Trio of Tremendous Taillights
If eyes are a window to the soul, then taillights are a window to the … trunk? Hacked-up references to old sayings aside, there have been a litany of instances in which stylists at various automotive brands have managed to sneak an interesting taillight design past the nerds in accounting.
Capping our list at three means we’re all but assured to miss yer favourites - so we’ll print a few honorable mentions before diving into some photos. The legendary 1959 Cadillac is instantly recognizable thanks to a set of towering tailfins topped by taillights which are straight out of the rocket era. Intentionally designed to look like the very engines which were taking American spaceships into orbit, the ‘59 Caddy apparently caused minor riots - and not entirely the good kind - when it was first shown to dealers ahead of public release.
[Images: Oleg Mirabo/Shutterstock.com, betto rodrigues/Shutterstock.com, Murilee Martin, Nissan, James Hime/Shutterstock.com, JoshBryan/Shutterstock.com]
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One more note: we’ll stick to older vehicles as part of this post. With the democratization of LED lighting technology, stylists have been able to craft some truly interesting designs recently; whether as part of a so-called ‘corporate look’ or simply given a bit of leeway by suits in the boardroom, this is a good era for creative automotive lighting signatures. Also: shout out to Torch at The Autopian for being a key figure at monthly Taillights-R-Us meetings.
The old-school Nissan Pulsar sits high on this writer’s Top 40 simply because of nostalgia reasons. While the vast majority of vehicles in our rural town were from the Detroit Three, an occasional trip to the capital city ensured a look at vehicles not known to ply the roads around our little community. Seeing a Nissan Pulsar with those awesome diagonally slashed taillights was always cause for this young gearhead to get excited. The style produced reams of copycats, from aftermarket taillight covers to the simple application of electrical tape in carefully placed lines (seriously).
Anything sequential gets a vote from us, as well. While it is relatively easy for modern LEDs to pull off this trick of visual theatre, examples from the incandescent era are especially appealing to our jaundiced brains. The early Mercury Cougar is a great example, showing up for work with an enormous set. Which, of course, looked for all the world like Paul Bunyon’s electric Remington shaver.
It took Ford far too long to re-incorporate sequentials into the Mustang, with aftermarket companies making bank on adapter kits for the SN95 ‘Stangs, especially once the taillights went vertical in 1996.
Sticking with Ford, the rear lamps on a 1962 Thunderbird reflected the boundless optimism of the era, a time when America felt they had everyone on the ropes and its next stop was conquering outer space. The jet era was in full swing, so these taillights on an opulent personal luxury coupe were wholly and outrageously appropriate. Everyone talks about the Swing-Away steering wheel on a third-gen Thunderbird - but we know those taillights are the real MVP.
