Here’s A Look At One Of The Rarest 1960s Ford Mustang Accessories

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These days, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan will sell you cars with illuminated badges. It’s tacky or futuristic, depending on your taste. Other automakers have experimented with the idea, too, and there are a ton of aftermarket options on sites like eBay and AliExpress. But did you know that you could buy a Mustang with this very feature over 50 years ago? Yes, the famous horse emblem could be had in light-up form back when Ford was selling hundreds of thousands of Mustangs a year, and yet, the accessory is a rare and special find today.

When the Mustang hit the scene in 1964, it was a near-instant hit for Ford. The name and badging of the car had been an area in which Ford invested significant research. The badge design ended up with the now-famous horse inside a rounded rectangular border. This was known as the “corral,” and was developed from a big-cat badge featured on Gale Halderman’s prototype Mustang design which was referred to as the Cougar.

The badge quickly became an icon of Ford’s performance car for the masses. However, those buying a Mustang didn’t all stick with the standard badge from the factory. As shared by 196667Bob on the Vintage Mustang Forum, these badges have a rich history. He’s kind of an expert on the matter, since he’s been collecting them and researching the matter since 1978.

As early as 1966, Ford began offering a special badge known as the Illuminated Mustang Grill Emblem, or the Illuminated Medallion Kit. The kit came with a light with a horse badge over it, which mounted inside the original corral in place of the existing horse emblem. It was intended for use as either a parking or a running light, and was typically wired into the accessory terminal of the ignition switch according to Ford’s instructions. Ford would sell these illuminated emblems under two different part numbers—the C6ZZ-8B366-A to suit the 1966 Mustang, and the C7ZZ-8B366A to suit the 1967 model. The parts included in the kit are stamped directly with these numbers.

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Ford’s illuminated grille emblem for the 1967 Mustang. Photo courtesy of Paul H.W.

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The illuminated emblem, as advertised by Ford in its 1967 accessories brochure.

It was a pretty cool dress-up item that you could score directly from Ford as an accessory. And yet, the company did almost nothing to advertise the part. According to 196667Bob, the only printed advertising he’s seen for the light-up emblem was in the 1967 Ford Accessories catalog. One reason may have been that the accessory was technically illegal to use in a whole bunch of states due to the lighting regulations at the time. It’s a long list, including Arizona, California, Kansas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Texas. In Canada, British Columbia wasn’t too keen on them either.

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Ford’s installation instructions for the illuminated grille emblem.

Barely advertised and illegal across much of the country, the emblem didn’t catch on as a mainstream thing in Mustang culture. However, Ford wasn’t the only brand interested in glowing bling. Aftermarket manufacturers were playing in this space, too.

Chief among the aftermarket parts was the Silhouette Safety Light. These are the type you’ll come across most commonly when searching for these parts across the Internet. Indeed, Kentucky Mustang LLC was able to sell 54 new-old stock examples on eBay in recent years. Produced by BJD Corporation in Lancaster, Ohio, the light was designed to be installed behind the existing corral and horse badge rather than replacing the latter entirely. Clear and amber glass options were available, with 196667Bob also noting his research indicates a blue variant existed.

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Image via Kentucky Mustang LLC, eBay screenshot
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Image via Kentucky Mustang LLC, eBay screenshot
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Image via Kentucky Mustang LLC, eBay screenshot
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The instructions for installation involve drilling through the firewall, a point common to most, if not all, of these accessories.  Image via Kentucky Mustang LLC, eBay screenshot

Unlike Ford’s version, the Silhouette Safety Light could be installed on 1965, 1966, and 1967 model Mustangs. The text on the packaging is a treat, too. “Day and night it enhances the smart, luxurious appearance of a Mustang by outlining the classic metal medallion in soft, living illumination.” That it does.

Packaging and parts for the “Silhouette Safety Light” are marked “Pat. Applied For.” According to 196667Bob, the patent in question was awarded on December 12, 1967. Indeed, US Patent Number 3,358,135 was awarded on that date to Leo J. Weismantel of Lancaster, Ohio, for the Illuminable Silhouette Display Unit. In any case, despite having filed for the patent on January 14, 1966, it didn’t stop anyone else from manufacturing their own versions of the emblem.

