Appleton S-552's

I just scored these babies today for $500 bones. I feel like the luckiest SOB on earth. They are gonna look slick on my Shoebox Ford. I am the proud 3rd owner. And the last owner never mounted them. Thank you to the Hot Rod Gods. Now does anyone have a template for these things on a 1951 Ford?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

That was a good deal !

 

i am looking for some, wanna make a few bucks....?

 

I just looked at a decent pair of 552's at the Big 3 Swap Meet in San Diego today, $1,600. $500 is nice buy and the handles don't looked to be cracked or weathered. My Pop has a set on his 50 shoebox. I'll ask if he still has the template.

 

Nice!

 

thats a good score! how bout a pic of the car for reference?

 

Here ya go:

 

http://www.accessorylandparts.com/ can help you with the patterns, drill guide, and the correct brackets for your car. They have a large inventory of NOS appleton brackets. The ones on your spots look like the trim to fit ones that came with the appletons, but you would have originally ordered the correct number for your car for each side if you wanted to make them really fit correctly without a lot of trouble.

Congrats on the spots, nothing like having the real deal!

 

Thank you very much!

 

Nice!! I love Appleton spotlights. The only problem I have, is that I have one each of two different models. One is labeled Loraine and the other say Appleton.

 

Anyone know of a site to ID old spot lights?

 

None that I know of, but I maybe can help if its an appleton and you post a pic.

 

Thanks,

I'll dig them out tomorrow and take some pics then post'em up.

Oh yeah, if any of them are worth anywhere near what was posted...you bet they're for sale

 

I collect appleton 552 and 112's. I search for them at every swap meet. Ill look over hundreds of spots, and im lucky to see 1 or 2 appleton brand spotlights out of maybe 500-700 spots at a big swap, and then the 112 and 552 appletons are the rarer ones of all the appletons, hence the price. So chances are slim they are not Appleton 112 or 552's, but if they are, you have a desirable set!

 

Mainprop and Chris, heres a tip on mounting the spots. You are correct that there is a paper template-type sheet that came with spots to mount them , but that is not necessarily the best way to go about it aesthetically speaking. I think their idea is to give you info on the best place to mount the spot if YOU WILL BE USING IT, which you won't. You are better off "temporarily" mounting them to look at the best location to permanently mount them. In the past I had extra parts and sawed an extra shitty arm down to get the end that mounts to the lamp just long enough to attach into the mounting bracket. With all that put together, you now have a "dummy" spot that you can have someone move around so you can look at the car from a distance and find just the right spot for the spot (pardon the pun). Once you find the optimal location, mark the screw holes and move on to step two.
Step two: Take a base mount and temporarily rig in a drill guide MacGyver style so that you can screw the base to the car and then drill at the exact place and angle you want your lamp to land. Extra parts may be in order in that you may need to sacrifice a base to do this. Sorry, but it has been awhile since I put spots on my '41!!
One last note and then I will get off my soapbox. It might be trick to get one of those hardcore magnets to epoxy into the base, so you could "stick" the spot where you like it (on blue mask of course!!).
Good luck.
D.

 

I don't recall finding a name on them when I looked at'em a few weeks ago, chances are they aren't valuable. I only remember "GE" on the lens of most of them.

 

I did the same thing!

The spots are on my car now Deron, Ill have to get some updated pics soon.

 

This is all good stuff guys. Thanks. My mind is racing. I am going to have to really educate myself, and just bathe in this info for a while before I attempt the mount. Sounds like I might need to find some parts prior to installation. Anyone have any good pics of their mount jobs that shows the angles? The steering wheel side is the one I'm most concerned with of course.
And thanks again!!!

 

This link has some awesome pics and info on Spots.
Check it out:


http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...cars/great_custom_idears/appleton_-_lorainne/

 

One last thing MainProp, don't fuck it up!! haha!!

 

Thanks for the tip, Dragnut. I needed that.

 

TinWolf has 'em, he's in Sweden. I don't know how to attach the thread to my reply, but if you do an advanced search with TinWolf as the user and Appleton as the subject you'll see his post - nice parts!

 

The plastic for the 112's is different than the plastic for the 552's.

The 112's almost ALWAYS crack, warp, distort, shrink, etc. $125 for perfect new handles is fair if you are restoring a set.

The 552's handles are a bit later, and I guess they used a better plastic, as the handles seem to survive better.

 

Nice score. I have a set of S-550 spots that are going on my coupe. I personally like the low profile appletons. I understand the 552s are more popular, but I never new there was that much of a price difference. What does a nice set of 550s go for these days. $700-500 for set of spotlights. Wow. But I guess it's no different than guys paying $1000 for a nice '54 Pontiac grille.

 

I have a NEW, never installed Appleton S-550 listed on eBay; auction closes Monday, Mar.9...eBay 190290744673. Frank