Did you know the Firebird and Trans Am had extra lights as an option in the door handles back in the 90’s? How cool is that! Why most don’t know about it? This tiny bulbs would typically burn out in the first couple years of ownership and were then forgotten. To replace, you have to take the entire door panel out. Most folks wouldn’t bother replacing them if you can imagine.
Today we have LED bulbs which last much longer, nearly a lifetime. This special bulb size T5 / 74 can be found on places like Amazon for a few bucks.
I decided to go with the WLJH 6x T5 LED Wedge Bulbs in red for my door panels. You can also get them in various colors including T5 LED in white.
In the last photo you can see how the red matches the factory red interior lighting.
Other uses for T5 bulbs with pigtails
The T5 wedge size 74 bulbs are really small, making them useful for other lighting situations. I found another use for this bulb size with white led bulbs for my 1981 Trans Am using T5 Socket harness pigtail connectors paired with the T5 LED bulbs white. In the 1981 dash the wiper motor plate on the bezel is backlight by a special clear prism pulling light from the back of the primary speedometer cluster. This old prism trick works, it is not very bright. I took the prism out and wired the T5 pigtail into the dash lighting and now that lights up bright along with the rest of the gauges. This could be used to better light the ash tray as well. Little known fact the 70-81 Firebirds and Trans Am’s used a fiber optic cable from the back of the speedometer cluster down to the ash tray to give the ashtray lighting. It is about as effective as the prism as you can guess, an LED in its place would do wonders, for those who smoke at night while driving their classic Trans Am!