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The patent for the Silhouette Safety Light.

As it turns out, JC Whitney also had a horse in this race, pun very much intended. The company offered an “Illuminated Grill Ornament and Running Light” in Catalog No. 227, listed under “NEW, 1966 Parts”. Quite opposite to the more common designs here, it doesn’t have a backlit corral with a horse in front. Instead, the horse itself was a white plastic part that was itself illuminated.

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JC Whitney’s glowing horse emblem. Unlike other designs of the time, this version lit the horse itself, rather than backlighting it as a silhouette. Photo courtesy of Paul H.W.

According to 196667Bob, the aftermarket may have actually been first to offer light-up ponies. All these designs seemed to pop up around 1966 or so, though Ford’s instructions note a date of October 26, 1965. It’s likely that many of these designs were all in development in 1965 amidst the then-raging Mustang fever. It’s difficult to say which exactly came first, as contemporary materials are scarce online and Ford’s own public archives only mention the accessories in the aforementioned accessory catalog. In any case, The Autopian has contacted Ford for background on how the idea for the accessory may have come about, and when.

Most of these emblems look great when illuminated at night. In contrast, they do tend to sacrifice aesthetics in the light of day. It’s of particular note with the JC Whitney part, but really, it applies to all these emblems. Instead of a bold silver horse set against a dark background, you’re left with something that doesn’t quite stand out as much. This may have had some impact on the popularity of the parts, too.

With that said, though, the parts were at times in demand enough to actually spur the creation of fakes. According to 196667Bob, there was a “miraculous warehouse find” in the 1980s of what were claimed to be new-old-stock Ford illuminated emblems for the 1966 Mustang. This was followed a few years later by similar parts for the 1967 model. The lack of authenticity was obvious, though, with packaging that differed greatly from the Ford versions. Furthermore, instead of a metal horse emblem on a proper lens, the fakes were a single piece of white plastic with the horse painted in silver. Up close, they simply don’t measure up.

Modern versions exist, too. The most common is one manufactured by Scott Drake, a company specializing in reproduction parts. It uses LED backlighting and a white plastic panel that mounts behind the standard corral. It doesn’t look bad, per se, but the pure white output from the LEDs can be a stark contrast to the more yellow light from a typical Mustang’s regular headlight bulbs.

As is obvious, there was a rich ecosystem of illuminated emblems for the original Mustang. And yet, neither David Tracy nor I, nor even Mr. Torchinsky himself, had seen them before. Indeed, his glorious article on illuminated emblems doesn’t mention Mustangs at all!

Thus, I reached out to the community to get an idea of what these emblems meant to real Mustang owners and fans. In this busy world, I didn’t get too many bites, but Chris Jansen from Michigan was more than happy to tell me about his own experience of these neat accessories.

“The first time I ever saw one was at a car show, fitted on a ’65 Mustang,” Jansen told The Autopian. At the time, he was too young to drive, and the Mustang was working its way into his heart as his dream car. By the time he bought one of his very own, the corral light had drifted out of his mind, until a chance encounter years later at an antique fair. The light was sitting in a jumble of other parts, and caught Jansen’s eye. “The guy who had it approached me and asked me if I knew what it was,” he reminisces. “As soon as he told me I remembered that baby blue ’65 I had seen, and I had to have it for my own car. That was close to 25 years ago and it’s still the one that resides behind the chrome pony today.”

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Jansen’s example is one of the Silhouette Safety Lights, in the clear design. “When people notice it, it’s an instant conversation starter and they want to know all about it,” he relates, noting he’s heard of blue and green versions in the wild. Mounted on his car, it’s a handsome thing that looks absolutely period appropriate. Much of that is down to the contemporary styling of the lens, which matched the lighting of the era.

Jansen also later acquired what he reports as a new-old-stock Ford example. By his description, it sounds like it could be one of the fakes mentioned by 196667Bob above, as Jansen reports it has the horse molded into the plastic with a painted chrome finish, though having not seen it, we can’t be sure. As is the case with so many of us auto obsessives, the part is somewhere in Jansen’s collection and he can’t be sure precisely where it lives today.  “I never installed this as I never did like the way it looked,” he explains.

