Question About Tail Light Trim

[THE COLONEL]

I have friends that also have a 69 Charger and they have a question about the trim around the tail lights.  Now their Tail panel is the same color as the car itself.  This is the best picture I have of the rear of their car.  Their question is this.  They do not have chrome around their tail lights like I do, and most of us do.  Is that because the tail panel was the same color as the car, and the ones with the black tail panel got the chrome trim?  Their also seems to be more soft of a plastic then the trim I have also.  Thanks in advanced guys!!

[69charger2002]

all 69's have the trim around the taillights.. that is a fact. even almost half of 1970 chargers had them(XH29 models)... but for 69 i have never seen an original one without them. or a painted body color tail panel for that matter. thought that was a 70 thing as well
trav

[Troy]

  As far as I know, the tailpanel should be black and the taillights should have trim.

Troy

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

As far as I know, the tailpanel should be black and the taillights should have trim.

Troy

as well......

PS... if he hasn't already, get him to register    

[resq302]

   The tail light panel should be a textured black called organisol.  The organisol is available in a rattle can from Totally Auto, Inc. but for $20 a can.    As for the tail light trim, they should be on there.

[70charginglizard]

69 tail lights had chrome trim surrounding them and no reflector in the lense.
70 tail lights have no chrome trim and have a rectangular reflector in the lense.
A lot of 70 chargers ended up getting a lot of old 69 tail lights.

Hopefully this will put your question to rest.

[Blakcharger440]

69 tail lights had chrome trim surrounding them and no reflector in the lense.
70 tail lights have no chrome trim and have a rectangular reflector in the lense.
A lot of 70 chargers ended up getting a lot of old 69 tail lights.

Hopefully this will put your question to rest.

This is what I have always known to be true also.

[Chris G.]

70 tail lights have no chrome trim and have a rectangular reflector in the lense.

Lizard, it's mentioned above, and just to reiterate it, the XH model in 1970 had chrome trim around the lights. They also did not receive the finish piece you see so often on '70 Chargers. It's kind of odd at first to see a rear like that, but it's factory. Here's a couple examples:

[THE COLONEL]

As far as I know, the tailpanel should be black and the taillights should have trim.

Troy

They have the trim, but it is black and not chrome.  So bottom line what you all are saying is that in 69, every tail panel was black with the chrome trim...right? 

By the way, they are going to register, but life is very busy for them.  I have told them to.   I will also pass this info along to them. 

[4402tuff4u]

Here's a black out rear on a 70.

[Mike DC]

 
Hey Jason.

In 1969, the taillights/panel/chrome trim always had the same appearance no matter how the car was ordered.  Organisol black taillight panel, chrome-ringed taillights, and the 3-piece chrome trim set separating the organisol paint from the body paint color.  So basically a "General-Lee-style" rear end was the stock trim/paint setup in 1969.  The only things that varied at all were the little badges in the center of the tailpanel (below the trunk keyhole).

In 1970, the variations were in full force.  Body-color painted tailpanels, bright anodized aluminium trim panels bolted onto the tailpanel, cars with a single big "loop-style" trim ring around both taillights, etc. 

I'm not 100% positive about it, but I think most of the 1970 taillights should still have the chrome trim around the red lenses like the '69 taillights.  Those chrome ring pieces are showing up missing from various Chargers' taillights all the time mainly because they're just a nuisance to restore more than anything else.  Those lights just weren't made to be disassembled.  The chromed rings were originally installed at the factory by basically melting the tallight lenses' plastic onto the metal. 

----------------------------------------------------

Nowadays the chrome rings are always looking pitted and they're difficult to replate & reinstall well.  No repros either.  It's not impossible or anything, but fixing the lights effectively means carefully removing the trim rings (Read: grinding off the melted plastic blobs holding them onto the taillight lenses) and then getting them replated. 

The rings are kinda fragile without the rest of the taillight lense attached to help hold the shape.  I had one set rechromed locally a few years ago.  The platers did an excellent job on the chrome finish but the rings were slightly out of line when they were done, and I cracked the chroming just to get them onto the plastic lense again.

Then you finally use some kind of decent adhesive or something to reattach the chromed rings to the old lenses.  (And of course, most of the kinds of "plastic glue" on the market asolutely sucked donkey ass until just a few years ago.  Yet another reason a lot of old Chargers are driving around with their tallight trim rings missing.) 

   

[misty440]

What year are mine then? Thye do not looklike the other 70's pictured?

[Lord Warlock]

Does anyone sell these chrome pieces of trim around 69 lenses?  I need one on one side, mine came loose and I still have it but its pitted pretty bad. 

[resq302]

Does anyone sell these chrome pieces of trim around 69 lenses?  I need one on one side, mine came loose and I still have it but its pitted pretty bad. 

As of right now, no one is making the tail light bezels/trim.  You basically have to either find a set or get yours rechromed.  Only problem with that is that when they rechrome it, you lose some of the detail and crispness of the edges.

[misty440]

Anyone know if my rear trim is a 70 R/T or not? It looks different from the other pics. Maybe the others were not R/T's?