Hey guys! First post on these forums. Just bought a 1980 camaro( loving it already). I personally like the mid 70's tail lights better than the ones on my car, and was wondering if a conversion was possible? Has Anybody tried this yet? I got the idea from a buddy that did a swap on a 1980 firebird and said it wasn't to difficult. What would I be looking at here? I have a couple of years of amateur fab and body work experience so I might be able to swing it. Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice or experiance shared!

 

It really depends on how far you want to take it, and your skills. The '76 are as you know two small tail lights, with metal filler in between. If you replace the tail panel it will give you all the correct form to accept the metal filler, plus the two early lamp housings. But then you'll also need to use the earlier bumper setup too.
You may be able to fabricate the filler section into your present tail panel, and just cut the tail lamp section out of the older tail panel, to allow the fitting of the tail lamp housings. The replacement panel is only $61, so not a huge expense to use it, and cut it up. But you may be creating a car that wont have the value it does now, once you start making changes that aren't easily reversed.

 

i dont havepictures of it but i saw one at a show that the guy had just made a fiberglass piece that bolted in to the stock locationof the current taillights and he had 70 ish twin round lights in his but it looked simple enough