AusLex300

Is it just me, or do 97+ Es's have a brighter red plastic for their rear tail lights.. Or is it that the 92-96 models look darker due to sun damage?.. The reason I ask this, is that I washed my car today, and I noticed that the tails on mine, and after looking at other people older models, that the color is more of a dull red. Rather than a bright crisp color on the 97+ models.. Any thoughts on this?

Chris

AusLex300

The picture above is an old one before I washed it.. But they seem very dark to me, and its not the camera.. They are that dark in person? Curious...

Chris

Lexusfreak

I think it's a combination of both actually Aus......they did redesign them in 97, but I actually think the 00 & 01's seem to have the brightest of em all & they are only the two colours also......they decided to take the orange out of the tail lights & leave them red & white. Looks almost "jewel" like.

bhandsome

i agree

AusLex300

Thanks for the input.. I understand that obviously over the years they would have designed and used materials that were I guess more modern when they updated these cars, but still I just find the plastic to be really dull.. I also understand that they are probably a little grubby after 7 years.. I have never seen a brand new 96, so I dont know what they were like when they were first introduced. Maybe they have always been dull....

Chris

lexusk8

Chris, that's kinda interesting to see the rather "tinted" look of the tails on your '96 ES. I wonder if it's either just that, or the way the camera took the photo?

Anyway, below is a pic of my old ES ('96 Coach Edition), and note the difference in look between the tails of that and your ES. As far as I remember, my tails never looked "dark".

squarehat

When I first bought my used '96 in Feb of 2002, the driver's side tail had a small crack in it that caused moisture to seep in on rainy days, tripping the the "taillamp out" warning light on my dash whenever it was wet out. I bought a brand new tail at the parts counter about a month later, and the red on both seemed identical--the only difference was the amber strip on the original taillamp on the passenger side seemed a tiny bit faded compared to the brand new one. So, my opinion is that's the way the '96 red is supposed to look. The 97-01 just have a deeper red to begin with.

jhenty

the early es300s, I believe 92-94 had different tailights than the 95-96. The placement of the reverse lights was different and the plastic has a slight tint to it whereas the 95-96 are brighter with no tint to the plastic and a longer orange piece. The 97+ are all brighter than first gen es300s and they went through their share of styling changes too. Personally I think the stock red and white ones of the late models always looked the best, very classy and modern. My tailights are cleared on my 92 but I can never get that effect because of the slight tint they have.

AusLex300

Hey lexusk8,
I had come to the conclusion that maybe because mine is the Lexter addition (Toyota's Windom addition for "Coach") And so they were brought out with a darker tail.. I also realised another point.. When I first bought this car a year ago, the original owner replaced the driver's side headlight.. It wasnt until a few months later that I noticed that he had replaced the headlamp with an earlier model.. Anyways. The original headlight is not a bright silver, but rather a darker coppery color... And so that got me to thinking that maybe the Lexter was released here as a kind of sports model with darker headlights and tails. Dual rear exhuast, and beefier 2.5l motor.. That is another thing that I find different with my ES than with other peoples.. Mine has a more grunty sound to it for some reason, and has a little extra boost to it aswell? Something that surprises me for a 2.5?

Chris

Lexusfreak

Aus, as a suggestion maybe you could take another couple of pics of the back of your ES (take the pics as close to the same angle as lexusk8 has). I suggest this because I'm thinking the angle of your pic & the sunlight may have "skewed" the proper colour of the tail light. A different angle might clear this issue up.

AusLex300

Yeah, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. I thought it was just the picture, or the camera, but it really is that dark. I look at it everytime I drive it now.. We have started to get some sunny weather lately, so I have really been trying to get a good look at it in different kinds of light.. They are darker...

AusLex300

Hey Lexusfreak.. Here is a pic I found that I took with a 35mm cam.. Still very dark.. What do you guys think?

Chris

AusLex300

Here is a couple more..

Chris

AusLex300

Last one...

AusLex300

Night shot...