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Veteran
Posts: 104
Location: Gympie area , QLD , Australia . | I found this photo on Google Images .
Was this a factory or aftermarket accessory .
I wouldn't mind doing this on my 58 DCR .
There isn't a lot of old American cars around the town where I live .
I have had some people ask about my turn signals .
I say " Didn't you see the flashing red light "
Most Australian cars have the stop and turn signal lights in different housings .
 (Fin Light.jpg)
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 Fin Light.jpg (85KB - 9 downloads)
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 11221
 
Location: Lower Mainland BC | .
Del S (Dels56) and I both added LED taillights to our 56 Dodges.
http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=64943&...
We also converted the passive reflector to an LED light. I think you could
do the same to a 57 or 58.
http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=75530&...
Edited by 56D500boy 2026-10-04 4:28 PM
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Veteran
Posts: 104
Location: Gympie area , QLD , Australia . | Thanks Dave , great info as usual .
Australian cars have Red for stop and Amber for turn signals in separate lenses .
What I want to do is move the turn signal / indicator function into a different location .
I would like the original stop/turn signal lenses to be just stop lights .
I would like the turn signal function to be in either the original reverse light lens or in a lens in the fins .
I will look in my FSM Wiring Diagram to see what is needed to do this .
Or if you have any ideas .
In your links it seems you were chasing more tail lights and not looking at changing the turn signal function .
Is this correct .
Cheers ,
Greg |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 434
Location: Hilltown, PA |
I have converted a few vehicles to "divorced" or "Australian" turn signals, and its pretty straightforward if you are comfortable doing electrical work on your car.
I don't have a FSM in front of me, so the things I'm telling you are general in nature, but should apply to most integral brake/turn signal vehicles prior to the advent of body electronics modules.
If you look at the wiring for the turn signal switch you will find that power gets to the switch from 2 different sources. One is a feed that will be labelled Turn Signals in your fuse box, and will pass through the flasher before arriving at the turn signal switch. The second is labelled Brake or Stop lights and passes through the brake light switch on the way to the turn signal switch.
Normally when you step on the brake pedal the power flows from the fuse, through the brake light switch to the turn signal switch, which when in the neutral or not-turning position passes the current on to the lamps at the back of the car.
When you activate the turn signal, two things happen. The circuit for the brake light power is interrupted, and the power feed from the turn signal circuit through the flasher is connected in its place. The end result is brake light on one side, flasher on the other.
To convert to divorced turn signals you simply separate the two circuits which will require some cutting of wires, and running a new brake light circuit wire from the brake light switch to the rear lamps. I suggest that you cut the necessary wires a few inches back from the proximate components to leave enough wire so that things can be returned to factory without having to replace components.
First, at the rear of the car, find the power feed wires on your rear lights. Most of these are going to be STT (Stop, Taillight, Turn Signal) lamps. Current convention is that the taillight feed is brown, the left turn is yellow, and the right turn is green, however you should use a test light and your FSM to verify which wire is which. You are going to cut the brake light/turn signal feed wire at all rear lights you are changing.
Second, disconnect the wire from the brake light switch to the turn signal switch at the brake light switch. Tape this off and tuck it someplace cozy out of the way. Now run a new wire from the open terminal of the brake light switch to the rear of the car and connect it to the wires you cut on each rear lamp assembly. These are now going to function as only brake lights regardless of the turn signal switch position.
Third, once you determine what lamps you are going to use as turn signals (either additional lamps or reassigning the reverse lights) you run a wire from the end of the wire you disconnected from the rear lights (the harness end) to the new lamp location as the power feed to that lamp. The function of those wires will now be only turn signals because you have disconnected the brake circuit feed at the turn signal switch.
I don't know what the lighting layout on your car is - if you have two lights on each side (a total of 4 STT lamps) you could disconnect only two of the lamps and connect the new brake light feed to them. This would give you a brake light and turn signal lamp on each side. I would make the upper or outer lamp the turn signal and disconnect the taillight on those lamps so that the turn signal would be that much more obvious. If you were really clever your could get some of the lens duplication stuff and mold yourself a pair of amber lenses to replace the red ones. If you did that you would be duplicating the "Aussie" amber divorced turn signal you are familiar with within the factory lighting arrangement.
Hope this helps
Gregg
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Veteran
Posts: 104
Location: Gympie area , QLD , Australia . | Thanks Gregg , awesome info , that's exactly what I am trying to do .
Cheers ,
Greg with two G's instead of three . |
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 11221
Location: Lower Mainland BC | To add (hopefully) to what Gregg suggested, I offer this 57 Dodge Factory Service Manual Diagram. I think the wires that you will be after to repurpose
(move away from the two filament socket) are dark green (left signal) and brown (right signal).
Further to what Gregg said, *IF* it was me, I would convert the backup light to an amber signal light, perhaps with an amber lens made by George Laurie (at least
he is in OZ) *AND* then add a back up light as a license plate surround (which is what I did when I converted my 56 Dodge's back up lights to two filament, running, braking and signal lights.
Some contact info for George (not sure if it is up to date or not) from the Imperial club:
https://www.web.imperialclub.info/Part/Body/George.htm
Edited by 56D500boy 2026-10-05 3:57 AM
 (57DodgeLightingAndTurnSignalWiringDiagram_1024.jpg)
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57DodgeLightingAndTurnSignalWiringDiagram_1024.jpg (122KB - 8 downloads)
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 10579
Location: So. Cal | I would just put an amber LED into your reverse lamp. When it lights up, it looks very amber. I have tried it and it works well. If you would also like to use the reverse lamp for the brakes, you can use an amber/red LED 1157 bulb. They do make them. |
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Veteran
Posts: 104
Location: Gympie area , QLD , Australia . | Thanks Dave for the info on which wires to use .
George lives about 30 minutes away from where I live , I have been to his place once and he is a great bloke .
One thing I have done in the past is use Lens Dye and painted the bulbs amber and still used the clear lenses .
This was on a AP6 Valiant which had clear front turn signal lenses and clear bulbs .
Do you have a link to what you used for the license plate surround back up light .
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Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 11221
Location: Lower Mainland BC | If you know George Laurie and he is close by, ask him about casting an amber lens. That said, Nathan's idea of using an Amber bulb in the OE back-up
position (with associated changes in wiring) sounds good. I think that bulb would be an 1156A (single contact amber)
Not sure about the size/shape of an Australian number plate so what I used might not work for you. 
Mine was a United Pacific 14 (2 x 7) LED surround. Something like this one:
https://classicautostoreonline.com/products/1953-2023-universal-chro...
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Turn Signals in rear Fender Fins .
