I like big lights also. I do need to come up with an idea for my single seater project though. I would like to have something that is hidden or very small.
I pretty much like em all, but feel that it's down to the style or look of the car. I'm not a fan of the ones with the indicators across the bottom of main light, it reminds me of a light that's had water get in, and sit across the bottom. I went with UP stainless Guides, due to wanting more bling up front, and the high rainfall level where I live. Chrome ones were $100 cheaper, but rusty chrome sucks. I also like having the indicators up top in their own housing. It really cleaned up the look.
Been looking for an original commercial headlight set for my 1934 pickup for a long time. Found them in Fresno on Sunday, now I can sell my BLCs, I'am so happy....
My '26 had these little lights on it when I got it... ... it didn't take me long to put a set of 7" Peterbilt lights on it.
Messed about with several set ups. Difficult to get good lighting and looks at the same time. Fitted Drake reflectors - definitely the best for stock look. Great to drive with. Have left the driving lights on as I like the look, and the extra light does not hurt a bit. Read somewhere that headlamps should be mounted with about a third below the crown of the guard. Could be why 32's look so good with dropped bars. Garpo
I'm with you, HRP. No self-respecting cat in the world would have an ass that looked like those headlights.
I like Woodlites because I'm into pre-WWII coachbuilding and because I like the weird stuff. I'm also wondering what else there was on the market at the time. Woodlites and E&Js are well known but I'm sure there were all kinds of obscure experiments. And it is surely possible to recreate some. I was out on my lunch break and a Mercedes-Benz 220S fintail went by me. It got me to wondering about the geometry of the bezels of those big vertical light units, and how one could construct freestanding buckets for them. And what kind of car they'd actually suit: Other lights I'd like to see used in a creative context are the c.1933 Imperial lights, with the V'd lenses, and the oval Studebaker lights of around the same time. Then, of course, the big three-arm Lucas P100s and centre-post Marchals. I still maintain that, despite being historically correct, sealed-beams are contrary to the traditional technological ethic because they were an early instance of unrepairable sealed units, more typical of the way cars were made in later years. Early headlights which could be stripped down to a number of simple parts and put back together again better embody the reason I like the traditional ethic to begin with. But that's just my opinion.
I like the big lights - these are the stock 1930 Ford lights. This is an early stage photo and I may change the mounting - but that will come later. Currently fitting an 8BA flatty for engine mount locations... so the the entire front end is stripped down to the frame.
To conceal the Amber turn signal inside the light, I found Amber bulbs with a chrome like coating, similar to a state trooper's sunglasses, on the Internet. When on they flash Amber. When off they are not visible through the headlight lens. Phil
We had King-Bee's on an Oliver 88 tractor when we were kids and Dietz on the snowplow for the Jeep. I prefer Ford lights on Fords.
Sealed beams were the answer to a real issue; owners that failed to replace reflectors that lost their silvering when a rock chip left a hole in the lens and water got to the reflector. Given the American penchant for not fixing something as long as it still worked, even if poorly (particularly in the pre-WW2 era before recovering from the depression when many had no or little spare money), the sealed beam helped improve lighting by eliminating that option. The early versions were only a small improvement; they were merely an 'improved' version of what was existing, consisting of basically the same parts (lamp, silvered metal reflector and a glass lens) except for being permanently-assembled 'sealed' units. The standardized design reduced costs and made parts availability much better. They remained like this up through the early '50s before being replaced by the all-glass versions that no longer had a separate sealed lamp. My Dad bought a '50 Plymouth from my Godparents in the late '60s that still had one of the OEM lamps in it. It had been rock-chipped somewhere along the line and had gotten water inside. While the lamp still worked, almost no silvering was left and you could have got better lighting by taping a flashlight to the fender. In one way, headlight design has come full circle. Prior to the mandated sealed beams here, headlight design was as much a styling component as means to light the road (with the latter not always the primary design criterion). With the US adoption of 'Euro'-style lighting in the '80s, the manufacturers returned to 'styling' the headlights and there has been complaints from reviewers about poor lighting on some new vehicles (with the DOT taking notice in a few cases). Interestingly enough, some Euro designs had that problem; Jaguar used 'styled' Cibie units for the XJS (with the US version getting DOT-approved conventional 4-lamps systems) and many non-US XJS owners have gone to lengths to convert to the US assembly for both it's superior lighting and much lower replacement costs.
Or 31 Chevy lights on a 31 Chevy?.................. Or 39 Ford Deluxe on a 41 Ford Sedan Delivery?.............
Not to hijack Danny's thread, but those air scoops on that #3 roadster are Mercury Tool & Die Co. hard to come by.....
Chris,every one is entitled to their own opinion,I would like to think if Henry had seen a dropped head light bar we wouldn't have to modify them. HRP
I'm currently trying to decide on King Bee or Dietz so this is a thread I really appreciate. To me the smaller lights look more period correct. Seems the later trend has been back to original old big lights and that's not what I remember seeing in the old hot rod movies, and old pictures on this group. Thought the big old original lights got ripped off pretty early in a hot rod build for smaller lights. This has been an interesting study for me since I'm in the process of buying lights for my '32 project. Keep the pictures coming! SPark
"I am still a fan of King Bees and have a pair for my current project. I wish I had tags for mine, someone smoothed them and had them rechromed." Beano. for tags, try contacting Rick Bales, in St. Peters MO. e-mail [email protected], HAMB member name 193257and his craftsmanship is superb as well as a great guy to deal with. Rick provides rivets with his tags. For some one requiring small brass rivets, I used brass brads available at Home Depot. About 1/2" long with a nice round brass head. Just trim to a short length, install and pean over. Meanwhile back to the subject at hand. My choice, a pair of restored Guide 682s with Rick's tags on them, with HD turn signals sitting on a dropped 30 headlight bar. Canuck
confusing how big head lights seem to get a "pass", in a hobby where it is, other than motors and tires, all about making things smaller, leaner and sleeker. removing trim, fenders, chopping tops, sectioning bodies, nosing, decking, frenching and blending of body panels but big goofy lights work? they are not like tits..........
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