Saw this car for sale and noticed the fender mounted indicator. I know they were available on many GM cars but I've never seen them on a Cutlass. Was this an option in 71-72 on the Cutlass?

 

That's one-of-none. Those are aftermarket add-ons.

 

"borrowed" from a mid-'70s MOPAR

 

That Mopar, while it looks a little sexy, is like a hot woman who turned to meth 2 years later. Huge grills, stupid Federal bumpers, etc.

 

The fender (sometimes hood) mounted turn signal ornaments were a Mopar thing. Ford also put them on 64-66 Thunderbirds. All this type did was blink with your turn signals. Slightly akin to modern vehicles' side mirror mounted turn signals, to signal a blind spot driver the other car wanted to change lanes.

GM's "Lamp Monitor" was a bit more involved but also more useful. The front fender ornaments had three small indicators- one for headlamp, one for parking lamp and one for turn signal- that were connected to the lamp sockets by a fiberoptic. The rear monitor, mounted inside the car at top of the rear window and visible in the car's rearview mirror, monitored tail, brake and turn signals. If the monitor didn't light when the lamps were activated, that told the driver he had a lamp burned out.

Neat gadget. I see them more on Chevrolet and Buick than Pontiac and Olds. Cadillac had their own version where the monitor was styled into the front fenders. I don't think I've ever seen the GM system on a 60s or 70s intermediate except 70-72 Monte Carlo.

 

You could get them on the 67-69 Camaro as well.

 

I bought a new 85 442 that had the fiber optic indicators on the fenders. Had three lens. One for turn, one for bright, one for parking lights.

 

C3, 68- to the end of the 1971 model run, all Vettes have F.O. as standard equipment.

 

I kinda like them... I wonder how hard it would be to wire up....

 

All of the GM versions were fiber optic. The Mopar units would just wire into the lights. But I couldn't see drilling holes in my fenders to add something that looked like it came from Western Auto.

 

My car is all kinds of chopped up, so I'm fine with it.

 

My car is all kinds of chopped up, so I'm fine with it.

 

i had a 68 ss427 impala that had fiber-optics.

 

68 SS427 is a bucket list car for me. Fender gills domed hood. Did it have the T83 option? (concealed headlights).
IMO 68 was a pinnacle year for most of the auto industry.

 

no it did not but man i scoured junkyards for a set of em,those 68 hideaways are the coolest.