Taillight trivia

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by '69Novajoe

[B][COLOR="Blue"]This might have been posted before, and I haven't really done any research on it, but how many of you have heard (or know) that you can "sometimes" tell the year of a GM car by looking at the taillight for the date?? Again, I don't know when this started or if it's just GM cars, but I thought it was worth looking into. By looking at this picture, most of you will probably be able to tell what car it's from, but can you tell me the year of the car?? I submit that you can't, unless you see the whole car, because it's a taillight that was used two years in a row. Can anyone tell me how many other's there are like this where a taillight was used for a couple years or more??

I agree with what you are saying. You won't be able to tell on many vehicles without seeing the rest of the vehicle. I would submit '71/'72 Chevelle are the same; probably '78-81 Malibu, and (this might be beyond the scope of what you are asking) '73 - '87 Chevy/GMC pickups all used the same taillight.

Related question: were are the backup lights on the '63 - '65 Corvettes? '66 shows it in the inboard lamp and '67 moved to above the license plate.

K