amc marker lamp interchange

Late Model AMC License Plate Lamp Interchange to late 1960's Fender Side Marker Lamp

Update 2015: If you need the clear side marker lens mentioned in old below article, you can buy them new from BJ's Offroad for about $7.

If you want correct amber colored lens mentioned below, the correct lens/lamp was reproduced in 2010 and is available from a number of AMC vendors for about $55 per side. Good is the lens color, texture, everything is concours correct. Bad is cheap shit Chinese bulb inside which are not as well made as American original ones (which many still burn after 40+ years) and something simple like going over rail road track or speed bump can break the filament!

------------original article from 1980s------------

For those of you who own a 67-68 AMC like Rebel, AMX, Javelin (and possibly Ambassador) on your front fender there is a small amber marker lamp. They clip in, to remove them, simply crawl up under the vehicle's fender and gently tap them with a butt of a screwdriver. They are plugged in with a small two plug shaped like the letter "F". Years ago there was a fellow reproducing these and they sold well for about $50 per side. Originals are obsolete. I have heard of people taking them apart and saudering in a new bulb and resealing them. I don't know if this is possible but I guess if people say they have done it then they have done it, every one of these I have tried it on have broken due to age, they were not intended to last 5-10 years you know.

Here is a cheap alternative. On many Spirit, Eagle and Concord Series vehicle starting in roughly 1980 (it could be before that, I just know I have pulled them from 80-up) the license plate lamp is the same. Yes, same as the 60s type except it is clear, not amber. But they are more plentiful and a lot easier to find and cheaper when found. Granted, if you put one on your earlier AMC it will have clear markers in the fender but to me at least that is a good thing for added visibility, just not stock. Possibly one can take these apart which aren't brittle from age and change the bulb to amber. They snap in just like their counterparts did a decade earlier! And plug in the same, no altering.

Here is another tip I have used which might benefit someone. Since most of my cars are daily drivers, and in Houston you always need the added visibility, I splice my turn signal wires on each side, then cut the wires going to these side markers. I then rewrap the cut marker wire, and tape up the spliced wires. So now, when I turn on my turn signals, the side markers also blink on that particular side, just like many new Volvos, Mercedes (hey we ARE related to THEM!) and some SUVs do. Again, not stock, but any amount of added visibilty on the road nowadays is to me at least, a bonus. Good luck with your AMC.