Ok I am getting a little annoyed with my tail lights. I am constantly having to fiddle with them to get them working again. I replaced the sockets but the bulb fitment is HORRIBLE so get a very poor connection. Also the bulb socket will fall out of the housing all the time. I ended up soldering a sold ground wire to the bulb socket itself since the orginal was very poor. Is there a place to get hiher quality sockets for the brake light/park light bulbs? Or some fix for this? Is this a common problem? I have talked to a few buddies with the same complaints.

Thanks
Zack

Common problem. I purchased replacements from Classic Industries and they were of the best quality that I have been able to find. I am sure there are other places, but the units from C.I. have not give me a problem since their replacement.

Mine do the same thing... always have to wiggle the wires to get them to light...

My sockets are in good condition. Has anyone ever disassembled the socket, cleaned up everything and then re-assembled?

What happens is the crimp connection goes bad. That's the connection where the wire is crimped into the back of the socket. Corrosion is the problem and it's not really fixable. I've cut sockets out of 80s cars, with about 6 inches of wire, and soldered and sleeved them in. The style of the socket is different but as long as it twists into place and has the right amount of wires, it will do the job. Look for something clean on the inside and not corroded up where the wires are crimped in.
BTW
Using a quality light bulb helps. The soft contacts on the bottom of the bulb flatten out over time. Even if the bulb is good, these contacts can make intermittent contact.

If you don't care if the sockets are the original type or not, then go to the local parts store and look for some replacement sockets, that I believe are for a f**d. They have a metal housing and don't twist in, they have the springy "fingers?" all the way around them. They fit fine in my 68, although they are a little tight. But they never fall out, which my stock ones did all the time. These sockets also have a male spade on the housing that allows you to easily attach a ground wire if you want for extra insurance that they are grounded. This probably isn't needed since they fit very snug, but I attached a ground wire here just to be certain I didn't have any of the problems I had with the stock sockets, which many time didn't ground even when they didn't fall out.

I've had these sockets for many years, with no problems. I couldn't count the number of times I had to open the trunk to fix my originals.

I think 2 problems have surfaced in this thread, one an electrical connection and the second is the plastic socket that holds the bulb doesn't stay in place in the housing. For the later a dab of sylicon before you place them in the housing and twist them in place works well. You won't find your bulbs just hanging there when you open the trunk and if the bulb burns out you can break the seal to get at the bulb with just a twist...