Mount sequential taillights

Ford Thunderbirds turn signal feature of 1965 was so cool when it came that  a full automotive world stood with jaw drop. The Thunderbirds came with  a motorized relay in the trunk. Today, there are ICs that give your car running taillights. by Lars Krantz

Walking flashers or running taillights are Swedish names on the fantastic gimmick Ford Thunderbird 1965 called Sequential turn signals.

Five electro-mechanical components were included at that time. Turn signal lever, a flasher relay, plus a pitch relay plus a power distribution relay in the trunk and a brake relay.

The system malfunctioned and was removed after two years but the impression in the automotive world was written in stone. Anyone who saw, a Thunderbird change direction never forgot it.

My Pontiac Bonneville from 1966 has six taillights. It’s made for walking lights.

After an online search, it was clear that several firms had electronic conversion kits for newer cars such as Mustang  2005.

Two rows of tail lights, but no life in the flashers. Now I would build away the Thunderbird complex I’ve  lived with since 1965. Pyramid Audio in Texas had a batch fitting Impala 1994-1996. GM so to speak and as close to Pontiac 1966 I could get. An air light box came in the mail in a few days.

For $ 128 I  got an air-lightweight package in the mailbox. www.blinkblink.com. The weighing was two lamp holders with lamps that I cut away anyway.

Left was two secret ICs in heat shrink tubing thinner than Kit Kat.  The assembly instructions contained no electrical schema, just the color instructions how to to be linked to an Impala from the nineties.

Cable ties, heat shrink tubing, lamp holders that I  cut away and a description with tired images were not that sexy for me.

Cool hard ware was “the chocolates” with wires. The relay replaces original and flashes slightly slower than the original one and gives the rear lights of time to walk.

After downloading a wiring diagram for Impala 1994 it cleared what had to be done in the trunk of the Bonneville.

How it works. The two black are connected to ground. The yellow is added to the Bonneville’s yellow cable to the lamp that sits closest to the license plate. The white goes to the middle lamp with a slight delay and the red goes to the extreme light with even more delay. I peeled off original cables in the lamp sockets and soldered directly to these.

Innermost lamp (yellow cable) lights up as usual and supplies the IC circuit with power. It delays the in  between light (white cable) and the outer is delayed even further (red cable). The cords was connected and “the Kit Kat pieces” were clamped by the original clamps

On the other side, the same thing but  he yellow wire is green. The same colors of Impala 1996 as on  Bonneville 1966 thirty years earlier!

The switch was a done in 45 minutes and now the Bonneville flashes  like a pinball machine  in the intersections. Even the brake light became a sensation.

 

Anyone who wants to can buy two common relays, two capacitates, two resistors building one yourself. One circuit is used for each side. I have not built and tested that it works.