This is the right taillight from a 1997 Aston Martin DB7. It’s probably removed from a junked car, and it’s currently for sale on eBay for 149,99 dollars. I presume the left one is also available and for the same price.

Now then, I happen to be in possession of two sets of these items. Two on my car, and two completely red-tinted ones on the shelf. Let’s see what I did with them on my day off.

You guessed right, there’s a trick here. The DB7 uses the taillights from a 1989-1994 Mazda 323F, only using a rounded plastic fairing over them to alter the shape. You can still see the glue residue on the eBay item, and that they say Stanley on them,

When I ordered some replacement body parts for the Mazda some time ago, the seller also shipped me taillights he had tinted completely red himself. It shows, but as they were really cheap (I think 15 eur), I did not give a damn. As today’s Ascension Day and thus a day off, I chose to wrench a bit on my replacement door and later swap the taillights on.

The taillights come off easily enough, and it’s always nice to see that the car hadn’t developed leaks or rust inside, only a bit of dirt has gotten in there.

Of course, you’re supposed to drop a bulb and have it break because you’re a goddamn mook and the universe knows it. I swapped the bulbs over as the tinted ones came with none.

The end result is subtle, but nice. The all-red lights give the tail light bar a more coherent look. The only thing now is to swap my wide-ass alloy wheels on, as the 323F always looks sort of timid with the 13″ steelies and hubcaps.

Later on, I plan to swap over my replacement driver’s door as the one that’s sitting in my storage room hasn’t had any rust fixes done, unlike the one that’s on the car right now.

Same goes for the front fender and the front panel; due to knocks and dents acquired during the first owner’s wheel time and some incompetent race track driving by yours truly, the 323F doesn’t currently bear all of the sheetmetal that it was born with. It’s a shame, but hey, that’s motorsport. At least the end result will be that the car has zero resprayed sheetmetal, so none of the repairs will show unless I bodge up the panel gaps.

Here’s what my 323F looks like from the front. Yeah, I know, blurring the plates is an iffy thing to do since I never blur the ones in my street sightings, but it’s something I’ve chosen to do with my own cars ever since some of my photos were used to advertise a junkyard-condition 323F. In the photo, I’m using my third hand to fill up the tank.

In closing, here’s Ascension Day by Talk Talk. From their Laughing Stock album that proved to be their final joined effort, it’s a haunting strum. It’s also quite close, atmosphere-wise, to singer Mark Hollis’ eponomoys solo album.

[youtube width=”720″ height=”523″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGHwWwQw3tc[/youtube]

 

[Images: Copyright 2012 Hooniverse/Antti Kautonen except for DB7 image: automobiles-designs.blogspot.com and DB7 taillight image slava81@ebay]