To help relieve the Lockdown boredom while we all stay at home and don't go out due to the exceptional global COVID-19 pandemic, I have been using some of this unexpected 'bonus' time to try and finalise the research for my planned vehicle 'Tail Light Source Book, which hopefully should be published by the end of this year.
So far this book has thousands of cars listed, although my list of tail light mysteries is still too long, so I will post this list in the separate 'Rear Light Mysteries' section here soon, in case any fellow AP enthusiasts can contribute with your vast, expert knowledge.
Ahead of this though, I am making a special one-off Rear Light Mystery post here for the revived 1970-87 Stutz Bearcat II, hoping that some fellow AP fans (particularly our North American-based friends) might be able to help identify some lamp sources.
Through its 17-year availability, seven revised Series of the Bearcat II were made, using a confusing array of tail lamps. The original 1970 Ghia-built Stutz prototype used Simca 1000 rear lights, with these (along with similar Fiat 850 Berlina) units also used for the first production Series 1 (S1) Bearcats in 1971.
The 1972 S2 Bearcat seems to have used MY69-72 Mark 2 Pontiac Grand Prix lamps; the flat rectangular unit found on the MY69-70 Grand Prix models (but with extra chrome trim on the Stutz, with two differing versions, as per the first two photos below)? The late 1972-built Bearcats seem to use the re-styled MY72 Grand Prix lamps with a fold in the middle (3rd photo). To add to the confusion, some special 'coachbuilt' (by Barris?) S2 models also used other rear lamps, as below, for which I'm still searching for the source cars.
For 1973 the S3 Stutz used early Chevy Vega rear lights, and then for the MY74-onwards S4-S5 models, small, round 'yoghurt pot' lamps were used (as found on the Bertone Alfa Giulia SS, ASA 1000, plus various Maseratis, OSCAs, etc.) that I still don't know the original source vehicle for, so if anyone knows... Thanks. For the final mid-80s Stutz models (Bearcat, IV Porte, etc.) some cheap-looking flat, round rear lamps were used that maybe originate from an American truck, RV, trailer or whatever (?), as per the last image below. So, if anyone knows the source of any of these Stutz rear light units, I would really appreciate your shared knowledge and thoughts, with huge thanks in advance
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