Red Lense Under License Plate

This is my first post to this forum but not my last, as I just aquired my '97 Pearl White Riviera that is truely like new, driven previously by a lady who is now 92 years old, with only 31,000 miles (only driven 1,000 miles since the year 2001, according to CarFax)! Anyway, in detailing the car I noticed what looked like a broken piece of red taillamp under the edges of the rear license plate area. I have now noticed that there is supposed to be an entire red lense under the license plate. Mine has apparantly been broken and removed (only under the license plate area). What purpose did this red lense serve under the license plate? I am totally curious as to why it was even designed that way in the first place.

The license plate leans against it. Nothing else.

Thanks for the info...it's still odd that they had that went to the expense to have a red lense under the license plate. I'm learning more about the car every day and by reading through the archives of this forum.

Welcome, Tim and congrats on what sounds like a grrrreat find. POST PICS !!!

RivieraTim wrote:

Thanks for the info...it's still odd that they had that went to the expense to have a red lense under the license plate. I'm learning more about the car every day and by reading through the archives of this forum.

My guess is - it's not really an expense, it's a structural part of the lens and most likely the engineers and bean counters agreed that the cheapest way to make the member (the holder for the license plate and its chrome plated frame) was to shoot it in one piece rather than assemble a number of pieces--once the stylists won the battle to have a real one-piece tail light. Further it helps assure that the thin red strip over the license plate never sees enough stress to start cracking/crazing. It also kinda simplifies assembly on the line, there's a handful of wingnuts to put on and bam the taillight is in.