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Have read various forums' discussion whether our feeble vintage/Classic era tail lights are better served by painting the inside of the housings with chrome spray paint or gloss white enamel spray paint.

We've seen NOS junior and senior prewar tail light housings and they're white from the factory. However, it
appears after the war, at least in 1947, at least in my '47 2103 Super Clipper delivered new July, '47 at the Packard dealer in San Luis Obispo on the California coast,
the insides of the tail light housings in which the tail/brake and turn signal bulbs sit are unpainted shiny metal.

Is this simply polished stamped sheet metal terne- or tin-plated,

or....? You tell me. It's not stainless steel. Mine's quite shiny inside, a little less so than chrome, perhaps akin to a new, unscratched stainless sauce pan, if that gives you an idea.

Will polishing them with Brasso, etc. diminish them in the least?

Packard was, hold the presses, in business to make money, albeit offering a fine product. Did they stop painting the insides of the tail light housings after the war to cut cost, get product out the door faster to a car-starved public? Or?

Have heard that gloss white cuts down the light "bouncing around" within the housing. True?

Safety wasn't much of an issue back then, but bling was always in demand. So if painting the tail light housings' insides gloss white would've even slightly brightened the tail lights, calling attention to the car, the Company viewing each car as rolling advertisement, you'd think Packard would've continued doing this after the war.

Or ....?

Likely hair-splitting, but i've already got the spray can of gloss white enamel and it's no Herculean effort to shoot the insides of the housings. But if this is only a sideways move, why bother?

Any opticians, refraction engineers, lighthouse keepers among us care to weigh in?

Many thanks. Enquiring minds wanna know. Please, stay focused on all the questions above. The car has a healthy battery/charging system, new wiring harness bumper to bumper, good grounds, clean lenses. We're here gathered strictly to glean the last word in extracting the nth degree of tail light lumens in a healthy six-volt system. So p l e a s e, no interminable 6-8- or 12-volt conversion nonsense. That ain't happening. No street rod malarkey for us. Simply want to know what we can do to get all the luminosity from the above healthy stock system.

That's a good question. I'd be curious if anyone in the hobby has ever done a direct comparison between gloss white, aluminum paint, stainless, plating or whatever. There are some sites that suggest reflective aluminized mylar sheeting is better than white paint.

I believe they painted the insides of the instrument cluster white as well but IIRC the postwar (at least 54 & 56) taillights are plain. Anyone with ideas on what they do on new cars?

Believe some of the separate bulb headlights are sent to metalizing places for a silvering (or maybe it's aluminizing) these days so that must be the most reflective.

I do recall reading an article in a magazine regarding the reflectability of silvering, painting and tinfoiling. I seem to recall that when they measured the light, they found that silvering reflected a high amount. I believe 90%. Wherease all other coatings/methods, the best that they could do was about 65%. I'll try to locate the article and report back if my memory is accurate.

Mark