122 123 CM Hall Tail lamp identification

[dep5 82]

I have a CM hall 123 tail lamp, would like to know what automobile might have used this light. The #122 is the one on the left, the #123 needs polish. The 122 came with my 1911 Hudson 33. Thanks, Dan

[dep5 82]

Not much help to be found here . .where has all the knowledge gone? Where is everyone?

[1912Staver 1,338]

The problem with questions regarding application of brass era lights is that in many cases there are no definite answers.  During the era that lights such as these were produced they were often optional equiptment.  Some cars would be factory equipted with lamps, some would be retrofitted later and some would never have lamps.

  The lamps themselves fall in to a number of catagories, ones installed OEM , ones installed by local dealers, and ones sold aftermarket. The ones sold OEM are sometimes engraved with the Make of the car { or have small badges attached} , this is especially true on more up market makes but some lower market cars {Ford Etc. } may also be engraved. But in most cases the lamp manufacturer also produced the same lamp unmarked for the broader market.

 So apart from the engraved or badged lamps it's often impossible to definitively say a specific lamp is for a specific make or model. If a half dozen examples of a specific car use the exact same lamp then there is a  pretty good chance they all did. But that doesn't mean no other make used them as well.

 And some had no specific OEM buyer, and were marketed as an aftermarket fitting only.

So you see definitive I.D.'s can be a mine field to say the least.

Greg in Canada

 

[JV Puleo 4,322]

And... even if a particular car maker supplied his vehicles with a particular make of lamp, we have no way of telling if they always did. I suspect that many makers simply bought them in bulk on the open market... especially the makers of lower and middle priced cars. My 1910 REO had E&J side lights and a tail lamp. I put E&J headlights on it but there is no way to tell that the lamps that were with it when I bought it (unrestored) were original to it or if REO always bought their lamps from the same company. As 1912Staver says, the only lights you can be assured came with a particular make are those with their name on them.

 

Judging from the variety of lights available in every period accessory catalog, it must have been reasonably common to change them.

[ak 21]

Franklin used the one on the left in 1911. 

John