Q: original back-up light housing on 51

[Puka]

One of the back-up light bulbs went out on my '51. Took off the lens of the back-up light to replace it and it's actually a glass housing that fits around the entire bulb. The part that faces the bulb is black and the part that faces outward is clearish glass.

The back-up light on the other side just has a lens that you would see in a modern car.

My question is: is this glass housing that is black/white the original housing on these 51 buicks? And the back-up light with just a flat len must be a replacement/remanufactured thing right?

Hope this message is clear!

Thanks for your help.

Puka

[Fred Rawling]

The back up light lenses are flat glass from 50-52. This information is from the book and from personal experience on a 1950 and 1951 Roadmaster.

The black shade on the bulb reminds me of a spot light bulb where the inside of the black shade reflects more light to the reflector. I just used regular bulbs in mine with aluminum foil behind the bulb. This aluminum foil works great in the tail lights also. It made them much brighter.