Guided by the light – Axon’s Automotive Anorak

Among the most distinctive rear lamp units of today’s cars are the bisected Union flag tail lights of a new Mini, along with the Volvo S90’s ‘lobster claw’ units, the long strip bar lights of a Porsche ‘992’ 911 and the magnet-shaped Citroën C4 Space Tourer lamps. There’s also the chicane-like drop line Renault Megane units, Lamborghini’s unique directional arrow lamps, the current Toyota Prius lightning bolts and the bridge-style Aston Martin Vantage rear lamp units.

There was a time not so long ago, however, that when driving at night it was virtually impossible to distinguish one set of rear end tail lights from another, with just a small red glow appearing in the dark distance. Before the Second World War, tail lamps fitted to any vehicle were a rarity, with rear lamp units gradually appearing as standard features on cars post-war. Initially tiny and dim in the 1940s and ‘50s, rear light units gradually grew in size, style and brightness throughout the 1960s and beyond, with a variety of distinctive lamps shapes and designs adorning a number of familiar and popular cars over the last 70 years.

Although all mostly looking the same when lit in the dark, many older OEM tail lamp units have been adopted and adapted over the years to fit on a wide variety of cars that they weren’t originally designed for, primarily to save on expensive parts tooling costs for smaller special vehicle makers.

These ‘borrowed’ tail lamps range from the rectangular units of Alfa Romeo’s classic 105-Series Giulietta-2000 Berlina models, as used on a huge variety of Italian low-volume exotica and concept cars, through to the commonplace round Fiat 850 units found on the Ford GT40, Ferrari 275 GTB/4 and many others.  

Closer to home, familiar British rear lights (usually made by Lucas) have been fixed to hundreds of other cars, with the small round lamps of BMC’s Austin A30-A35, A55 Cambridge and Morris Minor Traveller models proving to be common choices throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. Along with these, plus the popular Morris Minor saloon’s ‘pyramid dome’ lights, used on the Jaguar D-type, Triumph TR3 and many others, here are half-a-dozen examples of rear lights taken from now-classic British passenger cars that also found new homes when applied to the back of some other less likely machines.

Ford Cortina

Ford’s offbeat circular ‘CND Ban The Bomb’ style three-section tail lights of the 1962-66 Cortina Mark I saloon have to be among of the most widely recognised and used of all post-war rear lamp units. Split into three sections, the Cortina units have also adorned the Lola MK 6 GT, Howmet TX, Vixen GT and Shapecraft Lotus Elan competition cars, as well as numerous 1960s niche sports cars, ice cream vans, foldable caravans, plus a number of classic TVRs, including the Grantura MK IV, Vixen, Tuscan V8 and Griffith V8/400.

TVR stuck with the later 1966-70 Cortina Mark II saloon to provide the boxy tail lamps for its ‘70s Vixen, 2500, M and Tuscan models too, with Ford’s Cortina Mark III and Mark IV/V models providing rear illumination for various British kit cars (e.g. NCF Diamond, Nomad/F.K.S. XM, Avante +2, Deltayn Proteus, etc.).

Hillman Hunter

Although less distinctive that the circular Ford Cortina Mark I’s rear lamps, the plain and simple oblong Lucas units of the 1966-79 Rootes/Chrysler ‘Arrow’ saloon range (better known as the Hillman Hunter) have actually been applied to many more vehicles than the Cortina items (at least 75 vehicles), albeit more discretely.

The roll call of cars equipped as standard with the Hunter lamps is an impressive one. It includes Aston Martin’s original DBS, V8, AM Vantage, Lagonda DBS V8 and Nimrod NRA/C2 race car, as well as the crazy three-wheeled Bond Bug, exclusive Bristol 411 S4-S6 and 603 models (mounted sideways, and continuing a long tradition of Bristol using Hillman rear lights), the funky Lotus Seven S4, early SE5 examples of the trend-setting Reliant Scimitar GTE, the low-slung Siva S530 GT and Saluki, Marcos 1600 and XP, TVR Tina, Clan Crusader, Moretti DAF 55 four-door and Matra M580 prototype. The list goes on, with prestigious caravan maker Carlight also putting the Hunter lights to good use on many models, including the Caribbean, Casetta, Casalette. For the more versatile Hunter Estate, its bespoke upright tail lights were also shared with its fastback coupe Sunbeam Alpine-Rapier-H120 siblings, as well as the rare Winchester MK 4 taxi cab.

