Not looking to do this myself even though it does look really neat, but what about the extra studs on the back of the taillights? Do you drill extra holes for them, or do you cut them off?
As said above you are technically supposed to drill a hole. I did not. The existing mounting holes create enough support for the whole thing and I wanted to have the flexibility of reverting back to the original lights. Consequently, I created some shims that would ensure the end of the light that necessitates a newly drilled hole wouldn’t rattle.
Re-working the back light sockets to light the reflector panel is the way to go, that's what I'm doing. And then using the LED sequential light kit like 71Gold has in his gallery. ausudevil311's yellow one above is awesome with the chrome against the colored panel where they really pop better. We all love the classic black rear panel, but I'm liking it the body color much better these days and plan to change mine when I get to the final paint stage. I'm expecting that maybe one in ten people will look at those taillights and say they aren't correct, especially on mine which is a 77. Mavericks were very simple looking cars for the most part (Grabbers notwithstanding), and fortunately those of us old enough to remember them (or owned one at the time, I did from age 16-25), then you really don't remember how they should look, mainly because there are so few left that even people in the car show circuits have to do a double take. The rear end in my opinion has a great shape, but the tail lights were inadequate and NEVER should have been the same as the Pinto. Anything I can do within the time appropriate period to dress mine up a little really makes a difference. That's my goal, and these taillights will be the only thing on the car that weren't available with the car, except for the front spoiler I'm going to use. Even that is from a 68-69 Mach 1 or Shelby which happens to bolt perfectly onto a 72 Maverick valance.
Actually.........the "way to go" is Shelby tail lights, but I digress. There's nothing wrong with the look of the stock tail lights, and Maverick had them before the Pinto did...
This is what’s great about Mavericks. Very few are original collectors so interpretation is what the owner wants it to be. I also love the way the Shelby lights look, my best friend has a 68 Shelby, but it just seemed like too much of a departure, and was obviously from a Shelby. I don’t think the average person would know if the bobcat tail lights were wrong, maybe one in 10 that actually remember the car.
