'59 Caddy Bullet Taillights

[Old Drifter]

Awesome job! Looks great!

[mittico68]

Really a well made job!

[Pilgrim]

Looks great...good work.

[greenbarn]

Those look good, nice touch.

[Tfrank59]

Hey how's everybody doing? My earlier post I said I got inspired to make those chrome fingers, well I made mine out of aluminum check out these vids:

https://youtu.be/CR-ana132VY

https://youtu.be/mASLXJ13t60

Hope you can get some riding in even though it's cold now

[greenbarn]

Trall, the mounts I made could be made by cutting 1/4" aluminum out in a circle, then drill a hole in the center, put a bolt through the hole, and chuck it up to a drill press or even a hand drill ....  then spin the spacer against a grinding wheel, or file, or sand paper or what-have-you,  to smooth up the edges......    where there's a will, there's a way.

[Trall]

Diddly, I put a big washer on each side of the rubber grommet to "squish" it tighter, haven't had any trouble. I'm using incandescent bulbs going down a rough dirt road where I live.
I know the post is late, but you can omit that bracket if you want.  Enjoy the ride.  P.S. don't be looking back as your going down the road to check how cool they look...it'd tempting.

The Caddy lights look awesome on all the Drifters. So retro cool.  Out of all the Caddy lights mods options this would be by far the easiest way of doing it.

High Plains Drifter you mentioned adding a washer only but could you add pics or more steps on how and where you did it.  Did you have to drill some holes in the Caddy light base to mount.
I've been wanting to add the Lights since I seen them on GB and RR Drifters but don't have acces or machinist skills for it.

I bought the lights recently so I would like more information on how you did it.

Thanks
Trail

[Tfrank59]

That is very cool looking. I wasn't able to put the crowns on there with the Chrome fingers and stuff because I just bought the lenses by themselves on eBay. But looking at those pics I think I might try to make some crowns and somehow adapt them and slip them over the lenses cuz they look way cool just like a 59 caddy tail light. Thanks for that link.

[greenbarn]

Good looking bike, Tfrank59.

Anybody else interested, here is a link to the mods page in the forum that lists several ways to do this.

https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/caddytaillight.html

[Tfrank59]

Wow this is an old thread you're reviving here. Since the time the last person posted before today this is what I've done with my bike and I think I was inspired by this thread. check it out

https://youtu.be/undQV_ln_rs

I've been tempted more than once and have succumbed to look back to see how they are especially at night with the turn signals on 

[High Plains Drifter]

Diddly, I put a big washer on each side of the rubber grommet to "squish" it tighter, haven't had any trouble. I'm using incandescent bulbs going down a rough dirt road where I live.
I know the post is late, but you can omit that bracket if you want.  Enjoy the ride.  P.S. don't be looking back as your going down the road to check how cool they look...it'd tempting.

[Diddly squatt]

Looks good. That's sort of what I had in mind. I have some aluminum stock for the brace also. Thanks for the help. Will be this weekend's project. Mike

[greenbarn]

The backing plates for the '59 lights will fit just inside the diameter of the stock light bucket.  If you drill new holes in the '59 backing plates, they will  bolt right into the stock buckets with some appropriate sized screws.  Then the '59 lenses screw to the backing plates.   I used a bracket on each side, custom bent to fit, running from the bottom screw on the '59 lense, over to the bolt on the Drifter bumper cover (assuming you have a 2001 or later).  I made this from about 1/2 or 3/4 wide aluminum flat stock.  This stiffened up the lights a bit.

There are a few pics on this thread:
http://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/index.php?topic=31695.msg69238#msg69238

[Diddly squatt]

I know a few of you have mounted the Caddy Bullet tail lights on your rear turn signal. I've read a couple of posts about making a bracket to help support the weight & keep horizontal.  How did you actually mount the new light fixture to the turn signal housing? Once again, thanks for your help. Mike