Corvette C3 Rear Tail Light Conversion

General

I wanted a different tail light arrangement. The original lights were fine but LEDs would be much nicer. They have better light penetration in fog and rain, draw much less amperage, and live nearly forever.

Round four inch tail lights are used extensively in the heavy duty truck, trailer, and bus market. A number of manufacturers make them and they're available in incandscent or LED. I preferred sealed beam style because the bulbs (or LEDS) are sealed at the factory to prevent water intrusion. Similar to the sealed beam headlight concept.

They make 1156/1157 LED replacement bulbs but I have been told they are not that bright and there is some question as to whether they have the proper light ray dispersion for a taillight.

Currently the car has a set of 28 LED lamps with flat red lenses. The Lamp Tour shows a pile of other arrangements

The Parts

To make the conversion four lamps are needed along with matching pigtails and grommets.

The lamps can be purchased for as low as $2.50 each for red incandescent to about $10-$25 a piece for LED. LED prices are dropping and the selection increasing so there are lots of options.

The pigtails used with most the light are a three prong male bullet style connector. Some LED lights use proprietary connectors which limits the options of what to buy if one should get broken.

The grommets normally come in black. American Superlight does sell them in clear. Although all the grommets are supposed to be interchangeable the grommets from Del City (delcity.net) fit the best. Del City and Buytruckstuff.com have good selections of lights. You can also find them locally at many heavy duty truck or trailer parts, service shops, and truck stops.

3 Pole Pigtail

Grommet

Cylinder

Lamp

Installation Details

Wiring

Mounting