Superior bullet lenses

Any ballpark guesses what four Superior bullet lenses are worth? (and does anyone need them?) The woman I bought my 68 Superior from has 4 for sale, but she wants $400 for them and won't sell just one - I just wanted one for a spare. Does the price sound right for just the lenses and the thin trim ring that holds them in place? Anyone interested in the other 3 at that price, or is it way too much?
 

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once again it's the nursing home thing. it just depends. I would say she is high. but then I don't need them. they show up now and then on e-bay and at swap meets. there was a set with the swappers in Hudson if I remember right. so me I would not give over half that for the set. then they better be sharp. just lenses no housing or fixtures 100 bucks is high. a lot to invest in shelf sitters
 
Superior lenses

I saw ambulances in Hudson with these lenses. What else I noticed was that there seems to be 2 sizes of this design. Both had Superior on the lense. One coach had what looked to be very long bullets and the other coach had lenses that were a bit shorter. The mounting bases seemed to be the same item on both cars.
A superior Superior expert may be able to tell us more about this.
Like ED, I think that $100 per lense sounds high. But I am not the guy needing one or more of them. I just over paid for a transmission seal because it was the only one availible and I had to have it. No seal, no working trans.
Mike
 
While I'm not familiar enough with current market rate, I have learned that these lenses have never been reproduced. That alone swayed me from buying 8 good matching bases found in a yard - which would have likely ended up as even more expensive shelf art.
 
She'll probably still have them in 10 years if anyone ever needs them. Thanks for the advice - since I don't need them, I'll hold off at that price.
 
I have a few NOS ones, and have sold them in the past. Like Mike said, when you need the part, the price sometimes isn't that much of a factor, since you need it. I paid a lot more for than $100 for a single part, when it was the only one to be had. Right now, I need a seal for my Chrysler, and there are no NOS ones to be had. The current production seal doesn't work well, so if I found a NOS seal, I would have to pay the asking price, or do without.
 
Mike you're right about at least 2 different lengths on the bullet lenses. The ones on Miamitown are longer than the ones pictured above... and i've seen the shorter ones too but can't say if there was a casting change at some point or what was the reason for different lengths of lenses.
 
lenses

I will eventually need 8 of them if I ever restore my second '70 Superior Pontiac. Are they used as longer lenses in front and shorter lenses in the rear?
 
long and short

On the 2 cars I saw in Hudson I only looked at the front lenses. Never thought to look at the rears to see if the same length was on both ends of the car. Both were ambulances. One belongs to Dwayne Brooks. I don't remember the name on the plaque for the other car.
How many Superior ambulances with bullets were in Hudson? I am sure the second car would not be hard to track down.
Mike
 
I only remember ever seeing one size lens....... GIANT as compared to the 1959 Cadillac Rear Red Lenses..
 
There definitely were different sizes throughout the years. The way these cars were built, it's hard to tell what would be correct for a certain car after both sizes were in existence. Here are a few examples from Hudson:

Dan Skivoloke's '59:

supbullet1.jpg


Smith '68 Pontiac:

supbullet2.jpg


Steve Lichtman's Pontiac:

supbullet3.jpg


Oddly enough, even though I spent the better part of the weekend in the shade of Dwayne's Superior, I don't have a pic handy for comparison...
 
picture of lenses

This lens thing can be helped greatly if the owners of Superiors with bullet lenses will take pictures with measuremets. Ruler, lens, camera, snap, it is done.
On some of these pictures they look to be different size bases too. I thought they were just long and short ones. Now we are totally confused.
Mike
 
'70 Superior Pontiac

Unfortunately the '70 Superior Pontiac I bought from Art did not have the bullet lights on it when he acquired it, so there is no way to know if the ones he located and installed are actually correct. But they look fine just the same. My new '70 Pontiac Superior I bought for parts is missing all eight lenses.
 
like everything else with these cars nothing is constant. the bases changed around a lot but I can say all 8 on the 63 are the long ones.
 
IMG_7466.jpg

Although the tips are different, the left two are marked "Superior", and although the middle one has its ring, the lens is sitting on its base just as the one on the left. Their base diameters are equal. The right one is the rear lens for the free-standing models. I don't have any for sale.
 
We identified that smallest one before. Without looking up the thread I'm going to say it was a '56 Chevy tail light. I know it was a '56 something.
 
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