RARE MAGLITES

[DE73]

Maglite offers dating. If you get online CS and give serial # a nice gal will send you exact month and year mfgr'd

I don't really understand? Can you please explain how to get the manufacturing date.

It got the old bulb style so I think it's quite old.

 

[letschat7]

Love that 4C!

 

[letschat7]

I don't really understand? Can you please explain how to get the manufacturing date.

It got the old bulb style so I think it's quite old.

That is from 10 years ago and it is made by Maglite EU in Germany.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Apprently 4C's are getting scarce. I discovered one of mine was plagued by leakers so I figured "eh, just buy a new one". Yeah, right. The only one I saw was at eBay for $155!!

NIB Mag asking prices are skyrocketing, but I've only seen used 4Cs go up a little. I've gotten a couple recently for $10-20.

How old is this 3C?

Circa-2000, give or take a couple years. The markings and numbering scheme changed after 2004 or so.

I don't really understand? Can you please explain how to get the manufacturing date.

It got the old bulb style so I think it's quite old.

If you contact Mag-Lite's customer service department they will respond with the exact manufacturing date. Excepting a few early models they seem to have lost track of. The bulb in your photo is the newer bipin adapter style, but the light would originally have shipped with a normal metal PR base bulb.

That is from 10 years ago and it is made by Maglite EU in Germany.

The bulb?

 

[xxo]

If you want 10,000. Or they'll custom engrave one at a time for a rather large fee. Like $25 or more.

Apprently 4C's are getting scarce. I discovered one of mine was plagued by leakers so I figured "eh, just buy a new one". Yeah, right. The only one I saw was at eBay for $155!!

I got it fiixed though. Took a few days of trial and error. The usual WD40, vinegar, baking soda and 3n1 oil were no go. Mrs Fixer says "you tried Coca Cola?" "Why no I haven't". We had some left from Thankgiving and 5 minutes later gray stuff started rising up into the pond of it in the barrel and "woosh" it suddenly drained like a toilet flush. The battery came out like it hadn't even been stuck.

View attachment 53338
And it works good as new again.
I replaced the switch and will rebuild the old one after cleaning the parts and pieces.

Glad you got it up and running. Mrs. Fixer had a great idea with the soda.

Mag had some 4C's on clearance along with some 2C and 3C's - I got a 3C to run on 2X 21700's, but I wish I got a couple more along with a few 4C's before they sold out, which didn't take long.

I have lost enough Mags to leaky alkalines that most of the one I have now have never had a alkaline in them, only Li-ion, NiMH's or energizer ultimate lithiums. Considering that alkalines leak, can't even supply enough power and are not rechargeable.....why mess with them at all?

 

[Guitar Guy]

How old is this 3C?

The Panther Head with the R by it on the bezel began in 1996. The serial numbers started getting a C at the beginning in 2003. "Patented Made in USA" stamping ended in 2002 and changed to "Patented in USA" in 2003. So, based on all of that, your light was made between 1996 and 2002.

 

[knucklegary]

Searching for P/N 108-000-009 Walmart even sold these lanyard tailcaps at one time.

Photo from Jason's Blog..

 

[aznsx]

Maglite offers dating. If you get online CS and give serial # a nice gal will send you exact month and year mfgr'd

...but is she worth 'dating'?;-)

 

[Monocrom]

Could Maglite do a custom run for CPF or BLF?

I'm sure they could. But it would have to be a massive number of units before they even consider bothering to do so.

 

[DE73]

...but is she worth 'dating'?;-)

I thing it's interesting to know the age but it don't need to bee so exactly.

 

[ABTOMAT]

One minor note about the lanyard ring tailcaps; the ones with the black rings appear to a later style. Earlier models had rings with a silver finish. The change must have happened in the mid '80s, since my ~1982 and ~1986 catalogs show the two different versions. I've also included one in the photos that fell off the assembly line--it's bare aluminum, not silver anodizing.

While we're talking about tailcaps, I've seen speculation in the past that the square-edged C-cell storage tailcap was some kind of prototype or test case. Well, at least as far as the catalogs are concerned, it was a stocked accessory in the 1980s. Called the Store-a-Bulb (guess Kel-Lite never trademarked Stor-a-Bulb) it appears in both catalogs, although listed as "not pictured" in the newer one. I don't really know the story beyond that. The storage tailcaps they finally made standard on lights towards the later '80s are the rounded style we're all familiar with.

 

[knucklegary]

So the metal D ring must be SS, have you put a magnet to the ring?
Could be bare metal without black oxide or parkerizing coated
The stor-a-bulb cap is very cool accessory 👍

 

[ABTOMAT]

So the metal D ring must be SS, have you put a magnet to the ring?
Could be bare metal without black oxide or parkerizing coated
The stor-a-bulb cap is very cool accessory 👍

Both versions are strongly magnetic. If I had to guess the silver rings look nickel plated but it's hard to tell.

 

[Icarus]

Nope, just a standard gray one.

But speaking of colors, anyone know what these would officially be called? Left to right, circa-2000 pale green, circa-1980 copper/gold, circa-1983 matte irony-gray. They look a little lighter in person.

View attachment 53325

Colors from left to right are Jade, Copper and Grey. The Grey we indeed also called Pewter but there is another color which was called Pewter by Maglite. They are very rare. I have two. One new in the box and one used but still in good condition. The Jade is also pretty hard to find. They exist in 2D, 3D and 4D.

 

[letschat7]

I missed some copper and jades this year being a day late and a dollar short as they ssy.

 

[PCC]

Are the jade color MagLite 2D cell lights rare? I was given one a long time ago.

 

[Icarus]

Are the jade color MagLite 2D cell lights rare? I was given one a long time ago.

All of them are hard to find these days.

 

[Icarus]

Not only the Jade D-size Maglites are rare but also the Gold, Orange, Lime Green and real Pewter (not the grey) are rare.
For the C-size Maglites the Blue 2C & 3C, Dark green 3C, Silver 2C and 3C, Grey 3C, Gold 2C and Red 2C & 3C are rare too.

 

[knucklegary]

Did the C cell ano colors come later after 2005, lights newer style switches with logo on button?

 

[letschat7]

Wasn't there a verabeam c?