Which taillight bezel for which car?

[66 Dearborn HCS]

I know I posted this in another thread, but I thought it might deserve its own.
;D
I'm confused. I've seen the taillight bezels with the vertical bars and I've seen the others that just look like a chrome ring around the outside of the lens and no vertical dividers. Which was used in which cars? I've heard different things, i.e. They are Cougar taillights as opposed to the '65 T-bird lights, then I've heard that the t-bird light is also the cougar light, but the '67 Cougar taillights don't look at all like the '65 T-bird lights. EESH!! Which is which? and what were they used on? T-bird, Shelby, Cougar,GT-CS/HCS??? ???

 

[mrshelbydallas]

The only thing you really need to know is that 1965 T-bird, 1968-70 shelby bezels will work.

 

[66 Dearborn HCS]

[quote author=mrshelbydallas link=board=1;threadid=695;start=0#msg3711 date=1069484577]
The only thing you really need to know is that 1965 T-bird, 1968-70 shelby bezels will work.
[/quote]

I wasn't asking what was used solely on the CS/HCS. I was asking what was used on EACH of those cars and which were interchangeable from the factory. Were they all the same lens with just a different bezel, or were there different lenses also?

 

[68sunlitgold]

The lenses are all alike on the 64, 65 T-bird (64 has the t-bird emblem attached in the middle that is why they don't use the vertical bars) and 68 CS, HCS and Shelby, they are also the same for 69/70 Shelby's. Again the 67 cougar and Shelby are different.
Doug

 

[66 Dearborn HCS]

[quote author=68sunlitgold link=board=1;threadid=695;start=0#msg3720 date=1069543348]
The lenses are all alike on the 64, 65 T-bird (64 has the t-bird emblem attached in the middle that is why they don't use the vertical bars) and 68 CS, HCS and Shelby, they are also the same for 69/70 Shelby's. Again the 67 cougar and Shelby are different.
Doug
[/quote]

Thanks Doug. So the '67 Shelby is different than the '67 Cougar also? The cougar had a ton of vertical bars and the Shelby had none at all right?

 

[68sunlitgold]

My bad, I meant the 67 Cougar and Shelby are the same, except the Shelby does not use the outer plastic fins (the verticle bars). Sorry
Doug

 

[66 Dearborn HCS]

OK, just so I have this ckear now. The '64 T-bird light is the same as the '67 Shelby, but the t-bird has the bird on it. The '67 Cougar is the same lens, but a different Bezel. The '65 T-bird taillight is the same as used on the CS/HCS's, and all the other Shelbys AFTER '67. The cougar had it's own taillight starting in '68 which is different than any of the t-birds and shelby's? Right? :-\

 

[guest]

OKAY, here's the deal...

'67 Cougars used a taillight bezel that included metal verticle bars.

'67 Shelby's used only the '67 Cougar plastic lenses, without the Cougar bezel, and instead added an Shelby-made aluminum frame to fit on the outside edge of the red plastic lens. Some early '67 Shelby's had bezels with holes for screws, and some later ones had bezels with threaded studs, with no visible holes.

The "68 Shelby and '68 GT/CS used the '65 T-Bird taillights, with the verticle bars on the bezels, just like the '65 T-Birds. Like Doug explained, the '64 T-Bird had taillights with no verticle bars in the chrome bezel--and a bird emblem in the center of the lens.

The ('65 T-Bird) bezels used for the CS and Shelby's were ALL CHROME, and no black paint on the edge of the bezel (as you usually buy today).

The '69 Shelby uses the same bezel ('65 T-Bird), except it IS black on the edge of the bezel. At one time, there were two separate service parts from Ford for the same basic bezel--one all chrome, and another one with the black paint.

When you buy a NOS Ford service part of this bezel today, you'll see it's got black paint on it. Wipe it off with lacquer thinner. It's a service part (that one size fits all idea) ,and it includes two screw sets--one black, and one set in chrome.

As a side note--when these bezels were used on the '65 T-Bird, they had black paint on the edges of the frame--to drop out the taillights when wrapped with the T-Bird bumper.

I hope this answers your "mystery".

Paul

 

[66 Dearborn HCS]

[quote author=PMNewitt link=board=1;threadid=695;start=0#msg3734 date=1069623990]
OKAY, here's the deal...

[/quote]

Thanks, I knew it wasn't that, umm, complicated ;D. lol
I really always wondered if it was all the same thing just painted different or what.