Car in question is a 50 Merc. Going on 8yrs now,and seeing the end of the rainbow. Everything is new......American autowire highway 15 harness that i wired at least 3-4 years ago.... So- with car in paint,and wiring harness completed up to rad support,time to finnish. Keep in mind that I blew off a TON of events this weekend to work on the car! I buy headlamps like on thursday..... have a very knowledgeble,and albite attractive parts lady help me.( deal with her daily at the job). Install the lamps-.....1 one blows out after about 1 minuet...( i always "burn in" bulbs). The other does'nt light up at all..... WTH? Pull headlight switch,dimmer(because now my hi-beam indicator is on full time) and thinking what did I do wrong? Have power and ground at the socket. I finally bech test both bulbs,and they've lost both ground circuits or they're not working. See where this is going?......... I take them back to where I bought them(protecting the culprit), and explain whats up,and we can test them right now. Manager says...... "those are 6volt bulbs"!!! Jeeze! 2 hrs figuring out a bunch of BS! Glad it was'nt a customer,or i'deve been in deep sh$t. WTH! Kinda glad -kinda pissed! Got it all handled,but what a waste of time,and a mind bender! All is fine now,but had to have a beer or two after that deal.=moral of the story-leave no stone unturned...... She owe's my about two hours of my time! She'll hear about it tommorow at 8 am! I'm thinking lunch is a fair deal.....She's gonna buy!
If you told her that you wanted headlights for a '50 Merc then she gave you just what you asked for. 6V head lamps for a '50 Merc. You have to be smarter than the parts person.
2% rule strikes again. In order for things to work, you need to be 2% smarter than the object or person you are working with.
Yep exactly. If you had asked her for 7 inch 12volt bulbs you wouldn't have been posting the thread but you walked in and told her you needed headlights for your 50 Mercury and she found the correct headlights for a 50 Mercury. You have probably been telling her you are working on a 50 Merc for the past year or more and never mentioned that it was changed to 12 V years ago. Hell if you had gone to Autozone you would have pulled them off the shelf in the first row yourself and that would be that. They probably don't have a 6 volt bulb in the store anyhow.
Half me/half her.... never mentioned Merc.... Sized the bulb. currently in wagner(bulbs I got) had a funky 3 prong on the back. I had to say "thats the arrangement"= 3 prong. Everything matched=size/3 prong... I guess 'thinking" woud'nt have brought me a 6v bulb. Go figure..... Glad that's over- but what a P.I.A!
Think of the good part, you got to have some beers. I broke a shock mount again, i guess its to short, but im haveing beer.
At least i'm humble......pissed,but that's over. I can't think of when someone asked for 6v bulbs...... It was a mistake. Her's for pulling the wrong bulbs/Mine for not checking. I did'nt ask for 12v.She did'nt ask...... I never mentioned what they were for...... Whatta nightmare...... You'de think they'de just explode when 12v is applied. They do all kind's of crazy shit to the electrical system..... Lesson learned.......... Movin' on.....
Great Story! "you light up my life..." I'm glad you got it all figured out. It can be very frustrating at times.
I just went through the same thing with the tail lights on my '48 Chevy truck. Total brain farted and forgot I had a 12-volt system. Yep, bought 6 volt bulbs. Doh! But the parts guy I bought them from is fugly. At least you had a legit excuse: pretty parts lady wins.
12 volt 7" bulb. aren't they on the shelf where you go and just grab one. maybe it's been a while since I needed a round headlight.
Yep- that was the deal.....could'nt find the bulbs in the store cuz i'm ordering 5-10 times a day by phone,and never go the in person. And- it's like 2 miles away....... That tested my smarts......the 6v/12v combo. But the shit it did,and how it acted was something interesting..... Back to school on saturday to say the least!
1) Customer goes into store. 2) Attractive woman present. 3) Customer thinks with wrong head, goes home with wrong part.
Thats funny. I'd still be staring at the wires hanging at the core support...... Thinking all it needs is a couple bulbs to be on the road. Thanks again for the help last year and glad to hear that Merc is getting closer.
Bet that one lit up like an arc welder. (I had an 8-volt 'tired' '51 Olds coupe that had 6 volt beams in it...regulator turned up...They shone like the new LEDs! Until they got REAL bright, and lost their incandescence. One went, a mile later the other one. Hell, they were in there for 2 years. Always too bright...) Got home, took the 12 volt seal beams out of my '54 Olds I was re-doing... Hey! 8 volts lit 'em right up! Not dim, looked normal. Headed out to Trimble Rd. for the Night time drags. SCTA: 'Santa Clara Timing Ass'n'! Road wasn't as bright as it had been w/6V beams, but I cleaned up a Sunnyvale '55 Chev 283 badass... Got away on 101 North on-ramp. LOL
I had the opposite happen to me. I went into a parts store 30 years ago now. I wasn't sure that they would have them in stock so I asked the kid for a 6V head light. He says 2 headlights or 4? I said I need a 6V headlight. He asked again 2 or 4 headlights? I told him I'd give him a 100 bucks for each 4 light system 6V sealed beams in the store.
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