'56 Flying Cloud - Exterior Lights

The Bargman company made most of the lights used by Airstream in the '50's & '60's. These small #9's with #11 lenses were used from about 1954 to 1958.

A completed Bargman#9 taillight. The same Nuvite polish used on the exterior skin will work on the lenses too.

These were the removed lights - pretty much piles of rust

Tail-lights

- click on any image to enlarge -
Rebuilding - First try - 2002

To remove the rust, all the metal parts were sandblasted and painted with silver rustoleum. Cork seals were cutout similar to the old. (bad idea on both -2009)

Broken down into its 3 major components. The light socket contacts are new replacements from the auto parts store =>

There are a lot of parts involved. The black strips are mastic strips used to seal the lamp housings in the trailer cutout.

View of the rear of the completed light showing the cork flange seal. (another bad idea - 2009)

Trailer cutout showing corrosion under and around opening. The electrical system was set up for dual element 6V bulbs for separate stop and turn circuits, not at all usable with todays tow vehicles. I disconnected the old stop light circuit and installed modern single element bulbs.