Triumph 1500-Dolomite

When Triumph facelifted its advanced front-wheel-drive 1300 saloon in 1970 to create the cheaper rear-drive Toledo and more upscale 1500, it fitted the latter (plus its subsequent 1971 Dolomite sporting saloon derivatives) with new, long, rectangular rear light from Lucas (part number L868).

During the Triumph models decade-long career, its Lucas lamps were chosen for the rump of the mid-engined AC 3000 ME and raucous TVR M-Series S2. Many niche and one-off passenger cars also adopted the Dolomite lamps, including the scarce 1974 Panther Lazer, Monica 560, the appealing GKN Jensen FFF 100 and some Interstyl Hustlers (both designed by William Towns), as well as some obscure low-volume coupes like the Strada 4/88, Voodoo Imp, Furia and Group Six.

Rover SD1

The larger sibling to Leyland’s Triumph Dolomite, the Rover SD1 (2000-3500) also ‘loaned’ its tail light clusters to numerous other cars, including Leyland’s own stillborn Triumph TR7-based MG D Boxer and Leonia prototypes, plus the ‘one-that-got-away’ Capri-rivalling Triumph Broadside coupe of 1979.

The SD1 rear lamps resembled the units fitted to late Ford Capri models, but with a more complex and premium appearance, making them more appealing for use on other cars such as the revised Series 2 editions of the Lotus Eclat, Elite and Esprit S2, all mounted upside down, and with the latter replacing the Fiat X1/9 units of the earlier Esprit models. The Rover units also found a home on some of Grinnal’s V8-powered TR7 conversions, plus specialist sports cars like the wild Badsey Eagle three-wheeler, the Austrian Custoca Strato ES and Taifun, and gullwinged Embeesea Charger II.

Hillman Imp

Lucas part numbers L592 and L692 for red, L691 for orange and L539 for white, the protruding round tail lamps of the Hillman Imp number among the most prolific of all British rear lamp units, these small lenses also being found on many other automotive applications, and first used by the Rootes Group for its own range-topping Humber Super Snipe SIII and Imperial models in October 1960.

First and foremost among others to use these lamps is the Land Rover 4x4, which shared the Imp’s Lucas parts from the S2a/S3 90-110 models onwards, these long-lived components making it right through to the last Land Rover Defenders, up until its 2016 demise. Most Morgans from the past 55 years–plus have shared Imp rear lamps too (plus the front indicators).

Other vehicles to use these Imp items reads like a who’s-who of post-war motoring history, from the later AC Cobra/Superblower/MK IV GT V8 models, via the contrasting three-wheeled AC-Reliant Model 70 prototype, Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato and DB5, Austin Ant prototype. Then there’s the Austin-Healey 3000 MK III (front indicators and rear lamps), the 1981 BMW M1C IMSA GTP series, the Bond 875, Equipe GT and GT4S, the Enfield Electric 8000, Vauxhall Viva SL (HA), and the works 1970 London-Mexico Ford Escort (FEV 4H), GT40 MK I, P68 F3L and 1982 C100 racer. Taken a breath? Good, because there’s also both the Harrington Sunbeam Alpine coupe and Lister Sunbeam Tiger LM (320 RW), the Lola T70, T600 GTP and T610, Light Car Company Rocket, Lotus Type 51 R, March 74S and March-BMW GTP-C, the Reliant Scimitar coupe, Regal MK V and Rebel van/estate, the final examples of the imposing Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine, Ford’s Thames 400E drop-side pick-up, and so on, with a list that goes on and on...

Vauxhall Cavalier

The general non-OEM use of Vauxhall tail lamps is less commonplace than its other British mass-market rivals. That said, in the 1960s Lotus used Victor FC units for its desirable Elan S2 models, and Viva HA lights found space on the lift-up tail of the delightful mid-engined Unipower GT.

By the late 1970s, the popularity of the Vauxhall Chevette ensured the hatchback donated its lights to a handful of low-volume British sports and kit cars, including the early 1980s Ginetta G4 and G27, but it was the larger Cavalier that saw its lamps being more widely adopted, the Porsche 962-based Koenig C62 road car using the first 1975-81 model’s rear units!

Vauxhall’s first front-wheel-drive Cavalier of 1981 broadened the use of that car’s tail lights, spreading to the Midas Gold, the Ginetta G33, Sbarro Super Five and Super Eight, the CC Cyclone and Eagle SS S3 kit cars, plus a number of other specialist machines. The third and final Mark III Cavalier of 1988 saw its rear lamps used for the 1990s TVR Griffith (mounted upside down), plus the rare and long-forgotten Healey Sprite Motor Company’s Workhorse 4x4 pick-up.

Watch this space for a list of more notable vehicle light units appearing here on GRR shortly.