Guide 682-c's being sold for high $$$- FAKES???

Guide, Arrow, King Bee and tons of other companies were making aftermarket head lights and made lots and lots of them. People were upgrading their incandescent lights to sealed beams and also some companies were using them on trucks, fire trucks, etc right from the factory. So there are a LOT of lights out there. We tend to think only hot rodders were using them but that was a very small part of the overall market. I remember as a kid seeing them on the shelf of the local auto parts store making it possible to just walk in and buy a pair.

As for $900 being outrageous, one man's bargain is another man's outrageous. Look at what winter front grilles, 25 louver side panels, and some of the old speed parts bring. If you need it and want it you will pay whatever it takes to get it. I have sold some parts on Ebay that went for money that shocked the hell out of me. Not that I was unhappy, mind you !


Don

 

Thanks for the link to the HAMBer selling repro tags - I have a 682-J pair that a previous repainter sanded off most of the detail on the tags.

And while we're on the subject, can someone identify these lamps - I'm assuming they're Guides or BLCs, although they have no tags? The mounting cups are "upside down" to me, and the wiring connections seem a little exposed stuck on the outside of the bucket!

Thanks.

 

The only reason they are worth 9 bills is the assurance to the buyer that next year they'll be worth a grand. Everything is priced based on what someone will pay for it. I wouldn't pay that for headlites but I'm sure the next guy would. To each his own, after all, it's only money, they'll make more, money that is! And in this case, headlights too, I guess.

 

I have a pair just like that on my Tee. I too wondered if the were Guides?

 

I have checked my tags and they are definitly aluminum. The font is identical to the ones you posted and the "HEAD LAMP" is two words. My rivets are brass and the printing is pretty heavily stamped or embossed into the tag.

I have been told, and I'm not sure, that the repros are not exactly perfect repros and as such are pretty easy to spot. The last NOS set I saw was sold by Jack30 on here in the neighborhood of $750 about two years ago.

 

I'd have to say that they have been one of those "must have" items for a while but there is also that cadre of people who will only settle for the so called NOS items. There also are the guys who have some beat up ones who have been quoted stiff prices to have theirs repaired. The "well, there is going to be five hours in that one and six hours in that one at $$$ and hour plus the painter plus having the chrome redone plus----

And I suspect for some guy it's cheap as compared to his one off billet head light buckets that were on the designer built show rod he had built two years ago and he is grabbing all the pieces the shop building his "traditional" three window says he has to have.

I'll just have to settle for the cheap ones that no one else wanted at the swap meet.

I've got a little 254 Ford flathead six going into a roadster and you haven't seen expensive until you start hunting heads and manifolds for one of those.

 

Kinda like Bates motorcycle seats. And the weird part is that if they don't have a sticker/tag on them, 99.9% couldn't tell if they were "hot" or "not". I probably couldn't, but I'm not really into the part of the month club either.
Larry T

 

The quickest and simplest giveaway on these gypo lights is the rivets on the tags. All the old lights illustrated here have a nice broad rivet with either a slightly flat or dome top which covers the bulk of the edge of the tag at the bend and the "notch" in the script printing. I checked a couple sets in the garage that I have, both Guide and B-L-C, and the rivets are quality smooth top pieces not the cheesy off-center punch that the gypo lights show.

 

I agree. My rivets are perfectly set and centered.

 

those apear to be Guides for BIG trucks.

 

If you look at some of the other pictures of the lights in question, the rivets on the tags look OK. Seems to me like maybe a reflection makes the rivets look funny in the picture in the first post.

Just saying.

 

Thanks, I wondered if it was something like that, although don't really get the exposed wiring terminals - unless there should be a weatherproof cover there? Like someone else mentioned, I got them for the turn signal function, so a bit of cutting and welding underneath will have them mounted up and safely wired. I actually prefer the plain style without the lights on top, but I've yet to find a separate turn signal light that I like the look of.

 

Hey Rem if you want to change your mounting arrangement get on the OTB website as they sell the bases separate with bolts in place of the rivets. I have a set without the marker lights but with the same mounts as you have and that's what I did. Fitted perfectly on my OG dropped 32 headlite bar. On my set "Guide" was stamped in the mounting bracket so look closely at yours.

 

Don, I just got to warn you, I am stealing that pinstripe design! Flows well with the light, very cool.

 

I have 3 or 4 sets of Guides....none have tags, but all have "Guide" stamped into the bucket, usually underneath near the rim.

 

A fool and his money....

Just be glad we all know better than spending over $800 on a set of $100 (tops) headlights. Even if they are real.

I remember watching Ebay wars for small chrome dashboard lights, sometimes ending upwards of $300 for a single light. All for something you can still buy brand new from Cole Hersee for about $12. Ya just gotta laugh.

 

For those wondering where to buy new tags to restore your lights, you can get them right HERE:
http://jalopyjournal.myshopify.com/products/b-l-c-headlamp-tags

 

beat chest must win auction ..money no care..

 

Thanks, I consider that a compliment. Skratch freehanded all of that and more onto my old 23, the guy is amazing. He can gab to people looking over his shoulder and lay down stripes at the same time. Very cool guy. Wish he was around these parts again, I would love some striping on my 27.

Don

 

How come the other brands, which are essentially the same light, don't command those high $$$? Is it really about a tag and a turn signal add-on?

 

I bought some of these a few years back, and I'll never use them, They look cheap the stamping size is incorrect and they aren't acid etched , they look nothing like the originals.

 

The lights on the top of the Guide and B-L-C and other lights are NOT turn signals, they are park lamps with single filament small bayonet base bulbs. They are wired in the headlamps to the low beam.

 

That's easy enough to resolve, which is what I am doing and I am sure others as well.

 

Taking this opportunity to vouch for the quality of the tags H.A.M.B. member "193257" has for sale in the link below. My Dad ordered a set for a pair of Guide 682-J's, perfect! dead match, down to the rivet spacing. These are not some cheap silk screened version, these could pass for N.O.S..

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=655642

 

Thanks Swifty, I'll have a look on there tonight.

 

Yep, those make great turn signals and keep the front end from getting cluttered with add on turn signal lights. That light on top doesn't care if it is a parking light or a turn signal.

Don

 

easy enough to make the light, turn signal and parking light

 

Maybe the same guy who just paid 10 grand for a `32 pines winterfront ?

 

...back in 2007 when I was finishing my coupe, I was on a Guide 682-C headlight collecting kick...had to have all the different style of turn signal lenses...pointy, rounded, ovaled, etc.

Anyway, I bought an NOS pair of pointy ones still in the original box for $400. A month later I bought another NOS pair of rounded ones in the original box for $500...my wife thought I was nuts.

Sold both pair just before the reproduced ones came out for $2400...my wife now thinks I'm brilliant...

 

I bought a pair from him that say Hot Rod...great quality tags.