The development of the rear light
07/10/2014
Yes, it was a long development that the rear light of the automobile went through. At least that's what the motoring press found in 1981 and put together four contemporary witnesses. We don't want to deprive our readers of the original wording from back then:
"The tail light is as old as the car itself. From the very beginning, it was obvious that precautions had to be taken to protect a following road user, whether on horseback or on a trolley, from a sudden collision.
In the beginning, in 1899 on an English Wolseley, a simple kerosene lamp was used.
Later, however, the rear light was integrated into the electrical power supply and its design was treated by the stylists. This happened in a very modest form on the original Beetle in 1946, but then the Americans showed us how to design a tail light into a lavish lamp: in 1955 on the Packard, in 1966 on the Dodge Monaco.
Today, the rear light, usually combined with the brake light and reversing light, shines from a functionally designed overall housing, integrated into the body and - here on the new Audi Coupé - not only for reasons of taste, but also for the benefit of air flow."
It was not until the 1990s, or rather the new century, that a further surge in development began, when LED lighting and other design aids were used to create true design masterpieces, lamps were adapted to the vehicles with tints and the lights were sometimes distributed over the entire rear area.
The photo from 1981 can of coursebe found in the Zwischengas photo archive .
