Kel-Lite had been working on a re-design of the Kel-Lite for a while before 1983. The main complaint of the Kel-Lite was the external slide switch which was prone to sticking when dirty and often snagged on belt loops and holsters. Several other manufacturers had been producing internal barrel switches for years and Kel-Lite had little choice but to modernize. Shown below are my two 3rd Gen D cell Kel-Lites. They are both 3Ds which was their most popular size. Like Maglites, the early colors are rare. These lights had the tail caps stamped Barstow, PA and Norristown, PA as manufacturing was located in both towns. The packaging on these lights marketed them as Kel-Lite IIs or New and Improved Kel-Lites because the Kel-Lite name was synonymous with law enforcement lights.
The other 3rd Gen Kel-Lite I have is a 4C. What makes it rare is that it's a C cell and Camo pattern. All of these Camo 3rd Gen Kel-Lites had a D ring (lanyard) tail cap as they were designed for hunters, hikers, woodsmen, and campers who would frequently use the lights in conjunction with a lanyard so they wouldn't be lost or fall and break if they were dropped while maneuvering outdoors. Those that have hiked and hunted in PA are familiar with the rocky terrain that has destroyed many a lights.
Like most other companies the C Cells sold very poorly compared to D cells. So much so that Streamlight dropped the C cell when switching over to the Excaliber series. This is a ~31,000 serial which is near the end of the production run. This light went unused over the years as it was bought by another flashlight company for R&D use.
Shown below is a 3rd Gen Kel-Lite next to an Excaliber. For all intents and purposes the lights are the same except the Excaliber has a one piece head. The lens and barrel are pressed in so they are not removable. This was certainly less expensive to produce but made for a less durable light. I'm a big fan of the 3rd Gen Kel-Lites but not so much the Excalibers.
Shown below are the two Excalibers I own, one 2D and one 5D. The 2D is a KF serial and the 5D is an KD serial. The changeover to Excalibers was likely around KD. I'll explain the serial numbering scheme below. Very briefly Streamlight had white lettering around the bezel of the light instructing users to turn clockwise or counter clockwise for spot and flood. Maglite claimed this circular inscription around the head of the flash light as their own Trademark and sued Streamlight into stopping production. I don't own one of these but there are several examples of them on the web.
The C cells didn't carry a letter prefix. The D cells carried a KA, KB, KC, KD, KE (possibly) or KF. I have a bunch of these lights, only one C cell though, they are pretty rare. The D cells started at KA000001 and when they hit KA999999 they rolled over to KB000001 and so on and so forth. Unlike the Maglites they didn't give any designation to cell size in the serial. When they made a batch of 4 cells they picked up where last batch of 3 or 2 cells left off. When they changed to the Excalibers with the one piece head the numbering scheme continued because the barrels were identical. The latest one I have is KF318849.
I think, but am not sure, that Streamlight switched over to Excalibers in 1986 or 87 when they gave the Kel-Lite name to Nordic. Nordic was a company Don Keller was a part of to produce small, AA and AAA professional lights. The Excalibers continued until 1990 or so. So all in all at least 6,000,000 lights were made from 1983 until about 1990 (F is the 6th letter in the alphabet and 318,849 is the latest serial I have). I've never seen a KE serial though and I'm thinking they may have skipped E so it could be 5,000,000. Interestingly enough this is on par with the Maglite D cell sales. By 1990 Maglite had sold about 7,000,000 D cell lights. Maglite would go on to sell 7,000,000 lights a year in the mid to late 90s, a huge increase in sales. The reason I believe you see so many fewer 3rd gen Kel-Lites compared to 80s Maglites is because the quality of the switch was not up to snuff with the Maglite and the warranty was not as easy to keep up with. Mag had service centers in every state where Streamlight did not.
Streamlight no longer makes or sells parts for any of these lights. I've also not been able to find many replacement parts from other vendors. If you e-mail Streamlight they will offer to honor the lifetime warranty by deeply discounting a new LED flashlight.
I'll include one more pic since I wrote so much. It is of a 2nd Gen Medium Head Kel-Lite next to a 3rd Gen. No parts interchange from one light to the next but the design similarities can be seen. It's also worth noting that the 3rd Gens used an aluminum extruded tube vs. the schedule 40 aluminum pipe of the earlier generations so the overall diameter and thickness was lower.
As always I'm looking to buy vintage and rare aluminum flashlights. Please let me know if you have any, top dollar paid.
I have a KE105293 serial number ;)
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