That baby went out with high button shoes. Look at Tom's Signal Stat's, or Garnett's Bus lights, that's the ticket.
Bill, My '56 Carly has a Bargman No. 6 with 4 screws and a No. 9 Chrome trim ring with 4 screws. What's the availability of this type of light? WAM ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 10:33 AM Subject: [VAC] Tail lights and model year > This is another area where you can , at a glance, get an idea of what > year and model. It gets a little complex, so don't hang your hat on it > . The Trail-Lite No 99, by Theo Bargman, Detroit , Michigan was used > as early as 1955, maybe earlier. It is the one that Pearl so aptly > describes as looking like a tiered wedding cake, with 3 tiers. The lens > is exactly 6 1/2 inches in diameter, and is no longer made. That > TRAIL-LITE, was used extensively in the mid fifties, (Bubbles) late > fifties, and in the sixties up to as late as 1968. It was not the > exclusive tail light. Some of the larger coaches, like Ambassadors, and > some mid sixties Globetrotters used a different tail light that had a > housing that wrapped around the rear quarter panels. > A replacement lens was made by 2 different companies, as a Universal > replacement , sometimes with 6 screw holes instead of the original 3 > holes. Many of us on this list, have jumped thru the hoops of (1) > trying to get Bargman to pull the molds out of storage, and make another > limited run of perhaps several thousand lenses for the Vintage market. > Unfortunately, Bargman, according to their representative Ms. Champion, > no longer has the molds. Even if they did, a small run like that is not > profitable. (2) SAE, Auto lite, or Auto standard, or some such name that > made the replacement lenses, has not been contacted, that I know of, but > they no longer produce the lens either. (3) Some people have purchased > new lenses from Jim Dunmyer, who had a source that made a few lenses > from a custom mold. Very pricey at $50 per lens. > (4) Since there are literally thousands of coaches out there that have > two Bargman Trail-Lite 99's, perhaps another letter writing campaign to > Bargman or the other 2 companies, might create enough need to get them > to make another run of the lenses. (5) Some people have replaced their > 99's with a 6 inch or 7 inch Signal Stat, with a chrome or Stainless > Steel ring, with a flush mount. The Signal-Stat lights are quality > made, reasonably priced, and used on Millions of trucks here and abroad. > Easy to find at all truck supply stores. (6) Finally, one of our members > has replaced his 99's with a beautiful Bus Tail light with a nice chrome > ring. I know you didn't want to hear the whole story, but I thought I > would cover the bases, so we don't get off on a spur track. If anyone > else has an idea on replacements for the Bargman 99's, please let us > know. One final item. Some of the later lenses made by Bargman, when > you look closely, the "99" looks like a "98" because the mold got a > little dirty and its like the mis printed coin. It is still a "99". > Now, does anyone have a "Source" for replacements???? > > Bill Scott > 61 Bambi---with 99's > 66 Trade Wind-- with 99's > >
