What the heck is it?

[Jim Breazeale]

The license lights on the top appear to have been added by a PO.
It does not appear to ever have been chrome plated.
It is brass
It appears to have had 2 small mouldings on either side of the backup light.
I'm guessing Borgward Isabella, but don't have a clue.
The base is definitely the same as a 356A.

[roy mawbey]

Jim,

I am probably falling into a trap here, I looked at your photos and could it be the guy just had the cover removed of all chrome? The 2 holes either side of the back up switch are not original I guess but I think?? my T2 back up cover looks the same?? I know mine is a Hella and I havn't looked at the number today but it is original.

From memory the location screws on mine are at each end of the cover, can't see those on yours?

I must be wrong on this somewhere I guess, I will wait to see where

Roy
RHD356Asuper75 106954

[Jim Breazeale]

Roy

Your backup light is just like the mine. It has all of the things like yours. It may have been chrome plated at one time but I doubt it. The holes for the mouldings appear to be original. The lenses on the top of the thing were added later by a turkey. Mine would have been a "downshiner" originally. Your is an "upshiner"

Regards

[Mike Vollmer]

The color looks the same as a Police car. I tried to find a rear view of an A police car no luck. They did a lot of different stuff to Police cars. Just a guess.

[Jim Breazeale]

The color looks the same as a Police car. I tried to find a rear view of an A police car no luck. They did a lot of different stuff to Police cars. Just a guess.

Mike

You may have something there. It was painted white.

Regards

[Omar Almada]

My 56 westfalia caravan came with a shine down K 1431 hella house same shape but a little thiner as the 356 ,first I tough somebody added upa 356 part in its life but the I found it was a little diferent and discover a caravan 57 publicity magazine where it shows an Image of this as original part for 56-57 caravans, guess it was a popular part for vehicles of that era.

[Jim Breazeale]

Omar

Thanks for posting those pictures. Very interesting! My license light assy does not apprear to ever have been chrome plated. It has the original lenses and rivets on the bottom and the holes for the small mouldings certainly look to have been put there in the manufacturing process. It also has quite an angle on it so it would not have been mounted in a verticle plane. Your comment about them being used in many different applications, seems to ring true.

Regards

[Omar Almada]

You are wellcome Mr. Breazeale .

[Colin Thorpe]

Hi Jim,

The 356a police cars had a shine up light but it was not visible as there was an additional light attached to what looks like what would have been the hell a light.

The light said STOP, bordered with chrome.

Try contacting Helen Goff in the U.K. She is on the DDK forum. she owns a Police car and will be able to confirm.


Sorry no pictures electronically, only in magazines and photos that Robin Hansen once sent me

Sounds promising!

[Dan Haden]

Jim -

As a former Borgward owner (back in 1961 or so my father's best friend used car salesman came up with a B'ward wagon along with a complete parts car companion to replace the 1951 Imperial whose Fluid Drive I had burned up), I checked Google images since I couldn't remember what the license light looked like. Here's what I found. The wagon version is quite similar but with some paint.

So, it's not a Borgward. Maybe a Ford Taunus or Googlemobile or some other weird German car of the period.

Dan Haden

[Jim Breazeale]

Hi Jim,

The 356a police cars had a shine up light but it was not visible as there was an additional light attached to what looks like what would have been the hell a light.

The light said STOP, bordered with chrome.

Try contacting Helen Goff in the U.K. She is on the DDK forum. she owns a Police car and will be able to confirm.


Sorry no pictures electronically, only in magazines and photos that Robin Hansen once sent me

Sounds promising!

Thanks Colin. I don't think it came on any kind of Porsche. This one appears to be painted with small chrome mouldings on either side of the backup lens.

Regards

[Jim Breazeale]

Thanks Dan. I started to look for a picture of a Borgward from the rear and was not successful. Those things are pretty nice looking cars.

Regards