did 69 camaros have gaskets under the light monitor bezels located on the fenders?

If you are talking about the square lights on the side they are called something like paint gaskets or something close to that.

did 69 camaros have gaskets under the light monitor bezels located on the fenders?

No. :thumbsup:

If you are talking about the square lights on the side they are called something like paint gaskets or something close to that.

For clarification, the vigilite was an optional fender-mounted light monitoring system, that allowed you to see if any light bulbs were burned out, without leaving the driver seat. Pretty rare option, and quite desirable, (and expensive) today.

No. :thumbsup:

X2....No, they did not...

For clarification, the vigilite was an optional fender-mounted light monitoring system, that allowed you to see if any light bulbs were burned out, without leaving the driver seat. Pretty rare option, and quite desirable, (and expensive) today.

Yes they are, especially these little gems....:eek:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b339/belairbobs/cobrahead.jpg

Rear Convert display,AKA Cobrahead assembly. Rarer than hen's teeth.

thanks bob

I bought a parts car minus the right front fender. The left fender had the Vigilight but the rear shelf did not. Whoever removed the right fender cut the fiberoptics for that side.:clonk: I wish I had that back part.

Jeff

Every so often, one pops up on Ebay. I just missed on one about 6 months ago. I still have one complete coupe setup. The correct rear displays can be really tough to find.

For clarification, the vigilite was an optional fender-mounted light monitoring system, that allowed you to see if any light bulbs were burned out, without leaving the driver seat. Pretty rare option, and quite desirable, (and expensive) today.

Thanks for that. I don't know that I have ever seen them. I thought he was referring to the corner lights.

Here is the correct rear package shelf mounted display for the 68-69 coupes.


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b339/belairbobs/vigilitecoupe_fiber_optic2.jpg

Interesting. Where on the fender were the fronts mounted? I will have to start paying attention and see if anyone around here has them on their cars.

Surprising that no one has made aftermarket setup for the vigilite system.

alan

Surprising that no one has made aftermarket setup for the vigilite system.

alan

We currently reproduce the lenses,and we've also taken steps to repop the entire systems.

We already have the cad drawings and the necessary tooling lined up for the coupe and convert rear displays, as well as the rubber grommets and yellow lenses for the "eyes",but..... its a very expensive proposition. We'd have to sell decent volumes at high prices to get back the investment. Think $1K plus for a complete new vigilite setup. :eek: I did an unscientific survey of what folks would be willing to pay for such a setup here on TC, and the numbers that came back were about $400-$500 per kit. At that level, it'd take years and years to get the investment back,if at all. We might still do it if demand is there in the future.

I have heard that getting molds machined for injection molding is a very expensive process. I guess that is the way to do it like the big boys do. Any consideration to casting the parts via poured silicone molds and pouring liquid urethane plastic?

alan

I have heard that getting molds machined for injection molding is a very expensive process. I guess that is the way to do it like the big boys do. Any consideration to casting the parts via poured silicone molds and pouring liquid urethane plastic?

alan

We've looked at making the rubber pieces with poured silicone molds versus steel tooling,and also tooling the plastic parts offshore, then actually pouring the parts and assembling here,and no matter how we slice it, its a minimum of about $50K to pull the trigger once the parts are poured. We'd need to sell 100 systems just to break even,and that sounds like several years worth of sales,if they happened at all. We do not think that kind of demand is there,which is probably why they have not been repopped yet.

Is there some way of telling how many cars came from the factory equipped with this option? My curiousity is beginning to get the best of me! I did some searching but I can't seem to even find a picture of any cars with it.

Is there some way of telling how many cars came from the factory equipped with this option? My curiousity is beginning to get the best of me! I did some searching but I can't seem to even find a picture of any cars with it.

Roughly 1450

Is there some way of telling how many cars came from the factory equipped with this option? My curiousity is beginning to get the best of me! I did some searching but I can't seem to even find a picture of any cars with it.
I thought they were common on full size Buicks in the early 70's. I searched 20 pages of 'em and only found two cars with them. I also found about 10,000 Chevelles and Monte Carlos had them from 68-70. I think the front fender parts were the same on the Buicks but don't know about the Chevelles.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb291/yellow69RS/Camaro/73_buick.jpg

Jeff

http://cll.hemmings.com/story_image/39997-500-0.jpg
Chevrolet was the first to introduce fiber optics in 1967. Called the Vigilite Monitoring System, it was made available mid-year on full size models, Chevelles, and Camaros as an option. Priced at $26.35 on 1968 Camaros, it was rarely ordered and as such NOS systems can sell for upwards of $1,000 today. Complete used systems command high prices as well, often approaching NOS prices. In fact, this option is so rare that records indicate just 117 Chevelles were equipped with the light monitoring system in 1967, and only 1,755 Camaros were so equipped in 1968. It was even less popular on the 1969 Camaro, with just 1,450 installations.
http://automotivemileposts.com/autobrevity/lampmonitor.html

$1000 for an NOS fiber kit would be a steal, Someone was re-poping the convertible cobra head for about $2k - $2.5k a while back...

Maybe an old post :confused:

Thanks again for all of the information and pictures. After looking at the picture 98blackburb posted I think I can safely say I have never ever seen them on a Camaro. This turned into an interesting bit of Camaro history. It would have been good had my 68 Camaro came with them but I doubt I would ever add them since they really are rare and to be fair to the originals it makes them even more unique.

We've looked at making the rubber pieces with poured silicone molds versus steel tooling,and also tooling the plastic parts offshore, then actually pouring the parts and assembling here,and no matter how we slice it, its a minimum of about $50K to pull the trigger once the parts are poured. We'd need to sell 100 systems just to break even,and that sounds like several years worth of sales,if they happened at all. We do not think that kind of demand is there,which is probably why they have not been repopped yet.

Hmm, I guess the other factor is you don't really know what your demand would be. Unlikely anyone would be installing the system on a first gen that didn't come with it originally. So the question is: how many systems or parts of systems could you sell?

I can't help but wonder though if that $50K figure can be seriously brought down by silicone molding the metal parts, making wax molds of the metal, casting them, plating them and assembling the readily available fiberoptic cables. The fiberoptic cables could be integrated with led heads or poured resin lenses for the finished products.

But doing something as a hobby pursuit and going into full production are two entirely different things.

alan