How to get a matching pair of Appletons 112

Some months ago I bought me a pair of Appletons 112 for my 50 Mercury here on the classifieds (Thanks michu!)

Interestingly the spotlights were different in several details. One of them did not have a Westinghouse bulb, but a separate glass, reflector and bulb holder. The chromed arm was longer (and bent) and the handle was of a different type than on the other (with a small Appleton sticker). Also the inside mounting hardware were completely different. I am no Appleton expert, but it looks like this is an older version of the 112:

Lamp bucket:




Reflector:



Mounting hardware:



Longer and bent arm:




As I did not want to have a pair of different spotlights in my car, I considered several options:

- Sell one the one shown above as it is bent and - apart from the bucket - has pitted chrome, then get me a new matching one: too expensive.....

- Live with the different reflectors/bulbs, but cut down the arm to the same length as the other? Impossible as this would destroy all the handle mechanism inside the arm that moves the spot.

- Try to find one of the cheaper Appleton Spotlights (not 552 or 112) with a Westinghouse bulb, similar arm and handle.

I opted for the last alternative and got me a nice 551 Appleton Spot for 80 Bucks at evilbay, that looked like it could have the right parts for my 112.

So now I had three spotlights and the hope that the parts would match:

Good 112 on the left, good 551 in the middle and not so good, pitted and bent 112 on the right:

 

I also tried to get a matched pair together. I had one excellent and tried to build a second from parts. I could never get it to work and always seemed to be missing some little part, to make an identical matched pair.
I gave up, cheated and bought the Appleton dummys ($300.00)!
I still have all the parts, maybe someday I can complete a pair.

 

Here's the bucket of the 551:




Here are the three handles. Luckily the handle of the 551 (left) is the same as on my good 112 (top one, has the grip mounted on the wrong side) with the different, older 112 version on the right):



The arm of the 551 is the same length as on the good 112. The mounting hardware is also the same.

Now I took the 551 and the bad 112 apart, which got me this:

- Good parts from the 551



Good lamp bucket from the 112:



I cleaned and polished everything and started rebuilding my 551/112 hybrid. Here are the reworked parts:




I was lucky, everything went together like a breeze: The Westinghouse lamp fits in the 112 bucket and the bucket fits on the 551 arm and moving mechanism:




Both grips were broken. I took the good 551 upper half and the good 112 lower half: Voila, a nice unbroken grip:




The final result:

A pair of similar looking 112: same grip, arm, mounting hardware and Westinghouse lights. The chrome is not show quality but it is still nice. After some cleaning and removing the old grease, the handle mechanism works without problems on both.








I still have to touch up the beige colour of the handles and replace the power cables.

Now I need to get me new flanges and rubbers to mount them on my Mercury. As it seems to be impossible to get original ones for the driver and passenger side, I will rob them from dummy spotlights as has been suggested here on the HAMB.

I am also looking for a copy (or the original) of the mounting template for 49 to 51 Mercurys. I have never seen one.

Cheers, Lukas

 

So I guess I was lucky then.....

 

Sorry for bumping my own thread, but is there nobody out there who has the correct templates to mount 112 spots on a 1950 Mercury? I only need copies, not originals....

 

Try PMing Royalshifter he might have them.

 

Thanks. I will contact him.

 

I have the templates for the '49-50 Mercs if you need a copy let me know? I also bought NOS Appletons for my Shoebox. One was a 550 the other a 451 but they had the shafts and handles I needed with near perfect chrome and they were only a little over $100 buck each! I just switched out the heads and I used the mounting brackets (ground to fit) from a dummy spot, each dummy comes with a left and right bracket. Remember on the mount brackets that the shorter of the sides go to the OUTSIDE of the car otherwise the shafts will not come out in the right spot. Also you may only want to use the template as a loose guideline. Rememer guys like Barris put them where they looked the best usually a little lower.

 

PM sent.

Thanks!