'74 Taillight Questions

[Super_Dave]

I have not brought myself to be able to update the disaster that happened to my '74 build as it sat in a shop 90 miles away for 15 months of work. Short story, my brother, myself and AAA hauled it back home.

I am trying to formulate a plan to repair thousands of dollars in damage while not dropping any more bundles of cash.

To that end, and because I have to repair body damage and paint anyway, I am considering the following:

The taillights are OEM, as is the bed. The taillights have ridiculous gaps between the top and the bed... I can stick a full finger tip in the gap. Maybe that's the way all squares are. So, since I have been going with the shaved theme on the moldings, I want to weld in a set of MAR-K Taillight Fillers. This will require adding some sort of taillight assembly.

Question #1: (photos please)
Has anyone used the MAR-K taillight fillers and how did it go?
Has anyone deleted their Squarebody OEM taillights and what did you replace them with?

Since I want the shaved-smooth look, I will also be smoothing out the tailgate with the MAR-K filler that leave room for the release handle, or the full tailgate cover with a handle relocation kit.

Question #2:
Has anyone used either of these MAR-K products? They appear to be accurately produced from good material and the price seems very reasonable and it would save me a lot of fabrication time. . . and open up potential lighting locations for Billet LED Taillight and Brake Light Inserts..

[Super_Dave]

I am thinking something along these lines. . . but not slammed.

Except either use the verticals on the bed corners or move from the rolled pan to the smooth tailgate. I still want to use a bumper, in which case I would need to reroute the wiring in a creative fashion to allow the tailgate to open.

[Sabaka454]

I used them on mine. They were great quality but in all honesty, I will probably gut everything and revert back to stock.

[Super_Dave]

Originally Posted by Sabaka454

I used them on mine. They were great quality but in all honesty, I will probably gut everything and revert back to stock.

Just a change in taste or was there some functionality issues over time?
What did you use for taillights? Any photos?

[78 Big10 454]

Originally Posted by Sabaka454

I used them on mine. They were great quality but in all honesty, I will probably gut everything and revert back to stock.

I took the same route, except I eventually went back to stock.

[Sabaka454]

did caddy tails and smooth gate. was badass when I did it but now every time I look at it I wish it was stock. especially since 73-74 looked the best imo

[Super_Dave]

Originally Posted by Sabaka454

did caddy tails and smooth gate. was badass when I did it but now every time I look at it I wish it was stock. especially since 73-74 looked the best imo

Thanks. Appreciate it.

I would have left my '74 more on the stock side, but NOS replacements were out of the question, used OEM of any decent quality are hard to get your hands on in my area, and Import sucks across the board, as they believe in "close counts Manufacturing." So, it morphed more and more into a custom project.

Then when this last shop did what they did, it just pushed me over the edge and I pretty much decided that any "lower cost" creative modification to repair or cover their damage was going to be the new approach.