Taillight bezel, tail panel, mounting bracket combination

[imming1965]

I'm having an fitment issue on the taillight assembly for a  1967 Shelby I am currently restoring. I'm looking for several answers for basically the same question
    I pretty sure I have the wrong combination of parts and that's why it's not fitting correctly. And I also already know as most of us with these cars, that are are several changes and versions to deal with according to when it was built..
      I am working on March built car and need to know correct version of taillight panel, trim type and inner bracket combination for that time frame?
     I have raised panel, taillight panel with studded trim bezel with flat  or L shaped inner bracket now and as in picture below you can see it doesn't want to go far enough in to pop rivet up. So I'm guessing I need the other inner brackets to fix this issue. But I want to make sure I have the correct outer parts for when car was built....
      Could use some knowledge of this taillight changes and combinations of parts, thanks Jeremy

[JD]

Yes, there are multiple versions of all the pieces except the lens.

You may need a different version of the Shelby inside trunk black brackets - among other variations the one most concerning yours could be the different depth - early was deeper (flat fiberglass tail panel) than the more shallow later for the raised fiberglass tail panels.

will try to find images and links...

Here is a image of the depth of the early bracket for Flat fiberglass tail panel.

Links:
https://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=10883.msg92190#msg92190

https://www.saacforum.com/index.php?topic=5992.msg51662#msg51662

[Bob Gaines]

I'm having an fitment issue on the taillight assembly for a  1967 Shelby I am currently restoring. I'm looking for several answers for basically the same question
    I pretty sure I have the wrong combination of parts and that's why it's not fitting correctly. And I also already know as most of us with these cars, that are are several changes and versions to deal with according to when it was built..
      I am working on March built car and need to know correct version of taillight panel, trim type and inner bracket combination for that time frame?
     I have raised panel, taillight panel with studded trim bezel with flat  or L shaped inner bracket now and as in picture below you can see it doesn't want to go far enough in to pop rivet up. So I'm guessing I need the other inner brackets to fix this issue. But I want to make sure I have the correct outer parts for when car was built....
      Could use some knowledge of this taillight changes and combinations of parts, thanks Jeremy

First off the raised panel with the lip that rivets down (there is a raised panel version with no lip)typically used the bezel without studs and instead used the one with holes and long machine screws. That however does not address your problem. Looking at the pictures it looks like you have the correct components and shallow boxes. SA installed the tail panel and light components then riveted down the tail light boxes . They used the pre drilled holes in the boxes as a guide to drill the holes in the tail panel inner structure. It is naive to think that SA was thinking about restoration procedures in the future. Sometimes doing that typical way made it impossible for SA to rivet all or even most of the rivets of the boxes.It is typical to see not all of the holes with rivets in them or drilled. If using all the same original to the car components you can hopefully persuade the rivets to go back into the same SA drilled metal taillight inner structure holes. Other times it might take a combination of lining up fiberglass panel and boxes before riveting things down. Sometimes it goes smoothly with everything lining up the first time but most of the time not.  I would start without the taillight box riveted down and go from there to see what obstruction are in the way from allowing things to sit flat and adjust accordingly.

[imming1965]

    Bob, Jeff or JD, can you give me some kind of idea of the period(group of cars) that would have been the change over from studded trim rings to screw mounted trim rings???
     Bob there is not any obstruction that is not letting panel go tight to body (buckets are bottomed out on inner brackets), these are not the original parts from this car, its been worked on before me, that is why I believe I have the wrong mix of parts. I believe the issue I'm having is I need the deeper inner brackets which I believe would correct this issue, I also want to make sure I have the correct taillight panel and trim bezels for this particular car. I don't know which pieces the last person working on it car used from original and which ones they replaced.

[JD]

The reason I took the posted image with the ruler was someone else had a later car with the raised fiberglass tail panel and his was 1 inch less deep.

Could be the car needs the flat fiberglass tail panel.

Regarding the aluminum trim and other part change-over dates, I don't have a good handle on those - sorry.

[imming1965]

thanks JD, I like the info you gave, it helps...

[Bob Gaines]

    Bob, Jeff or JD, can you give me some kind of idea of the period(group of cars) that would have been the change over from studded trim rings to screw mounted trim rings???
     Bob there is not any obstruction that is not letting panel go tight to body (buckets are bottomed out on inner brackets), these are not the original parts from this car, its been worked on before me, that is why I believe I have the wrong mix of parts. I believe the issue I'm having is I need the deeper inner brackets which I believe would correct this issue, I also want to make sure I have the correct taillight panel and trim bezels for this particular car. I don't know which pieces the last person working on it car used from original and which ones they replaced.

