71 Challenger Tail / Stop Lamps challenges

[Roctania]

Well, got a new bulb holder to replace the LH outer one, loose in the tail light housing.  

New bulb holder is ALSO loose in the housing. Curses.

Well, at least the wires are in the right place, unlike the original bulb holder. THAT took some figuring out and comparing other sockets on the car to std issue 1157 bulbs.



This is the original LH outer bulb holder.  Note that the white colored STOP light wire is located incorrectly with respect to the contact on a std issue 1157 bulb.  With the design of the bulb holder, there is NO WAY to relocate the wires holder to place the wires in the correct locations.  Former worker also had jammed a single contact [backup lights] bulb into the socket, ruining the socket's peg receptacles and the bulb.  Oy vey.

This is my drawing of the contact end of an 1157, and the open receptacle into which it might fit.  I called the peg nearest the contacts/ base the "DEEP" one, for it goes deeper into the socket.



The above receptacle is the INCORRECTLY LAID OUT one that was in the car. Note that the two wires are more or less IN LINE WITH the final position of the bulb's pegs when the bulb is installed.  

The contacts/ wires are SUPPOSED TO BE approximately at a right angle to a line from one of the bulb's pegs to the other.  More like the illustration on the right below, made from one of the car's OTHER tail/brake lamps.



I have never seen such crazy incorrectness as on this car.  Didn't know it was even POSSIBLE to have a stop/tail lamp socket with the wires not just reversed, but totally nowhere near the correct position, with no way to remedy that short of replacing the entire socket.  I have seen a fiber disk in there that holds the wires where they should be, with an indexing tang such that it would be difficult to assemble it wrong.  Until the indexing tang breaks off, anyhow.

I have never seen Incorrectly make parts and components on this scale.  Like, every single part has to have a 3-hour rework to make it fit and work right.