1980s

Rainbow

“New for the 80s!” After discussing the model 209 Aztec, with its unique sparkly metallic brown finish, the other three lamps in the Rainbow series are plainer, rarer… and got tried again a decade later with much more success. The 90s version, the Elec-Trick, came about after the switch to a crimped bottlecap, so if you find one of these with a screw-on cap, it’s a Rainbow!

Midnight

The 1980’s was a slump in lava popularity. Many models were discontinued during the 1980’s, however one lamp was introduced that would change Lava Lite forever. The Midnight rocketed Lava Lite back into popular culture with it’s most popular color combo with blue liquid and white wax. Originally the Midnight was only available in a few colors such as blue liquid and white lava as well as clear liquid and red lava. It also came with a screw cap like other lamps from the Rainbow Series which was replaced by a bottle cap seal in 1992. Eventually available in almost every single color Lava Lite produced by the time they were discontinued in 2003. Lava Lite knew they had a hit on its hands that would later inspire more “Midnight” variants of other models like the Century and the Aristocrat. The Midnight had a long run, but it was an unfortunate victim of the manufacturing move to China that ultimately ended it’s reign.

Mike Rowe, known for the television show Dirty Jobs advertising a white/blue Midnight on QVC.