Vetter Tailight Sources

I've heard some Truck Stops that carry lighting accessories have light units that may fit.

Lonnie

http://www.craigvetter.com/pages/Vetter_Fairings/Frequently%20asked%20questions.html
Frequently asked questions vetter

This link might or might not help you. The only reference I have is the pictures posted by Sidecar Mike of the rig w/ Terraplane for sale. On that rig the small lights across the lower rear of the car can be purchased at any auto parts house or J.C.Whitney. The Vetter company closed operations in 1983 so finding a replacement for the stock tail light is going to be an Ebay or similar deal.

A suggestion I have is to go to J.C.Whitney online and look over the selection of replacement auto tail light units. You might find a right side wraparound unit that could be fitted with minimal body work. Another suggestion might be to try a plastics fabricator and se if they could build a usable lens.

As far as I can tell the Vetter Terraplane users group listed on the Vetter site is no longer at the given URL. You might search to see if it still exists at a different address.

This wouldn't be the car recently sold on Ebay would it?

I found a good picture of the rear of the Terraplane. The brake light / tail light looks as though a rectangular deep lens might be modified to fit.

Measure your old lens (if you have one) and compare it with lenses available from Napa, Autozone, Pep Boys, O'Riellys or the auto parts house of your choosing. if you find one that is close in dimension then you might be able to re-conture the back edge to match your housing. In fact that lens might very well be a bike tail light from a bike produced when that car was built.

The Terraplane was only produced between 79 and 82 so that might be a good place to start. If it's a bike tail light then start with the big names like Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki or Yamaha. Since Vetter produced the Hondaline fairing and the Kawasaki Vetter Windjammer start with those.

Vetter collapsed in 83 with a bankruptcy so there's certainly no reason to search later than that and the Terraplane was not being produced when the company was still under Craig Vetter so that rules out anything before 79 or probably 80. Look at the picture of the rear of the car. The lens is secured by three screws through the outside of the lens. Watch for that pattern on the bikes you look at. I'd guess that the lens was an off the shelf bike part from between those dates.

Thanks for the tip, I personally wrote Craig Vetter and was impressed as hell when he wrote back, twice. Alas he had no suggestions either. This is an old rig listed on ebay around 3 or so years ago before I bought it. Serial # on the TP is 7, so it's a really old one. No stock tail lite in place, just a big ugly trailer light glommed to the backs. It's going.

Originally written by fxdl2051 on 11/22/2007 1:34 AM

Thanks for the tip, I personally wrote Craig Vetter and was impressed as hell when he wrote back, twice. Alas he had no suggestions either. This is an old rig listed on ebay around 3 or so years ago before I bought it. Serial # on the TP is 7, so it's a really old one. No stock tail lite in place, just a big ugly trailer light glommed to the backs. It's going.

You own a piece of motorcycle design history! There were only about a thousand of those ever produced.

Yeah, Craig does answer the mail! I emailed for a suggestion on lowers and got an answer signed by him the next day! I rode behind a Vetter Vindicator for years and loved it. I had to adapt a Yamaha mount to fit my '69 T120R Bonneville but that Vindicator made a believer in frame mount fairings out of me. I never looked back. No fairing, no ride! I'll spend some time seeing if I can find a tail light that looks right for you. Do you have any part of the original mount left or is that gone too? If the base has a part number on it then maybe I can cross check that.

While I was looking around I found that the same light was used on many different models from a single manufacturer so the search isn't as hard as it sounds.

From post#31093: The Terraplane was only produced between 79 and 82.
Not so.
The Terraplane by Vetter may have only been produced between those years but like many other Marques the molds were sold to others and the Terraplane sidecars were last manufactured in Washington and sold as the "Studebaker" Terraplane, with minimal changes from the originals.
This company also went out of business a few years back and the remaining stock and molds were offered for sale on the open market. As I recall the asking price was somewhere around $18,000. I think someone from the midwest, perhaps Kansas, ended up with the molds, remaining frames and miscellaneous parts.
To my knowledge no one has currently revived the Terraplane production.

Lonnie

Originally written by Hack'n on 11/22/2007 3:42 PM

From post#31093: The Terraplane was only produced between 79 and 82.
Not so.
The Terraplane by Vetter may have only been produced between those years but like many other Marques the molds were sold to others and the Terraplane sidecars were last manufactured in Washington and sold as the "Studebaker" Terraplane, with minimal changes from the originals.
This company also went out of business a few years back and the remaining stock and molds were offered for sale on the open market. As I recall the asking price was somewhere around $18,000. I think someone from the midwest, perhaps Kansas, ended up with the molds, remaining frames and miscellaneous parts.
To my knowledge no one has currently revived the Terraplane production.

Lonnie

It may surprise some but in the mid eighties the Terraplane sidecars were sold through a Sears catalogue. It was a motorcycle specific catelogue and had a terraplane on the cover of it. They also offfered Califia products and quite a few other things.
There was (is?) a compnay called, I think, Miriam Cycles (maybe someone can verify the name) that did offer a restored XS100 with a Terraplane attached as one unit. I used to go to the website from time to time but cannot seem to find it now. It seems as though they were in the midwest...maybe Kansas? Don't remember.

On another note the Vetter Yahoo group which is specific to Terraplanes IS alive and well at:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Vetter_SC/

UPDATE:
I finally found a link to Mirriam Cycles as mentioned in my previous post.

According to the site:
"This car was originally built by Craig Vetter of the Vetter Fairing Co. in the 1970's. At that time it sold for $2500.00. Now it sells for $3995.00 plus mounting kit of $445.00 Everything else in the motorcycle industry has tripled or quadrupled since the 70's and this sidecar isn't even double. It's a steal and really cool. You can get a custom XS1100 built buy us with a Teraplane sidecar for $23,995.00 installed in all black. Other colors are more expensive depending on what color you order. Get one and you'll have something really unique. It will probably be the only one in your neighborhood or group and be the envy of everyone you know.
Terraplane Side Car features include:
Air shock
Auto type chrome wheel and tire
Roll bar
Seat Belt (optional)
Bucket Seat
Dash board for radio mount
Special mount system - on and off in 15 minutes
Twist grip adjustment, even while underway
Sleek aero dynamic styling to enhance fuel mileage and appearance"

Here's the contact info:

5911 Merriam Drive
Merriam, Kansas, 66203

(913) 677-4663

Email:
cycles@merriamcycle.com

Open:
Tuesday - Friday 10:30 am - 7 pm
Saturday 10:30am - 5 pm