His love of illuminated emblems stretches beyond the original Mustang, too. “I also had a ’94 mustang that I had a lighted horse in,” he says, noting he’s never seen another example out on the street. “I saw an ad in the back of a Mustang magazine for one and sent away for it.” He’s swapped it through a few cars he’s had over the years, and today it lives in his wife’s 1998 Mustang convertible. It’s actually a sharp looking piece, with the illuminated horse an excellent fit for the SN95 design.

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Jansen’s love of illuminated emblems stretches to the SN95 model, too. Note the yellow glow of bulb illumination which matches the style of the headlights. It’s much nicer than when pure white LED emblems are paired with traditional headlight bulbs, which creates a color mismatch.

If all this has you excited, but you’ve got a newer model Mustang, fear not. Illuminated LED emblems are readily available online for newer models and they’re actually a decent match when it comes to styling. They illuminate the horse, rather than silhouetting it, as modern Mustangs don’t use the corral emblem design. They’re a bit showy, sure, but you should have fun and exercise your own taste when customizing your car.

If we were smart, we’d throw an affiliate link here to score some extra dosh on the side, but we’ll trust you to hunt one down for yourself. Alternatively, you could 3D print your own pretty easily, and maybe chuck in some rainbow LEDs for good measure. Or, I could do that? Someone lend me a Mustang.

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Illuminated emblems are readily available for modern Mustangs, like this design from Etsy.

In any case, the history of illuminated emblems on Mustangs goes all the way back to the dawn of the model. If you can find an original Ford or BJD example, or the obscure JC Whitney part, it would make a great addition to a classic original Mustang. Or, you could find a way to mount it up as a beautiful bedside lamp, which would also look particularly excellent. Either way, hopefully you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into a classic piece of Mustang history. After all, here at The Autopian, if there’s some kind of weird light on an old car, we’re going to tell you all about it.

Image credits: Ford, Chris Jansen, Paul H.W., Etsy, Kentucky Mustang LLC via eBay screenshot

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36 thoughts on “Here’s A Look At One Of The Rarest 1960s Ford Mustang Accessories

  1. No shout-out to Wolseley, who pioneered illuminated grille badges in the 1930s?
    Or to Chrysler, who beat Ford to the punch by one year with the 1965 300L?

  2. It doesn’t look bad, per se, but the pure white output from the LEDs can be a stark contrast to the more yellow light from a typical Mustang’s regular headlight bulbs.

    Warm white LEDs exist and this seems like the perfect opportunity to use them. Maybe they assume everyone adding a light up badge to their car has already swapped out the headlights for some sort of obnoxious blue-white LED abomination?

    1. Speaking for myself here, but it seems like warm white LED headlights just straight-up aren’t a thing. If I try searching “warm white [x] LED headlights” they’re still showing me 6500K and up lights.

      I don’t know how I feel about that fact or why it might be the case, but let it not be said that some people don’t want them. (I’m ambivalent–I much prefer the more “accurate” color reproduction of cool white, and I think the problem of too-bright LEDs should be solved via better aiming or selective dimming systems.)

      1. Yeah, not for car headlights so much, but warm white LED chips do exist and are used in things like bike lights because people have figured out that cool white lights are actually worse for your vision at night. I wish they made warmer LED headlights, but everyone likes the look of the cooler ones (and I will admit that aesthetically I do prefer them) so they just aren’t available.

  3. Otherwise ruined by the modern looking headlights the owner put in there. Replace them with some Holly Retrobrights, Cibie H4s (if you can still find them), or best yet, Koito H4s.

    1. You do know that Lucids, VW IDs, F150 Lightnings, and Cybertrucks all have LED light strips running just below the hood right from the factory, right?

      You know the aftermarket is going to support those that can’t afford these cars new with garbage peel-n-stick lighting alternatives.

