56 Sedan Delivery license plate socket

56sedandelivery

Well-known member
I cannot find the light socket for a 56 Courier license plate. Part number is B5A 13560-A. I can find it for the car but not the sedan deliver/station wagon. Anyone know where I can get this? The one I do have is rusted but still in good shape so if all else fail I can make that work.
 
That is not the one for a Sedan Deliver/Station Wagon. I can find it for a Truck of 51 Ford but I am assuming that they are a different size since they do not list it as fitting a SD/SW.
 

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56 Sedan, the upper illustration is the kind I have on my wagon. I pulled mine apart, cleaned up best I could and painted with rustoleum. The gasket was in good shape, I like the curved striations of the light on the back of car from lens.
 
Is the actual socket for the bulb removeable from the housing? If so, you may be able to find a socket that will fit at a local parts store. A lot of hem have a rack with various light parts.
 
Housing and socket appear to be two parts, BUT there also seem to be fused together. Whether that is from the factory or age rust don’t know. It looks to be solid but rusty. I will probably either media blast it or use a rust neutralizer on it to clean it up. If I get it clean I can get a new electric contact base spring and insulator and should be good to go. The interior is really clean but the exterior is rusty, hopefully surface rust.
 
All the '55/56 wagon models (including the Courier sedan delivery) have the same license plate bracket assembly. So the one on my Courier is exactly the same as yours. Mine was in pretty good shape, but I took it all apart and dunked all the parts in a rust dissolving solution. It is best to press the light bulb socket out of the housing first so it can be properly cleaned for electrical continuity (body ground). I did not use the original wiring, spring and phenolic washer as they were pretty rough. You can buy those complete with a new socket at any chain auto parts store. Just make sure you get one for a bulb with single element. You can either press in the new assembly in your old housing or just use the wiring components in your old socket. But if you use you old socket, it is best to re-plate it using a zinc electroplating kit. That is what I did and I also plated the housing that the socket goes into, separately. If you don't have a zinc or cadmium plating, they will rust very quickly and eventually the light bulb will fail to operate due to corrosion. As added protection, I also painted the socket and housing after pressing the socket back in place using Ford Argent silver paint. If you do this, be sure to wad up a little bit of Kleenex and stuff it down inside the socket before spraying the silver paint. Then after paint is dry, remove the Kleenex and install your wiring components and bulb.
 
That is what I ended up doing. Wire brushed it first then dipped it in metal ready. Have primered it and will paint it. The inside still had the plating on it. Anyone know the color that these were? Mine was just rust so have no idea. If nothing else I will just paint it black.
 
Ford Argent silver enamel is what was used by the factory. It is available in 12 oz spray cans from your favorite resto parts supplier.
 
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