driver68

just noticed that none of my lens years match my car. I have a '72 coupe, but the rear tail light show 70 and front park light lens are both '71. I realize these would be very easy to change, but my car is VERY original, and would have assumed they would be original. would gm have used other years' lens on a car?

Vet76te

This is how it works,...The year on the lenses is NOT necessarily the year of your car. They stamped the year that that perticular lens went into production. Therefore, on a lens that was used on severeal different year models, the lens would always read the 1st year they were used. Therefore, if your car had taillights that were shared with a previous year, then that date would be the earliest of the dates used. Then if it had a side marker lens or turn signal lens that changed with a model year, the that lens would have a different date.

On the very old cars, like 1955, 56, etc., the lenses seemed to change every year, so the model could be indicated by the date on the lenses. That didn't hold true after 1961 with GM.

C3 RV

What a great question and answer. I can imagine seeing that while detailing my car and having the following mental conversation:

"Damn, I thought I bought an original, no-hit car and it looks like someone replaced the lenses."

"Maybe GM used the same lenses over multiple years."

"At least it isn't a later year stamped on the lens."

We're so **** about these cars, it's great.

PRNDL

That is an interesting explanation and would argue for your lenses being original. It would be pretty funny to read about someone with a 72 changing out all his lenses that had 70 or 71 dates because they didn't match his model year.

On the other hand... it wouldn't take much of a "hit" to crack or break a lens on a car over the course of 35 years.

gq82

All original lenses for 70 to 72 should have a 1970 date cast in them.