Cheap and nasty rear lights

[NYK]

Many of you like me may have your rear lights for the Plus 2 on back order. The suppliers did manage to get the o/s in several months ago but the n/s is still back ordered after I guess a year with no immediate prospect of it coming back into stock.
Anyway I did fit the o/s to the car some months ago (it’s very close to the end of a multi year rebuild). Today I noticed some fragments of coloured plastic, red and amber, close to the light unit. I was seriously pissed off to find that the lens was broken, now I know nothing has hit the lamp so a bit of a mystery.
On examination I find that there is damage to all of the screw mounting pillars and the plastic is simply flaking off. I have to conclude that the plastic has expanded in the recent hot weather and that the plastic being really brittle has cracked as there was no give the between the screw, plastic and metal. Before anyone asks, no I had not removed the screws previously and screwed them back in too tight.
I genuinely have never seen such an awful plastic moulding in my life, they’ve either used a really cheap plastic or got their moulding conditions wrong, either way I’ll be out of pocket by another £50 when I buy a replacement lens.
I’m afraid this seems to be yet another example cheap & nasty, shoddy remanufactured parts for the Lotus and I’ve come across my fair share of them during the long rebuild.

[h20hamelan]

https://carsthatnevermadeitetc.tumblr.c ... the-elan-2

[2tmike]

Who did you buy from ? I sourced a pair from SNG Barratt a couple of months ago that are spot on. No supply problem and they arrived in nice Lucas boxes. Same as the series 2 E type but they fit the Lotus reversing lamp clear lens

[NYK]

Who did you buy from ? I sourced a pair from SNG Barratt a couple of months ago that are spot on. No supply problem and they arrived in nice Lucas boxes. Same as the series 2 E type but they fit the Lotus reversing lamp clear lens

I bought from from Holden, but their supplier also supply Paul Matty, SJ, Sue Miller et al, and they are all out of stock of the n/s. I just looked at SNG, was this what you bought….. https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#/UK/parts/6a343a2e-c84d-404a-90c7-fcbc08227bef?fromList=Search%20for%20%60E%20type%20series%203%20rear%20light%60&saveBranch=UK as it also seems to be back ordered. As a matter of interest, I presume whilst they fit the Plus 2 lens, there is not actually a reversing light or is there?

[lotusfan]

Even though the Series 2 and 3 E type rear lights appear to be the same as those on Elans and +2's they are in fact different. The E type lights do not have reversing lights and to further add to the confusion there are both US (all red lenses) and UK (red and amber lenses) versions. I think that the US version of the E type light has the 2 bulbs arranged horizontally rather than the vertical arrangement of the UK version.

[2tmike]

Thought I said that.....oh well....

[lotusfan]

Who did you buy from ? I sourced a pair from SNG Barratt a couple of months ago that are spot on. No supply problem and they arrived in nice Lucas boxes. Same as the series 2 E type but they fit the Lotus reversing lamp clear lens

Hi 2tmike - I don't quite understand, SNG Barratt supply Jaguar bits but do they also supply the Lotus version?

[2tmike]

Exactly, they obtain the lights to Lotus spec.Its not mainstream business for them but they do supply the Lotus tail lights

[2tmike]

If it helps, the part numbers are 54581628 and 54581629. If I remember correctly, what they refer to as, say, a RH side lamp relates to the +2 and would be the LH lamp on a 2 seater, best to check if you wanted to buy just one side.

[NYK]

If it helps, the part numbers are 54581628 and 54581629. If I remember correctly, what they refer to as, say, a RH side lamp relates to the +2 and would be the LH lamp on a 2 seater, best to check if you wanted to buy just one side.

Thanks