      1. I’ve seen a couple Lucids here in semi-rural SWVirginia, but nary a Lightning or the others. This is definitely aftermarket: early this morning it was some older NPC car, maybe a Toyota. Saw a grey Charger with it yesterday in daylight. I will say all three were at least straight: someone must be doing it around here

      2. Don’t forget Ford EcoSports and Merc EQs. Many of them look trash even from the factory, because they don’t match the headlight pattern at all.

    2. I’ve definitely seen some on cars where they were not factory. I’m a little torn about this trend because I do kind of like the way full-width lights look on some cars, but as usual the aftermarket versions often look like garbage.

        1. Yeah, people can modify their cars the way they want. This isn’t blinding or anything. Guess I was just grumpy getting back to work after the holidays

  4. Huh. Decades ago when I was in high school, one of my friends had one of these on his ’67 Mustang. It didn’t light up anymore because the wiring harness was torn up from an engine swap (the car was a beater), and we all made fun of how stupid and tacky it looked, with no idea that it may have been an actual Ford offering. Either way, he did actually fix up the car and replace the grill with a normal one for a dramatic improvement in aesthetics.

  5. This is great. While I’m not going to be adding one to my SN95, I still think it’s fairly cool.

    Do have to say I’m surprised that Ford didn’t do a light-up pony on the Mach-E. It seems like a no-brainer given what it is, and Ford’s (now silly-seeming, as the vehicle stands just fine on its own merits) desperation to connect it to regular Mustangs.

  6. Awesome content. I do miss paging through the old JCWhitney catalog for all the kitschy stuff.

    And, mention should be made of the 70s Subaru ‘cyclops’ center light. Not an illuminated badge—but still way cool.

      1. No, I’m pretty sure he did as well. Whether here or the old site, I couldn’t say.

        I just have an abiding nostalgia for them as I never carried through on my plan to rob one from an EA61 (71?) to put on my EA82. Side by side, I realized how much work it would be & how crappy it would have turned out

        1. It gets at one of the things I enjoy most about the Japanese automotive character – tech for tech’s sake, in the most loving way.

          Sure, most people love the reliability and bang for the buck, but I love it when Japanese automakers get enamored with stuff that screams THE FUTURE.

          1. Freaking adjustable suspension from the factory! And I loved the controls on little horns just inches from the steering wheel.
            Pretty durable, too: in 17 years of abuse, only 1 stranded me and that was absolutely my own fault. I even had an EA82 snap the passenger side timing belt—and I still (barely) drove home on the remaining 2 cylinders.
            A shame the way they rusted, though

  7. Fascinating article about something I’ve never even heard of before. At first glance, I thought the JC Whitney version was a terrible idea (having an illuminated horse instead of background), but damn if that idea doesn’t work great on the more modern mustangs!

    Also: “If we were smart, we’d throw an affiliate link here to score some extra dosh on the side,
    Yeah – please, PLEASE don’t ever do that. The incredibly tiny earnings you would gain aren’t worth the descent into shill-dom.

    1. For me it’s a question of whether they’re running an article just to push affiliate links or if they’re adding affiliate links to an article they already would have published. This one seems like a clear case of the latter so I’d be okay with it. However, if they run an article pushing those blinky (and illegal) CHMSL bulbs I might cancel my subscription. 🙂

      1. I’m so torn on those. *Apparently* the science says they’re better for visibility, which makes intuitive sense. I’ve also seen ones that have a more reasonable pattern of something like “blink 3 times, then solid”.
        So it happens to be against the law…but who’s it hurting? If that’s an annoyance or a problem at all, I’d still rank it far below things like red rear turn signals, or worse, taillight-brake light-turn signal all red, all as one bulb per side in the back (like Wranglers and Econolines).

        1. The thing that bugs me most about them is they mean we’ll never get the European thing where they only flash under heavy braking, which I think is much more useful than a slightly annoying and probably unnecessary flash every time you hit your brakes.

          1. That sounds like an extremely useful feature and I get what you’re saying, but I also imagine that’d be difficult or nigh impossible to implement aftermarket?

            1. Yes, and I believe it’s also illegal here which is why Europe gets it and we don’t. Having all these flashing tail lights running around means even if we changed the law to allow it, it wouldn’t work anymore because you wouldn’t know if someone was braking hard or just braking with an aftermarket light.

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