Extra holes behind the tail lights?

PostPost by: zog » Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:18 pm

Any ideas what these extra holes behind the tail lights are for or from. It's an early S2. 21,000 miles. Parked in 1969. Original. No body damage. Normal S2 tail lights with no extra holes in them. ???
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PostPost by: h20hamelan » Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:08 am

reverse lights?
backing up alarm? :lol:
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PostPost by: Lincoln62 » Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:32 pm

Most early S2's had 4 round lights like S1's.

By the staining on the panel this looks like it had the Vauxhall lights like the later S2 or something similar.

My S2 has the Vauxhall lights but not the extra hole.
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PostPost by: Quart Meg Miles » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:20 pm

Lincoln62 wrote:Most early S2's had 4 round lights like S1's.

By the staining on the panel this looks like it had the Vauxhall lights like the later S2 or something similar.

+1
My car 4088 has S1 lamps, as did your 3984, and the Vauxhall lamps look much better so it's a likely upgrade.
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PostPost by: StressCraxx » Sat Jul 31, 2021 1:08 am

I'm wondering if the added holes were for lamps for a UK license plate
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PostPost by: zog » Sat Jul 31, 2021 11:52 am

It did come with a front plate that may have come from the UK.

https://lotuscorps.org/pictures/picture ... tegory/156
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PostPost by: saildrive2001 » Sat Jul 31, 2021 2:04 pm

The C at the end means the car was first registered in 1965.
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PostPost by: h20hamelan » Sat Jul 31, 2021 2:21 pm

If they were plate illumination lamp holes, wold the inside lights not block the light?
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PostPost by: StressCraxx » Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:31 pm

h20hamelan wrote:If they were plate illumination lamp holes, wold the inside lights not block the light?


Yes, they certainly would. Perhaps the adjacent hole was blocked off and the outer lamp hole had a combination brake/tail/turn signal lamp?
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PostPost by: Billmack » Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:40 pm

Number 4038 has four round lights and two similar reflectors
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PostPost by: Quart Meg Miles » Sun Aug 01, 2021 10:52 pm

StressCraxx wrote:I'm wondering if the added holes were for lamps for a UK license plate

Early (26 series) British Elans had a lamp like on the dash lamp centrally above the registration plate between the tail lamps. There must be pictures on the forum showing it (mine is not correct but in the right place).

USA export models had totally different lamps to UK, I believe.
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PostPost by: 661 » Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:47 am

vauxhall-victor-.jpg
vauxhall-victor-.jpg (125.44 KiB) Viewed 604 times

vauxhall-victor-.jpg
vauxhall-victor-.jpg (125.44 KiB) Viewed 604 times

There's no space to add a light to go within the existing lamp without severe butchery.
Could someone have added a lamp the other way around to act as a boot illuminator?
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PostPost by: Mazzini » Mon Aug 02, 2021 10:54 am

But then the metal brackets that protect the back of the lights would have got in the way.

Either somebody at Lotus on the production line got it wrong that day or a previous owner had a go. Whatever it was, it's non standard.
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PostPost by: Elan45 » Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:07 pm

Could a previous owner added a small reversing lamp to each side. The pattern looks like some of the Lucas offerings similar to those used at the rear of +2s and MGBs

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PostPost by: Emma-Knight » Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:20 pm

:idea: By size and position original 2x2 tail lamp setup S1 style replaced by Vauxhall cluster S2 style. The small hole for the outer lamp probably disapeared in the outer big hole.
The size of the small S1 hole is the same as the front indicator hole and fixings.
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