blue dotted taillight, what was it all about ?

I was born in '53 and have no clue...at least that's what my friends tell me...but I grew up in Western New York which wasn't exactly a center of "car culture".

Steve 

Saw quite a few of them back in the'50's, just a decorative fad as far as I can remember.

@brush I put a pair on my ‘63 Catalina in 1985 to add a bit of nostalgia to the car. They were quite popular, though illegal in my neck of the woods in the ‘50’s through the mid ‘60’s. They would make your taillights shine a cool violet color. I thought it was one of the coolest things DM did when they actually added them to their “ California Kid “ replica model.

Blue dot taillights involved inserting a small blue-diamond-like-cut-shaped circle (or "dot" ) in the center of any red taillight lens. 

At night, and especially when the brakes were on, the taillights would cast not a red light but more a of pink-ish  color - depending on the shade of red used by the OEMs.  Apparently a late 1940's fad that really caught on in the 1950's.     I've seen many, they look cool.  😎 😎 

They were popular when I was growing up. My crew didn't want any part of them because in a sea of red tail lights the blue dots stood out. The last thing we wanted was to stand out. Better to blend in with the rest of the civilians. Not that we were doing anything wrong. 

The blue dot was popular for a time in Canada as well.  I think it looks cool too.

Posted by: @sizedoesmatter

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They were popular when I was growing up. My crew didn't want any part of them because in a sea of red tail lights the blue dots stood out. The last thing we wanted was to stand out. Better to blend in with the rest of the civilians. Not that we were doing anything wrong. 

Oh sure John...🤨 It's not likely that we, as teenagers, would ever even consider doing anything that might be highly suspicious to certain members of our community 🤫

Years ago when I built my 29 Ford roadster high boy I put 39 Ford tail lights on it with blue dots. Everyone told me that the tail lights were not very bright and hard to see so I bought some halogen bulbs and learned that the light was no longer pink when I stepped on the brakes. The only way the blue dots turn pink is with an incandescent bulb. Found some brighter bulbs from Summit Racing and that solved the problem. A friend has a 1934 Packard V 12 with blue dots which he claims were standard on the senior cars. Anyone know if this is true?

Posted by: @100ford2003

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Posted by: @sizedoesmatter

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They were popular when I was growing up. My crew didn't want any part of them because in a sea of red tail lights the blue dots stood out. The last thing we wanted was to stand out. Better to blend in with the rest of the civilians. Not that we were doing anything wrong. 

Oh sure John...🤨 It's not likely that we, as teenagers, would ever even consider doing anything that might be highly suspicious to certain members of our community 🤫

 

Some of us class of '71 are still trying to find out who "borrowed" the Bob's Big Boy statue from the restaurant and brought it over to the Quad area...🤫

Guilty as charged….. hope the “statue” of limitations is up!

@kevins Love it Kevin.

Thanks Big Boy!

Burgers, Fries & Shakes on Kevin's tab..yay 🎉