If your tail lamps are unobtainium...

[idrivejunk]

... what do you do?

New lenses for the car I'm doing are not readily available and I have this thought-

Noticed that, unlike anything else I can think of, the 97-03 Grand Prix tail lamps are composed of a very plain rectangular red lens with a backup light square in one corner but they use a complex, contoured, clear outer cover. The black plastic housing of the lamp is a very complex shape also. The clear plastic outer cover is actually inches away from the red lens, and the back side of the clear cover has a blackout grid stuck to it that is slotted and gives the light output it's character. Y'know, Pontiac-y slits like 60s GTO and GP, or 2nd gen Firebird.

So I was thinking that if a guy was to create a plain flat clear lens to fit any obsolete bezel, he could mount any new tail light lens behind that and it must not be illegal if the light is bright and sufficiently visible. A guy could even carve some character lines into the outside of the clear lens to mock a stocker, and / or black out areas from behind to tweak the look. On my GTP, you would never think at a glance that the red lens is just a flat rectangle.

Anyone done something similar? Am I missing the down side? Is this an inspiration for you? Just tossing it out there. The FWD GP lamps are crap, they crack and leak, and the clear cover does not weather terribly well. But I don't think that would have to be the case wth a custom lamp constructed in that manner, and light output seems to be just fine through the clear lens.