It may have to do with how the Cougar light base and how it fits in the fiberglass panel. The stud bezel was discontinued about the time of the raised taillight panel. SA was trying to fix a hand full of problems at the same time. In the case of the bezel it was broken studs during lens replacement. In the case of the tail panel ,the raised panel was integral to the narrow boxes so as to move the assembly further out of the trunk space and give more room for the spare tire to fit. I know others have solved their fit problem with the wider boxes and this would be a simple solution for you however that is not how SA did it that is if you are going for historical accuracy. The narrow boxes where made to pair with the raised panel and the wider boxes were made to pair with the flat tail panel. There is apparently something else causing your fit problem given that original tail panels and the original boxes are made to work with each other. I am not sure if this applies to your situation or not but we all know how repro parts typically fit.

[imming1965]

Here is pictures of 2845 May '67 build I believe.
     It has shallow inner brackets, taillight panel with raised lip, and trim bezel with screws.  This combination works and was original. I'm thinking I either have to use deeper inner bracket or trim bezels with screws. I don't think they work together in any way.
      So basically the question I need help answering is does this March '67 build i'm assembling now, use trim bezel with studs or with screws? knowing that will help me determine which parts I need to replace to make this assembly go on car correctly???
      another question does the stud type bezels only go the the early flat tail panels or were thay also used on the taillight panels that have raised lip also?

[imming1965]

    Bob, Jeff or JD, can you give me some kind of idea of the period(group of cars) that would have been the change over from studded trim rings to screw mounted trim rings???
     Bob there is not any obstruction that is not letting panel go tight to body (buckets are bottomed out on inner brackets), these are not the original parts from this car, its been worked on before me, that is why I believe I have the wrong mix of parts. I believe the issue I'm having is I need the deeper inner brackets which I believe would correct this issue, I also want to make sure I have the correct taillight panel and trim bezels for this particular car. I don't know which pieces the last person working on it car used from original and which ones they replaced.

It may have to do with how the Cougar light base and how it fits in the fiberglass panel. The stud bezel was discontinued about the time of the raised taillight panel. SA was trying to fix a hand full of problems at the same time. In the case of the bezel it was broken studs during lens replacement. In the case of the tail panel ,the raised panel was integral to the narrow boxes so as to move the assembly further out of the trunk space and give more room for the spare tire to fit. I know others have solved their fit problem with the wider boxes and this would be a simple solution for you however that is not how SA did it that is if you are going for historical accuracy. The narrow boxes where made to pair with the raised panel and the wider boxes were made to pair with the flat tail panel. There is apparently something else causing your fit problem given that original tail panels and the original boxes are made to work with each other. I am not sure if this applies to your situation or not but we all know how repro parts typically fit.

Bob the parts I have are all original parts and not aftermarket but not sure which ones are original to this particular car, I'm guess if the inner buckets I have are original to this car that I should be using the screw mounted trim bezels, and i say this because the way the stud mounted bezels attach to the fiberglass panel is the reason i can not get the fiberglass panel to go back and meet up to the body of car.

[Bob Gaines]

Here is pictures of 2845 May '67 build I believe.
     It has shallow inner brackets, taillight panel with raised lip, and trim bezel with screws.  This combination works and was original. I'm thinking I either have to use deeper inner bracket or trim bezels with screws. I don't think they work together in any way.
      So basically the question I need help answering is does this March '67 build i'm assembling now, use trim bezel with studs or with screws? knowing that will help me determine which parts I need to replace to make this assembly go on car correctly???
      another question does the stud type bezels only go the the early flat tail panels or were thay also used on the taillight panels that have raised lip also?

We may never know for sure but a March 67 built car would most likely use the bezels with the screws IMO.It seems like they appearance coincides with the change over to the contoured tail panel .

[JD]

What is the Shelby American completion date in the "problem" car?  I know you gave a date, but is that the SA Completion date or the Ford build date?

Also - in your opening posted images note the number and types of holes in the one photo of the back of the in-trunk brackets, look at the attached image of an early car and see that yours doesn't have the set of holes called-out with the yellow arrows.  The versions without those holes is a later version.

What is the depth of the top flat surface of the inside black brackets, like were I posted a photo with the ruler?

[Bob Gaines]

Can you take a side profile shot of the end of ether tail light box?

[imming1965]

Can you take a side profile shot of the end of ether tail light box?

This is the best I can get right now. It is the later flat style from what has been said already.

[Lfino]

My car completed March 23 1967.
Studs. Several photos if you would like

[Richstang]

My car completed March 23 1967.
Studs. Several photos if you would like

Your car was a knockdown unit sent by Ford SJ on 3/23/67
SAI completed it on 4/18/67.

The Shelby taillight assembly must be looked at for the SAI completion date.