Tail light bulbs

[rod7515]

Im working with a 66 Dart here but this may help others with similar situations. As I work to get my car ready for its spring debut it was time to wire in the rear lights. Once that was done it was time for the bulbs. Here's where my learning experience starts!! .
My Dart has 4 tail lights across the back. The 2 outside in the rear fender are the Brake/turn/parking light and the inside lights are mounted in the trunk deck and are parking lights only.
Now before I go into my learning experience let me say that in 1973 I started working in my dads repair shop at the age of 14. In that era the most common bulbs for the rear of everything was the 1157 and the 1156. I installed them in cars for almost 15 years before I went to work in another field. And I mean they fit everything in front and rear lights!!
So last night I installed the brake/turn/parking bulbs using the 1157 bulbs. Then I put the 1156 in the inside parking lights. I put power to the car and pulled the light switch, walked around to the rear and looked at the lights. They were lit but the right bulb looked like a brake light, very bright. SO I replaced it with another 1156 only to have the same issue. Now I think I have a electrical problem but I decide to swap left from right. The brightness followed the bulb which eliminates wiring. I swapped that bright bulb out with 4 more 1156 bulbs only to find the same issue. So today I call NAPA and Jim at the counter (who spent many years at a Dodge dealership as a mechanic) siad maybe you need the 1141 bulb. I had never used one of that number bulb so I bought 2 of them. Went home and same issue. then I started looking at the bulbs only to discover the bulb that matched the outer parking light was not an 1156 but it was a 1094. I have never used one of those either so tomorrow I will be going back to NAPA to get a few of those.
Hoping that they will all be a dimmer matching light to the parking light side of the 1157 bulb.
See even at my old age I guess theres always something that can be learned!!
Here are pics of what I found as I started this light project. They are that bright it looks like brake lights! The last pic is using the LED 1156 with the LED 1157 bulbs. I was hoping they would work out better as I have had them for 3 years after being referred to them by a member here.

Rod

 

[66Dvert]

Im working with a 66 Dart here but this may help others with similar situations. As I work to get my car ready for its spring debut it was time to wire in the rear lights. Once that was done it was time for the bulbs. Here's where my learning experience starts!! .
My Dart has 4 tail lights across the back. The 2 outside in the rear fender are the Brake/turn/parking light and the inside lights are mounted in the trunk deck and are parking lights only.
Now before I go into my learning experience let me say that in 1973 I started working in my dads repair shop at the age of 14. In that era the most common bulbs for the rear of everything was the 1157 and the 1156. I installed them in cars for almost 15 years before I went to work in another field. And I mean they fit everything in front and rear lights!!
So last night I installed the brake/turn/parking bulbs using the 1157 bulbs. Then I put the 1156 in the inside parking lights. I put power to the car and pulled the light switch, walked around to the rear and looked at the lights. They were lit but the right bulb looked like a brake light, very bright. SO I replaced it with another 1156 only to have the same issue. Now I think I have a electrical problem but I decide to swap left from right. The brightness followed the bulb which eliminates wiring. I swapped that bright bulb out with 4 more 1156 bulbs only to find the same issue. So today I call NAPA and Jim at the counter (who spent many years at a Dodge dealership as a mechanic) siad maybe you need the 1141 bulb. I had never used one of that number bulb so I bought 2 of them. Went home and same issue. then I started looking at the bulbs only to discover the bulb that matched the outer parking light was not an 1156 but it was a 1094. I have never used one of those either so tomorrow I will be going back to NAPA to get a few of those.
Hoping that they will all be a dimmer matching light to the parking light side of the 1157 bulb.
See even at my old age I guess theres always something that can be learned!!
Here are pics of what I found as I started this light project. They are that bright it looks like brake lights! The last pic is using the LED 1156 with the LED 1157 bulbs. I was hoping they would work out better as I have had them for 3 years after being referred to them by a member here. View attachment 1715302597 View attachment 1715302598 View attachment 1715302599
Rod

My wife's dart(yah still gotta finish up mine ,but I'm collecting parts for her )originally triple black 66 convertible has the 2 inner tails a little bit brighter than normal tails but almost as bright as the stop/turn and it did look funny. I fixed mine so that I would have all 4 as stop/tail/turn. I made a custom harness for the extra lighting and it's an easy add, then decided to go full tilt boogie and make Custom LEDS for front and rears

I had a monster of a time finding short enough sockets for the trunk housing Sockets but they worked out good and the ground isn't mandatory but it helps me feel better

here is my prototype (since been changed to a different pattern for the wife)

new pattern (tails )in the day light 12 noon"ish"

and with the brakes on.

on the painted car

here was the bulbs listed in the service manual

 

[rod7515]

Thats nice but a lot of work! lol
I just dont want mine to have different levels of brightness on te parking light side. Hoping today I can get the 1095 bulb and they will be the same as the parking light side of the 1157. My big mistake in all this was assuming that I had an 1156 when I first had a bulb that was the correct level of brightness. By assuming it was an 1156 instead of verifying it and finding it to be a 1095 I ended up buying bulbs I didnt need and wasting time. But lesson learned! Keep up your good work. We need to find someone that makes these light bezels at a fair price. Once I put mine on the car they dont look as good as I had hoped.
Rod

 

[67Dart273]

1156 is a turn/ stop only bulb. Back in the day when you saw older pickups like all the old 50's Chev/ GMC pickups it was common to see add on turn only systems on the front fenders and to the rear. All 4 bulbs were 1156 and turn only

This is why we need REAL parts people now adays. Back in my day, we had a PAPER bulb spec list, that showed base types, wattage, candelpower, etc of lamps and bulbs. You can still (sometimes) find them to download on the www

 

[Mattax]

Check your owners manual or FSM. Many of original two filament bulbs were 1134. 1157 is a common substitute especialy as old stock 1134 is hard to find.

