alternated white and red if indicating a turn whilst backing up?
They just have two small 194 bulbs under a red lens above and under the back up light. So they just glow along with the parking lights but they don’t blink. The main taillights have 4 bulbs each and just the two outer ones serve as combined brake/flasher lights. Those in the center are also located behind reflectors.
The 1970 Electra also had backup lights in that area (in the fins rather than the bumpers) and those also had a bulb under a red lens under the clear lens.
I can’t believe there’s been only brief mention of the ’59 Cadillac – no taillamps are more iconic than those.
The taillights on the 1997-98 Lincoln Mark VIII are interesting. Nothing amazing about the shape – just a full-width rectangle – but photos don’t do them justice for how distinctive they look in real life when illuminated. They used some sort of neon bulb setup so they light up as a perfectly evenly lit panel, without the bright spots and dim areas found in nearly all incandescently-lit taillamps. In the pre-LED era, these were something to behold.
I think the late ’50s to late ’60s were the heyday of elegant taillamp designs – so many rocket-ship afterburner motifs, with chrome highlights and wonderfully three-dimensional, chrome-highlighted round, oval, and rectangular shapes (also, this is one area where Detroit walked all over the rest of the world stylistically). By the ’90s taillights had become indistinguishable amorphous blobs. There’s been an uptick in interesting designs in recent years though thanks to the LED revolution.
I think the fins are iconic, but as far as the illuminated taillight signature I think the 60 Cadillac is the best. Ironically I like the bullet shaped 59 lenses when they’re retrofit on other custom cars more, but that’s me.
I agree with the those late Lincoln Marks, neon light has a look unto itself and it’s a sight to behold – when you come across one that still works*. Not quite the pre-LED era mild you, the 92-97 Thunderbird used LEDs on the trunk taillights
Among my all time favourites are the taillamps for 1071-72 Mercyry and Meteor full-size cars.
1972 here: https://tinyurl.com/3aephvk8
The entire red part of the lamp would light up. But the entire red part of the lamp was also the reflector. The major downside for these (besides no amber turn signal, hi Dan!) was that they were almost always broken, because they were at the extreme rear of the car, maybe even a bit past the bumper. Or at least that’s what it seemed at the time.
Another taillight I have liked since I was a kid, simple as it is: VW Beetles for several years from the late ’50s to early ’60s (I’m not enough of a Bug-o-phile to know the exact years) used this seemingly simple flat oval taillight lens. But there was a pretty little flower design embedded in it, visible whether the light is on or off, that gave it a unique look. These were preceded by simpler round lights (some with a neat heart-shaped opening in the top of the housing) and succeeded by three-dimensional lights that wrapped around the sides.
Had one of these back in the day, and I always thought the tail lights were very attractive for a low budget economy car. They also incorporated separate brake and turn lenses, always a good thing.
…
Winky The White Cat Breaklights. Fur a little extra safety.
How about the Oldsmobile Alero
+1