Taillight question 2003MGM

[mgmgermany]

Hi,
regrettably it is law here in Germany to have amber turn signals in your taillights.
During the conversion of my car for the German approval they put yellow "beehives" LED bulbs into my taillights to fulfil that law. That is fine at night, they glow kinda "amber" through the red glass. But it is a mess at daylight: I had some bad situations due to the fact that the turn signal was not seen by the driver behind me.
So I want to go for either Crown Vic taillights with an amber chamber or for the LED taillights with 2 clear chambers offered on ebay.com.

Can anyone please tell me, whether 2003 CV taillights are direct fit to my 2003 MGM and I need an opinion on the LED taillights. Are they worth the money?
Also, any information about a dealer (and part nos.?) with worldwide shipping service is highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance !

Joachim

[sly]

from looking at them on-line... it doesn't look like it. The GM taillights look to have a little bit wider build with the CV tails having more trunk overlap. They may swap in just fine, but you'll probably need to fill in the gap between the trunk and the CV taillight lens.

[85crownHPP]

I'm not surprised it doesn't work too well... one member in Europe had his reverse lamps re-wired as turn signals and added auxiliary backups...
How did they add this bulb?

[mgmgermany]

2003 MGM taillights

My 2003 MGM has 2 bulbs in each taillight, one on the outer side and one on the inner side. They changed the outer bulbs to the yellow LED beehive bulb for use as a turn signal.
Also the reverse light lamps were modified: left side comes now with a red tinted bulb to be used as the regulated by law rear fog light, right side stays as a reverse light.
Here in Germany it is not allowed to use the MGM reverse lights as turn signals, because the turn signals have to be not more than 0,15 metres from the outer edge of the car.

I dislike to drill any holes into the rear bumber cover panel to get a visible amber turn signal, so I am looking out for a way to change the taillights to CV or LED style, if possible.

JoJo

[sly]

you could probably get it done with a CV trunk lid and the 03 CV tail lights.

[Dereck]

Hi MgmGermany

Yes Crown Vic tail lights are a direct fit I have done it but you will need some resistors on the turn signals if you are using LEDs, add a couple extra bulb holders and reconfigure the stop lights including sniping a wire to the hazard light switch. I also reconfired my hi-level brake light to come on a a rear fog lamp, I will post up some wiring diagrams later if you like.

Check out This thread and This thread

Regards

Dereck

[Sign of the Cat]

I would have to some digging but I have the diagrams somewhere to do the oppsite. I converted my vic from amber signals to the interceptor type by moving a couple of wires around. I am sure it should be the reverse to add them

[91waggin]

I don't think he's got a wiring question. He's just wants to know if the CV taillights with the amber turn signal will fit where the GM with the combined turn/brake taillight will go. And if it does, that's it.

[Sign of the Cat]

I got that but the gm does not have a seperate signal from brake does it?

[mgmgermany]

MGM vs. CV Headlights

Thanks guys for the lot of tipps.

Please dont worry about the electrical wiring, that part is OK for me.
Brake and turn signal as well as hazard are already parted and function is perfect.
To repeat my question:
I just wanna know whether the 2003 CV taillights (with the amber glass in it) will physically fit into my 2003 MGM.
A CV trunk lid is kinda hard to get here in Germany. Not so much Panthers around here.... (I have seen 1 -one- it was an old NY Taxi in more than 10 years)
As an alternative to CV taillights I am considering to use the CV LED tailights offered on ebay.com for around 160 bucks. These come with one or two clear lenses and chambers . Has anyone of you experience with those LED aftermarket lamps? How is the quality? Chinese crap or worth the deal?
Thats it....

Greets from the other side of the pond !

JoJo

[mgmgermany]

Thanks

Hi Derek,

...your name reminds of Derek & The Dominos, Eric Claptons band in the 60`s.

Thank you for your links, these are really helpful and interesting.
I wonder whether the German TUEV (checking the car every 2 years) will accept the special turn signal you built. Looks very good, no question.
So I learn from your link that your Marauder was equipped with CV taillights, did I get this right?
That means I only have to decide between original or OEM CV taillights or the LED taillights from ebay.com.
That brings me further.

Greets from the continent

JoJo

Yes Crown Vic tail lights are a direct fit I have done it but you will need some resistors on the turn signals if you are using LEDs, add a couple extra bulb holders and reconfigure the stop lights including sniping a wire to the hazard light switch. I also reconfired my hi-level brake light to come on a a rear fog lamp, I will post up some wiring diagrams later if you like.

Check out This thread and This thread

Regards

Dereck[/QUOTE]

[351m]

In the end for a bit better and more factory look, it might be worth it to try and get a Ford dealer to get you a Crown Vic trunk lid, or find a used one and get it shipped.

Got a link to the E-bay ones?

[mgmgermany]

Whale ?

BTW: What is a WHALE PANTHER?
Are these Panthers built 2003 and up ?

And: box type is everything 2002 and earlier?

Have to work on that special vocabulary....

Thanks

JoJo

[91waggin]

box type is 1979-1991 grand marquis and crown victoria
aero type is 1992-1997 grand marquis and crown victoria
whale type is 1998 and newer grand marquis and crown victoria

The Lincoln Town Car changed body styles at slightly different intervals than the Grand Marquis and Crown Victoria; I think they went to the Aero body style in 1990, and I'm not sure when they changed to the whale.


Bottom line is that tail light housings from a Crown Victoria with the amber lenses will fit. I personally don't know about whether the LED housings are any good. They were mentioned once before on these forums, but I don't know if anybody bought them. The price difference between those housings and the regular housings would certainly make me think twice about purchasing them.

Also, upon further examination, it doesn't look like the reversing lights or the turn signal lights are LED in those housings. Only the brake lights and tail marker lights are LEDs. Too expensive for me.

[mgmgermany]

Whale type

Thank you, so I got a "White Whale" . Should call her Beluga.......

I temporarily fixed my problem by changing the yellow beehive LED turn signal bulb to a regular clear bulb. The LED resistors stay where they are. Now I have red turn signals (what is kinda illegal in Germany for cars after 1979) but the turn signal visibility by other drivers improved dramatically.
This MGM is so rare here in Germany.....
Had a trip of 400 KM to the East sea. Cruising the Autobahn with 120-140KM/H on the right lane. Fast Audis, Mercedes etc. appear from behind on the left lane. Reaching my position they throw the anchor and all were looking and oviously discussing about my MGM. If I got 2.50 Euros for every dumb look, I could buy a second MGM immediately from that money.

Greetings from the other side of the pond

JoJo