Lucas Lens trivia

[vping]

I have a 67 GT and my tail light lens' have "LUCAS" and "SAE STDB 61" molded inot them. The car came with 1 broken light but I happened to have parts from a 69 sprite.

Question was brought up last night at my local club (that I was finally able to drive to) that the lights should have a "67" molded into them. not a "61"

Guy next to me had a 74 GT and both his lights have a "71" molded inot them.

The "69" parts car sprite I purchased was an original owner car. I belive that the one good tailight on my car was OEM and the owner of the 74 beleives them to be OEM.

My thoughts are that when Lucas had a mold, they used it until the style changed. Another member thinks that every year they changed the mold to match the cars year.

Any thoughts to this enlightening bit of trivia?

 

[AlanT]

Unlike most American cars , Lucas did not update it's molds to reflect a production/model date. Possibly because so many lenses fit so many different models.

Alan T

 

[Bugeye58]

Vinnie, back in the day, if you were uncertain of the year of an American car, you could look at one of the lenses for the date. It's no longer true, as there are so many carry over parts from year to year. As Alan says, Lucas never had the need to change molds until there was a significant change to the lens.
Jeff

 

[Peter_Rogers]

Wasn't that the way you could tell if a car had been in an accident - look at the lenses and if the date was not the same as the year of the car - ergo. ( or was that an urban legend? )

 

[tony barnhill]

Yep, the numbering system only applied to early American cars...our MG's used the same lens through several years.