Third Brake Light
 

Do y'all know the legend of the third brake light, like which 280zx's had them. I found one at the Ecology Auto Wrecking here, paid $5.00 and now have it mounted where my plate used to be. I just spliced the license plate light into the panel and viola! three little bulbs illuminate the words "280zx". It looks nice, especially before I had to mount the back plate to the bumper, but the colors is a bit odd- its a light salmon color, but it two tones well with my metallic silver. Anyway I just wanted to know if anyone knew why so few cars have these.

It's an aftermarket add-on, 3rd eye brake lights weren't required till 1984. Anyways, 5 bucks is cheap, that thing was on ebay and went for over 20 if I recall correctly.

SoCal, you're talking about the center light piece that sits between the tail lights? I don't think any came from the factory w/ that piece. It's an aftermarket option that was trying to make the rear light panel look more like a Porsche.

http://i7.ebayimg.com/04/i/05/40/b9/c1_1.JPG

Yea, I had one orginaly and got rid of it and shaved the rear trunk lock. I dint like it very much. I didnt know it was an aftermarket option though. News to me

I don't care where it came from... That thing is FUGLY! But, to each theirown I guess.:rolleyes: If you're going for the totally bitchen stock 80's muscle car look, that and a set of louvres for the rear window and side windows, and some cool tires with raised white letters is the way to go. Oh crap... I just described Carls Car!!!:p

Rod.

I've actually got a schematic all drawn up for an LED third brake light that mounts to the inside of the hatch. I haven't had much time to toy with making it though. I've got the parts list of all the LED's, drivers, regulators and other electrical do-dads needed to make it work but haven't actually ordered them. I'll get around to it eventually and then I can figure out what size to make the housing so I can fab that up. When I finally get around to it and make one I'll take some pics for you guys to see. But don't hold your breath, I've still got a lot of stuff to take care of.

You can get various LED 3rd brake lights from JC Whitney for like $10 or so.