VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1939 Tail and Brake Lights

Well here I am again...back to my trusted advisors. It seems I am always fiddling with my tail lights trying to get them to work. One day they're fine...the next...not working. Just to be sure, do the tail light bulbs have two filaments...one for tail lights and one for brakes? I ask because the original socket won't accomodate the two filament bulbs I have (Ge #1016 or 1157) because the two tabs on the outside of the bulb base are offset and the socket is set up for tabs that are directly opposite. The single filament bulb will fit as those bulb tabs are directly opposite. I have put modern socket bases in the sockets...the ones with the two contact points on the bottom and have used the two filament bulbs by shaving off one of the tabs. Sorry this is so long...is there a two filament bulb with tabs directly across? Is there another bulb that is correct that I don't have?...any other advise would be appreciated, as always.
Best wishes and Merry Christmas to all,
Chuck

The 1939 tail lamp uses a 1154 6 volt bulb.An 1157 would be the 12 volt replacement.
Both bulbs have the same socket configeration.The outter prongs on the bulb are of different depths to insure the correct contacts on the end of the bulb mate with the contacts in the socket.The 1154 bulb has a double filament.The 3 candle power side of the bulb is the tail lamp and the 21 CP filament is the brake light.

Everyone sells the correct bulb. Chevs of the 40s has them for $1.75 each.

Brian

You can also get the correct bulbs at your local NAPA store.

Garbo,

Far be it from me to 'take away' a sale from Chevs of the 40's or The Filling Station etc, but the bulbs you need are available at most any generic parts store.

The KEY is you need the 6 volt bulb, as Gene mentioned. 1154.

Bill.

hi,
i had the same problem on my 37sdn. ihad trouble with my tail lights not working,bad ground between the socket and the housing so i replaced the socket and went with the offset bulbs 6 volt.know they work good.
maxwell

????????The 1937 tail lamp did not use the "off set bulbs" - the 1939 (except trunkless sedans) was the first to use a double filament off set prong bulb.The 1937 used two seperate bulbs with a single filament each.The prongs were equal depth with those bulbs as the had only one contact on the back.

Okay Gene and the rest of you guys...here's a real trivia question...The tail light assembly has a two filament bulb...I noticed in attaching the tail light hot wire it would light either of the two filaments depending on the way I wired it (There's a tall filament and a shorter wider filament) If I put the tail light hot wire to one wire from the assembly, the tall filament lights and, of course, visee versee. There's always something. Thanks very much for your past help and your wisdom to come.
Merry Christmas to all,
Chuck

Both wires running to the tail almp are "hot" wires.One is for the tail lamp and will be the dim 3 CP filament of the bulb.The other is the brake light,will be much brighter. and is the 21 CP filament.It will be "hot" only when the pedal is depressed.The bulb is like two bulbs in one.That is why the locating prongs on the outside of the base are off set.The bulb can be installed only the correct way - providing its wired correctly that is.

Garbo - Hi, I'm knew to VCCA and this is actually my first posting. While my truck is a 51 Chevy 1/2ton, I recently changed the wiring on my brake lights because I too was having the same problem as you. My stop light is the same kind of two filament bulb the guys are talking about here. Anyway, when I took the light apart, I found that one of the two wires leading to the contact points was rusted so badly that only one or two strands of the wire were still holding on. The inner assembly of the bulb holder (don't know the tech word for that) came right out when I bushed up on the two wires from the bottom of the figure where the wires run up through the threaded bolt that holds the light fixture to its bracket. And don't ya know, I took the assembly to my parts store and they had a replacement for it that was only a couple of bucks. Anyway, I installed it and haven't had a problem since. Once in a while ya get lucky. I'm sure the guys know the tech names for these parts but hay, I'm still learning.

One more suggestion. If you should take the whole fixture apart, make sure you mark the wires that you disconnect with tape so you know which wire goes where when you reconnect. I learned the hard way.

I hope everyone had a peaceful holiday. I'm happy to be on board and look forward to posting with you all in the future. Lord knows I can use all the help I can get. KenZ

KenZ,

Welcome! Great place for info about "correct" restoration.

Gene,

Wish I would have had this thread last year. After installing a new wiring harness and couldn't figure out how to get both tail and stop lights wired on my 40 Master Deluxe, we finally just drilled a hole for a new stop light and squeezed a separate bulb and holder into the tail light, when we couldn't figure out how to wire up the second filament correctly. So it's NOT "correct", but it works. Imagine; a PhD and 2 GM (and F---) certified mechanics not being able to figure this out and y'all won't feel so stupid.

DocB

Doc B
In some respects what you have done is not silly just the hard way of doing it. So long as you use a brighter filament globe for the brake light there is no problems.
Tony