Out in Island Lake, Illinois, a town with a confusing name (island lake? Aren’t those kind of like the opposites of each other? One is a blob of land surrounded by water, the other a blob of water surrounded by land?) there is a place called Chicago Muscle Cars Parts, and they seem to be going out of business, at least based on this Facebook post that suggests that everything must go.
The “everything” in question is a huge accumulation of car parts for, according to the ad,
“Camaros, Firebirds, Impalas, Mustangs, Chevelles, GTOs, Novas, Cutlass 442s Skylarks, Monte Carlos a body g body third gen 2nd gen big cars 1960s-1980s”
… so the muscle car part of the name checks out. American muscle car parts, in big piles! And some of those piles are taillights, spread out on the ground, looking like a field of healthy taillight crops, just about ready for harvest:
(photo: Facebook)
My god, that’s achingly beautiful! Look at all those beautiful American taillights, most from the Baroque school of taillight design, primarily in the Heraldic sub-category:
There’s a pretty good number of different kinds of lights in there, and they all desperately need identification, so that’s where we come in. It’s time for a taillight quiz!
Let’s start with this batch:
(photo: Facebook)
Mmmm lots of good ones there. So many ornate lights! Think you can ID them all? Try your best, and, when you’re ready, the answers are here!
Ready for another batch? Of course you are, you’re a healthy human:
(photo: Facebook)
This one has a bit of a theme, doesn’t it? I think so. Did you figure it out? Here’s the answers, so you can really know.
Okay, one more! The rich, fertile, loamy Illinois soil grows the best taillights, and here’s another healthy batch:
(photo: Facebook)
Look at that dazzling variety! The variety of those reds, from crimson to ruby to deep wine to deep scarlet. Americans of this era didn’t really abide amber rear indicators, so red with splashes of clear reverse lamps are all you get. Know where these are all from? Here’s the key.
The limited range of makes here makes this a bit of a deep dive, taillight identification-wise, so don’t feel bad if you missed a few. In fact, there’s one that has completely stumped both me and The Bishop who, I’ll be honest, found and ID’d all these pictures for me. It’s nice to have helpful friends, I’ll tell you.
Anyway, what the hell is this one from?:
(photo: Facebook)
It looks so familiar, but all the cars I thought this was from just weren’t quite right. I really thought Pontiac Bonneville, like a 1975 Bonneville, but its not that – those only had eight cells, two rows of four, and that one up there has twelve, two rows of six.
One of you must know what the hell this taillight is from. I hope so, it’s driving me bonkers.
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I for one (and probably the only one) would love to hear the story about why Ford has a habit of introducing a model with amber turn signals and then “refreshing” it two years later with all-red ones. Off the top of my head, I can think of the 1994 E-350, the 1991 Escort, the 1986 Escort, the 1989 Taurus, 1987 Mustang. They always go from amber to red. The only transition the other way that comes to mind is the 2021 F-150.
I stay awake at night wondering why…
The Aerostar may be the weirdest. Amber turn signal from 1986-1996, then redid the tailight in all red for just 1997 before discontinuing the van.