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The Minutiae of 1955 and 1956 Dodge Taillight lenses
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56D500boy
Posted 2020-11-19 3:20 PM (#605799)
Subject: The Minutiae of 1955 and 1956 Dodge Taillight lenses



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Minutiae is defined as small, trivial, unimportant details. Sometimes "boring stuff"

But *sometimes* these details might be important, like when you are looking on eBay or Hiltop Mopar or wherever, for a new lens to match one that you have *OR* scoring (or losing) that last point at a Concours event. (LOL)

There were four kinds of 55/56 Dodge taillight lenses:

1. A shallower lens with a pebbly finish on the inside. These are PN 1604 381 and they were used on the 55 Coronets and Royals, i.e. D55-1, D55-2, and D56 models. Oddly, that number is no longer in the 55-58 Parts Catalog but as you can see from photos below, they did exist.

2. A similar shallow lens used on the 56 Dodge Coronets and Royals. These are smooth on the inside (no pebble finish) and have PN 1658 709. This PN is listed now as the 56 *AND* 55 Coronet lens, i.e. D55-1, D55-2, D56, D62, D63-1, and D63-2

3. A deeper lens with a pebbly finish on the inside used by the "early" 55 Dodge Custom Royals, the D55-3s. I am sure that PN was 1604 394. I've had a few, but gave them away to 55 Dodge folks because they were different than my 56 Custom Royal Lenses. I didn't take a photo of the ones I had (I didn't like them) but now I can't find a new photo on line. Just the photo I got from the Taillight King when I bought my first extra 56 Custom Royal lenses (which had one of one kind (pebbly) and one of the other kind (smooth)

4. A deeper lens with smooth finish on the inside and concentric rings used by the "late" 55 Dodge Custom Royals and all of the 56 Dodge Custom Royals like mine. PN 1658 454.

On a tangent, there were only two back-up light lenses for the 1955 and 1956 Dodges. A 1604 382 for the 55/56 Coronets and Royals (D55-1, D55-2, D56, D62, D63-1, and D63-2) and a 1604 395 for the D55-3 and D63-3 Custom Royals. Note that these back-up light lens PNs are only one digit off from the original 1955 pebble-finish Coronet and Custom Royal taillight lens PNs.

Hope you didn't fall asleep during the above trivia lesson. Please resume your more important endeavors.





Edited by 56D500boy 2020-11-19 3:29 PM




(55DodgeCoronetTaillightLensesPN1604381_PartsBagAndLenses.jpg)



(55DodgeCoronetTaillightLensesPN1604381_showingPebbleFinishAndPN.jpg)



(1658709_Smooth_55-56CoronetAndRoyalTaillightLens.jpg)



(1658709_Smooth_55-56CoronetAndRoyalTaillightLens_Inside.jpg)



(TaillightLenses1604394OnLeft1658454OnRight.JPG)



(1658454Late55AndAll56DodgeCustomRoyalTaillightLenses.jpg)



(1658454Late55AndAll56DodgeCustomRoyalTaillightLenses_PNDetailShowingSmoothFinishOnInside.jpg)



(55-56DodgeTaillightPNs.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments 55DodgeCoronetTaillightLensesPN1604381_PartsBagAndLenses.jpg (176KB - 179 downloads)
Attachments 55DodgeCoronetTaillightLensesPN1604381_showingPebbleFinishAndPN.jpg (228KB - 182 downloads)
Attachments 1658709_Smooth_55-56CoronetAndRoyalTaillightLens.jpg (157KB - 172 downloads)
Attachments 1658709_Smooth_55-56CoronetAndRoyalTaillightLens_Inside.jpg (150KB - 173 downloads)
Attachments TaillightLenses1604394OnLeft1658454OnRight.JPG (82KB - 180 downloads)
Attachments 1658454Late55AndAll56DodgeCustomRoyalTaillightLenses.jpg (117KB - 178 downloads)
Attachments 1658454Late55AndAll56DodgeCustomRoyalTaillightLenses_PNDetailShowingSmoothFinishOnInside.jpg (80KB - 178 downloads)
Attachments 55-56DodgeTaillightPNs.jpg (195KB - 182 downloads)
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56D500boy
Posted 2020-12-02 2:26 PM (#606281 - in reply to #605799)
Subject: RE: The Minutiae of 1955 and 1956 Dodge Taillight lenses



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Location: Lower Mainland BC
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I've been in contact with Mike Petersen, author of the excellent, information-packed, book "1955 Dodge - by the numbers" (available through the Antique Automobile Club of America) on a number of topics, including these taillight changes. He has the 1955 Parts book and today he confirmed my speculation about the taillight lens part number changes:

"In the parts book D-15177, “MOPAR 1955 Passenger Car Parts List”, 8.5” x 11”, 425 pages, December 1, 1954, the part number for the Coronet and Royal taillight lens is 1604381 and the part number for the Custom Royal taillight lens is 1604394."

Furthermore, Mike confirms that the pebbly 1604381 55 Coronet/Royal lens was replaced by the smooth 1658709 sometime late in the 55 Dodge model run and that the pebbly 1604394 55 Custom Royal lens was replaced by the smooth 1658454, again, sometime late in the 55 Dodge model run.

He knows of a June 1955 built 1955 Dodge Custom Royal that seems to have gotten one 1604394 and one 1658454, so the new batch of lenses might have been piled on the older lenses and then the two used up at the same time. Who knows maybe they had two people working on the taillights, one on one side, one on the other and they each had bins of lenses, one old, one new (???). We will never know for sure.


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