Rear Tail Lights Red vs. Orange Turn Signals

[rdholland]

Hello everyone,
I have a dilemma as I am now sorting through all of the parts from the tear down I did on my 67 parts car this Summer. My restoration car is a 68 2000CS and it has original tail lights, no cracks, with orange turn signals. Today, I got out the rear lights from my 67 donor car and they are red turn signals. I had never considered there being a difference before. Can you guys tell me if the red ones are more desirable?

I have decided to restore my white coupe to stock and I want to know if it makes any difference. My white coupe is a European car; is that why it has orange turn signals? The orange would match the front, which kinda makes sense? but when I hold up the red ones to my car I become very happy, probably because I just cleaned them. Here are some pics. I promise I tried to get the nuts off without breaking the studs, to the extent of soaking and trying for three days in June but this was not to be. I assume the studs to be easily replaceable from the looks but please advise me on this rather stupid question.

One more thing - this is not trolling for offers! If I decided to post these and keep my orange ones, someone from this forum has already expressed interest on my parts thread.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[rsporsche]

Rob,

i can't answer your question, i don't really know about 2000cs. i would like to recommend that you put the amber ones in and sell me the red ones. for 2800cs and 3.0cs, amber is correct except perhaps some very early 2800cs (according to Murray). for these cars, the original guys will want the amber - so to them, amber is worth more. i have a black '71 2800cs and i just think the red looks better on the black car. i don't have an original car.

please let me know if you want to sell them.
scott
atlanta

 

[adawil2002]

From what I know the 2000CS had red rear turn signals. 2800 CS some had red rears. 3.0 CS had amber to distinguish them as more upscale. Early 1600-2 and 2002s had red rear turn signals too until 1969, when the 2002 got amber rear turn signals.

 

['69 2800cs]

My 2800cs is four before Murray's and it also has all red rear lenses.

 

[HB Chris]

Red changed to Amber in the US due to DOT regulations.

 

[bwalvoord]

My 2800CS has red lights which I believe to be are all original.

 

[Francisco]

I am looking for the two rear tail lights with orange turn signals

 

[mulberryworks]

For me it comes down to function and safety. The amber lenses are unambiguously turn signals and as they let more light through, are brighter than red. In the US, cars are allowed a single tail light lens to function as both brake and turn signal. European cars had different lenses with different colors for turn signals, undoubtedly because it was judged safer. I've always thought of amber signals as more European and damn it, we are driving the quintessential European car after all.

My 1970 2800cs USA model has amber lenses and I'm keeping it that way. There was a thread a while back about tinting amber lenses red, which just dumbfounded me.
I'm even adding a strip of LEDs as a third brake light at the top of the rear window to keep distracted motorists away from my tail.

Ian

 

[rsporsche]

early 2800cs came with red turns as did the 2000cs. i have a black car and the red turns look great on it ... but they aren't tinted amber ... they are red, just like the brake lens. remember, the side markers in the rear are red also. hell, in Atlanta, nobody uses turn signals ... you are just supposed to read their mind. i guess they just can't use them while they are texting or talking on their phones while holding it.

i am also a big believer in the third brake light (that gets people's attention).

Francisco, i have replied to your post in the classified forum

 

[mulberryworks]

Yeah, early US law required red tail lights. No imagination from the law makers. I remember the cool thing for 60's VWs was to get euro tail light lenses that had the amber tops for the turn signals. That changed as we entered the 70's.

On the other end of the car, US law also dictated that headlights had to be sealed beam units even though they were substantially inferior to the halogen units in use in Europe. They lightened up on the restrictions there and we actually got some improvement in lighting, but now that they have allowed plastic lenses, after a few years sun damaged headlights are worse than the old sealed beams. Sigh. At least I have glass halogen units for my cars.

 

[zinz]

My '67 is a Euro car and has red tail lights.

 

[mulberryworks]

Yes, the rules changed for the 1968 model year. From Wikipedia:

Turn signal colour
Until the early 1960s, most front turn signals worldwide emitted white light and most rear turn signals emitted red. The auto industry in the USA voluntarily adopted amber front-turn signals for most vehicles beginning in the 1963 model year, though the advent of amber signals was accompanied by legal stumbles in some states and front turn signals were still legally permitted to emit white light until FMVSS 108 took effect for the 1968 model year, whereupon amber became the only permissible front turn signal colour. Presently, most countries outside of the United States and Canada require that all front, side and rear turn signals produce amber light. Exceptions include Switzerland and New Zealand.

In Canada and the US the rear signals may be amber or red. American regulators and other proponents of red rear turn signals have historically asserted there is no proven safety benefit to amber signals, though it has been recognized since the 1960s that amber turn signals are more quickly spotted than red ones. International proponents of amber rear signals say they are more easily discernible as turn signals, and U.S. studies in the early 1990s demonstrated improvements in the speed and accuracy of following drivers' reaction to stop lamps when the turn signals were amber rather than red.

A 2008 U.S. study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) suggests vehicles with amber rear signals rather than red ones are up to 28% less likely to be involved in certain kinds of collisions, and a 2009 NHTSA study determined there is a significant overall safety benefit to amber rather than red rear turn signals.

There is some evidence that turn signals with colourless clear lenses and amber bulbs may be less conspicuous in bright sunlight than those with amber lenses and colourless bulbs.