 

[toolmanmike]

Interesting that the 66 FSM is blank for the stop,tail,turn listing. Classic Industries lists 1034 for both in 66 and 1034 and 1156 for 65. Both years are dual light systems. You would have to get into the bulb specs to get the right bulb for the tail lights in the deck lid. Those need to be the same candle power as the tail light filaments in the 1034 bulbs in the quarter panel lights. If you replace the original 1034's with 1157 or 2057's the tail light fillaments will probably be brighter as well. I always wanted to wire in 1157's into the trunk lights. The tail lights wouldn't change but all the lights would light with the turn signals.

 

[Mattax]

from the specs at Don's Bulbs website.
1134 power draw is nominally rated at 23 Watts and 8.26 Watts
1157 power draw is nominally rated at 27 Watts and 8.00 Watts

Sorry don't have lumens for both and the site is down now.

 

[rod7515]

The 8 watts is what I am trying to match at least close to. The 1095 matched very close that you cant tell the difference howeverer Napa can not get any of them. Napa can get me an 1129 bulb which is at 16 watts still to bright. I may try a 89 bulb which will have a smaller dome but I'm not sure what the wattage will be. Does anyone remember if these inner lights were that much different in the early days. I did find some 1095 on Ebay however they look like a newer chrome base bulb so I'm not sure they would be correct. Here is the pic of the 1095 bulb.

Rod

 

[toolmanmike]

The 8 watts is what I am trying to match at least close to. The 1095 matched very close that you cant tell the difference howeverer Napa can not get any of them. Napa can get me an 1129 bulb which is at 16 watts still to bright. I may try a 89 bulb which will have a smaller dome but I'm not sure what the wattage will be. Does anyone remember if these inner lights were that much different in the early days. I did find some 1095 on Ebay however they look like a newer chrome base bulb so I'm not sure they would be correct. Here is the pic of the 1095 bulb. View attachment 1715302758
Rod

Give me a minute.

 

[toolmanmike]

The 8 watts is what I am trying to match at least close to. The 1095 matched very close that you cant tell the difference howeverer Napa can not get any of them. Napa can get me an 1129 bulb which is at 16 watts still to bright. I may try a 89 bulb which will have a smaller dome but I'm not sure what the wattage will be. Does anyone remember if these inner lights were that much different in the early days. I did find some 1095 on Ebay however they look like a newer chrome base bulb so I'm not sure they would be correct. Here is the pic of the 1095 bulb. View attachment 1715302758
Rod

I thought I might have bought 10 of them but I guess not. I need to get organised and get all my parts in one spot and marked on the tote what's inside.

 

[toolmanmike]

Try a 67 or 89. They may be close.

 

[66Dvert]

Thats nice but a lot of work! lol
I just dont want mine to have different levels of brightness on te parking light side. Hoping today I can get the 1095 bulb and they will be the same as the parking light side of the 1157. My big mistake in all this was assuming that I had an 1156 when I first had a bulb that was the correct level of brightness. By assuming it was an 1156 instead of verifying it and finding it to be a 1095 I ended up buying bulbs I didnt need and wasting time. But lesson learned! Keep up your good work. We need to find someone that makes these light bezels at a fair price. Once I put mine on the car they dont look as good as I had hoped.
Rod

I'm (it's on my todo list, but WAYYYYyyyyyy down there. ) going to cast a resin replacement part and have it mirrored. it'll be treated exactly as a painted part on the car) why they had to make 4 different shapes instead of mirroring the left pair to the right side never fails to amaze me. All 4 are different left outer and right inner (should be the same) but are not. @#$@#$ same with the other 2. I found this out making the darn LED setup.

 

[66Dvert]

Interesting that the 66 FSM is blank for the stop,tail,turn listing. Classic Industries lists 1034 for both in 66 and 1034 and 1156 for 65. Both years are dual light systems. You would have to get into the bulb specs to get the right bulb for the tail lights in the deck lid. Those need to be the same candle power as the tail light filaments in the 1034 bulbs in the quarter panel lights. If you replace the original 1034's with 1157 or 2057's the tail light fillaments will probably be brighter as well. I always wanted to wire in 1157's into the trunk lights. The tail lights wouldn't change but all the lights would light with the turn signals.

the Trunk side of the tail lights on a 66 is a single contact like a backup light. I hated that only the outers would act as a stop/tail/turn and the inners were tails only. that's why I made the harness (having 6 sets made by a business that specailize in harness making was 10.00 more than me making 2 by hand, weird as that sounds) with short sockets converting my 2 light stop/tails/turn) into a 4 light system, then went crazy and added custom leds. I looked for a lumen count on the bulbs and forgot completely about being able to use watts as a comparison.