I have noticed some Plymouth tail light lenses about 1941 have a clear glass knob on them. What is the reason that the clear knob is there. Thanks
David Wallace
1958 Fury
I've noticed that too but haven't a clue about why the did it.
You are correct. Original lenses for 39, 40 and 41 Plymouths to name a few do have a clear glass "marble".
The reason for this is for safety, and these lenses where only installed on the drivers side of the car. If you were to park on a street at night, these marbles would reflect the headlights back to the driver of an on coming car, hence the driver could see better that a car was parked ahead. Most of the lenses that you see now do not retain the silvering that is like the reverse side of any mirror. This material flakes off over the years.
You may also notice that there is not a key hole in the drivers side. Again, for safety. It was thought that this would keep people from fumbling with keys to unlock the locked car while standing in possible traffic. AND the big one for me, you can never lock your keys in the car! A lesson that I still wrestle with to this day...
Thanks Lindsay, I knew about the passenger side door, but didn't have a clue about the lense