Customs False Memory?

I was born in 1959 so needless to say I grew up in the 60's & 70's. I seem to remember when I was quite young seeing a lot of cool cars (or so I think they were cool) running a single amber or white clearance type light in the center of their grills. Does anybody else remember seeing lights like these "back in the day"? And if so, was there any purpose to these other than they looked cool?
Doc

 

were you under the influence of LSD?

 

I had a single head light on my Sting-Ray in 1969. I took it off because it wasn't cool.

 

There is definitely something like that still going on with the "ricers". Apologies if this is an insulting or derogatory term. I always called hooked up civics that for lack of a better term. They keep an amber light dangling from the rear behind the bumper.

 

ahahahaha!

 

Sounds like one of those regional fads. I don't recall seeing a clearance light in the middle of the grille, but a lot of kids in my area would run a couple underneath the rear of the car.

 

I think that was an Ambulance

 

Doc, they were somewhat of a safety fad in the 60s. My dad put them on several of our cars. But I'd say it was more square than cool. In fact, probably never cool. I couldn't find a web photo, but they were basically a small lamp with a clear lens (looked like a 50's Pontiac tail light but a little smaller) that you put some place on the front center of your car's grille. Lots of folks had them. Of course it would have just been easier to turn on your headlamps, but I think folks thought that was going to "wear out" their headlamp bulb filaments. As if. It was just as hard to convince motorcycle riders to turn on their lights in the day time for safety. Took years, and years. Then they came hard-wired from the factory. Gary

 

One use was for passing another car. Pure safety factor. Lots of two lane roads back then. They were of course fog lamps at one time. Tim

 

Timothy Leary I presume
and the driver was Neal Cassidy

 

We had no one doing that in my area, that I can remember, yes, I know my memory isn't what it used to be but that is something that would be hard to forget.

 

I tend to agree with Stuart,it was probably a regional thing.

Kinda like in the late 60's around this area some guys had marker lights in there wheel wells and had Peace symbols painted on the rear pumpkin of jacked up cars. HRP

 

never saw that but there were a few guys in my neighborhood ( emphasis on HOOD ) that ran those cheap domed trailer lights in their wheel wells.

 

Nope, you're not losing your mind.

I remember seeing them around here on a handful of cars in the early to mid '60s. Maybe it was just a Midwest thing. They were maybe a 3" diameter lamp with a clear bullet shaped lens. Seems like maybe they called them a center clearance lamp or some such thing. I mounted one of them under the deck lid of my Dodge Dart to use as a trunk light. That sucker was pretty bright too, as I remember.

 

Only one I remember! I think I need some sleep! Too much snow shoveling!

 

I remember seeing cars with lights behind the grill, as well as lights in the fender wells and under the dashboard. Marker lights (as shown in the photo) were the ones to use.

 

It was a fad promoted to be a safety device. They were called running lights and were to indicate that the engine was running. Never made any sense to me! 1959 to 1963 or so. They dried up and went away.

 

This is the time frame I recall. Centered in the grill.

 

My dad had a mild custom 58 impala he had a clear light in the center behind a custom tube grill , wired to the ignition , he said it was a " running light" to make the car easier to see on a 2 lane road cause it was a dark color car... Southern Minnesota .. 1965

 

The ones I best remember were red ones on the middle of the roof on some cars. Darn things always showed up in my rearview mirror.

 

I remember a local Max Miller had a '54 Merc. that was scalloped and had green plexi moon discs that were striped and panel painted n a starburst design . He had some green lights in the wells , kind of a gaudy thing at night ! we called it the Circus Wagon !Thing was one bad SOB though and had a built 312 and kicked butt. Some guy by the name of Ak Miller (no relation) built the motor !

 

We used to run with our park lights on and some guys wired them to be on with headlights. This was before the factory did it. When we parked on the Gut and left our lights on somebody would invariably say " you left your lights on". duh... they're parking lights and we are parked. One buddy with a '63 Impala installed low beams in the high beam holes and ran with all the lights on. A cop wrote him up and the judge cut him no slack. YOU CAN'T TELL A NON CAR GUY THAT THEY ARE ALL LOW BEAMS.

 

I had pretty much the same experience. My glasspack mufflers where cop calling stereo,s.

 

Those "marker lights'' are exactly what was used in the wheel wells in our area dirt cheap ( 49 cents ) and were available in several colors. seem to remember blue and green an of course red, amber and clear.

redo, that reminded me of buddy of mine that bought a couple of aircraft landing lights in his 66 Fairlane GT, got caught racing one night and among other things the cop went on about he was racing in the dark he was outrunning his head lights

Well the same officer nailed him a couple weeks later and when he started on the out running the lights he said .not possible. When he explained his fix for that he was cited for that. He had those lamps and the ticket on display in his house for years. Wish I had been along that night, but my uncle sam had me on all expenses paid trip off in southeast asia at the time. The other guys that were with him that night said the ticketing officer just about flipped when he saw how bright those lights were.

 

Well, I'm glad to hear that I didn't just imagine these safety running lights. It does sound like maybe it was just a Midwest thing. I would have only been 5 or 6 years old at the time and I thought they were pretty cool. My Dad never had one on his car, he wasn't a car guy. He was an aerospace engineer and he never did anything cool to his cars.

Doc

 

You only had one light and you took it off? I guess you didn't drive too much at night! LoL

But seriously I have a'56 Meteor that had 5or6 purple ones under the dash. I believed the were call "make out lights".

 

I remember those lights well. It seems they disappeared as fast as they first appeared here in the mid west. My guess is JC Whitney and Western Auto sold a ton of these along with the colored clearance lights which by the way ended up under my dash in 64.

 

I don't recall seeing the clearance light in the grill deal around my part of Pa, but the under dash color ones were a fad here. I remember seeing my '32 back about 1967 with a soft orange glow coming out of her,cruising at night. Had forgotten about it, its still there; and it still works! Now that HRP mentioned it, the peace sign pumpkins were the rage here,too...funky !

 

I have one of these, found it in an abandoned garage, still new in the box! Don't know, may have been regional, as they appeared to be common in Michigan in 58-62

 

This light was on the headlight bar when I bought it at the swap meet. I liked the look of it so I kept it on there when I put it on my coupe. It's a 6V unit with cloth wire so someone put it on there way back when.