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3rd brake light in first gen


pyntre

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I just have a bad feeling about driving my 65 with those low slung tail lights being the only 

thing between my car and all the texting , attention deficit , people driving around these days !!! Has anyone mounted a 3rd brake light in the rear window either low or high with any success ?? 

Any pictures that might be floating around the web that you know of ? I have searched but nothing really specific to the first gen Riviera .   

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6 hours ago, pyntre said:

I just have a bad feeling about driving my 65 with those low slung tail lights being the only 

thing between my car and all the texting , attention deficit , people driving around these days !!! Has anyone mounted a 3rd brake light in the rear window either low or high with any success ??  

 

I've had the same feeling, pyntre. So I mounted one low in my rear window and it really does the job. I can't find the photos right now but will post them after I take some more.

 

Steve

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I always thought it would be neat to mill a new "vent" molding that goes under the rear window.  Mill out the slots on each side and put a set of brake lights behind the slots.  When not lit, they couldn't be seen.

 

The 1974 Riviera had some brake lights mounted above where the trunk is hinged.

 

Most hot rod vendors offer a 3rd brake light of some kind.  Oh! Oh! New idea.  Mount a spoiler on your trunk and incorpororate a 3rd brake light into it. ?

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Yeah, not looking for anything more than a " At least I tried "  kind of solution . 

 A small bit of peace of mind that the guy behind me has a chance to see what's going on ahead of him .... no spoilers or flashing lights though ?

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I saw those folks at Back To The Fifties car show this past summer at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds , they certainly have their thumb on the LED 

technology ! I will look at what they have to offer .. Thanks very much for the link !!!!!

 

I JUST NEVER WANT TO HEAR SCREECHING TIRES BEHIND MY PRIZED 65 !!!!

                                          Yikes

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1 hour ago, RivNut said:

The guy who owns this company

http://www.lambertenterprises.com/

custom built LED panels for a friend's '65 Riviera.  The panel with the rows of smaller LED's really lights up.  The tail light panel is almost as bright as stock brake lights.  When the brakes are applied, the whole world lights up. 

 

The problem there is that you're accustomed to certain levels of brightness for the taillights and brake lights.  If the taillights are too bright, the guy behind you thinks you're constantly braking. The adjunct is that if your brake lights are too bright, they're am annoyance to anyone even reasonably close behind you.

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Hi,

many years back I put an LED version in a ‘64 Skylark. It had a neat black hood, very slim but did the job. Sat on the parcel shelf and just wired into the brake light wiring (flat ribbon on the floor)

 

Only issue I had was the WHOLE OF THE BACK WINDOW would light up which is not good.

 

Was safe but not sure about the look, sorry no pictures.

just my two bobs worth.

 

PS they sell a ribbon style LED with mounting tape that could be mounted in a suitable place and wired in. Might try that on my ‘63

?????

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2 hours ago, rodneybeauchamp said:

Hi,

many years back I put an LED version in a ‘64 Skylark. It had a neat black hood, very slim but did the job. Sat on the parcel shelf and just wired into the brake light wiring (flat ribbon on the floor)

 

Only issue I had was the WHOLE OF THE BACK WINDOW would light up which is not good.

 

Was safe but not sure about the look, sorry no pictures.

just my two bobs worth.

 

PS they sell a ribbon style LED with mounting tape that could be mounted in a suitable place and wired in. Might try that on my ‘63

?????

Sounds like there wasn't a good "light seal" between the light and the window to keep it from shining across the whole window.  

 

8 hours ago, RivNut said:

I always thought it would be neat to mill a new "vent" molding that goes under the rear window.  Mill out the slots on each side and put a set of brake lights behind the slots.  When not lit, they couldn't be seen.

 

The 1974 Riviera had some brake lights mounted above where the trunk is hinged.

 

Most hot rod vendors offer a 3rd brake light of some kind.  Oh! Oh! New idea.  Mount a spoiler on your trunk and incorpororate a 3rd brake light into it. ?

I like this idea and it's been rattling around in my head as an idea for that 3rd brake light that didn't block the rear window view.

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2 hours ago, slosteve said:

Here's a couple photos of mine. It's not too stylish from the inside and I first thought that I overdid it but the results are very good from the rear. This shows the 'lights on' version the brake light being much brighter.

 

Steve

 

IMG_9475.thumb.JPG.60750c1bb38178e98abc4383234b3cb0.JPG

 

IMG_9474.thumb.JPG.857d4f85301e0102664d46204ea8016d.JPG

 

How did you wire it? When I tried one, it wouldn't light up. I attempted to splice it to the driver-side brake light. But I figured there was some weirdness in the brake/turn signal connection which is why it didn't work.

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In the 50’s and 60’s in Australia, owners of older cars with out turn signal indicators or others who wanted an extra brake light would just literally screw on one of these Hella range of orange or red trailer lights. They looked terrible but obviously they didn’t care about aesthetics back then.

 

So I would screw one or more of these on yer boot lid or up near the back window. Easy to see! Usually they used big self tapping screws, stove bolts or wood screws. (No kidding!)

cheers

Rodney ????

F5DD977D-1029-4FC4-96E5-5AD6B585F3BD.png

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10 hours ago, bodayguy said:

How did you wire it? When I tried one, it wouldn't light up. I attempted to splice it to the driver-side brake light. But I figured there was some weirdness in the brake/turn signal connection which is why it didn't work.

 

A separate wire was used and run from the cold side of the brake light switch to light. Also has a ground wire and a wire which I connected to the brown license light wire in the trunk harness for regular lighting.

 

Steve

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