Hot Rods I wish guys would follow their own car after they're done

I built a circuit when I was a lad that flashed the brake lights about 5 or 6 times when the pedal was hit, then they stayed on. Never got any reaction from the law (maybe they weren't looking), but sometimes those lights would bring the car behind you to a screeching halt, maybe thinking I was a wise-ass pumping the brake pedal to get a reaction.

 

https://www.superbrightleds.com/

http://www.bulbtown.com/Vehicular_Bulbs_s/230.htm

http://automotivemileposts.com/taillightbulbcomparison.html

 

Good info.

 

Don't forget the daytime... my friend's red 47 Ford convert is painted a very bright red and even with LEDs his brake lights / signals are hard to see on a sunny day. Gary

 

I too have followed cars with lamps no brighter than a cigarette butt.
On original style '32 ford tail lamps I cut a 'V' out of the divider between tail and stop bulbs, and paint interior white.
Tail bulb lights up more of the lens area. Stop shows up well in sunlight.
I still have rear mounted spare, so made up a stop light to mount on the spare wheel mount, showing the light through the spokes. Invisible until the brakes go on.
Garpo

 

We are all old now and so much wiser.
Everyone is glued to their cellphones and follow too close for any type of brake light to be effective. Best to just mount an air bag to the bumper and pray a lot.

 

LIONS DRAGSTRIP 1959
Hello,

When we were teenagers, driving was just a fun thing to do. Freedom is the most used word to describe teenage driving. So, when a car is bought, there were no worries about what the car looked like driving around the cruising scene or being a daily driver to high school. In my case, I had to buy into my brother’s 58 Impala and everything that went into that car.
stock 1958
By 1959-60, I was driving it and helped in the changes made to the Impala. One big thing was reworking the rear tail lights so they looked better. We had already started towing our 40 Willys coupe to the drags, so a sturdy solid metal tow hitch was added to the Impala. But, we also changed the brake light set up from two red lights and a white back up light on each rear fender, to three red lights on permanently with the headlight switch and brighter for braking.

Jnaki

6 standard Impala red brake lights were on all at once. It was double bright when braking. There was a small white back up light next to the added solid metal trailer hitch and ball. Custom touches only seen by the following traffic or the guy in the next lane when I was ahead in a race.

 

Nice Impala! Learned to drive on a 58 Belair - fixed the eyebrows over the headlights, left the "V" but removed the letering, 283, auto, 4-door, ps, andvit was "cay coral", or better known as pink inside and out. Clear plastic seat covers, whites and caps. All my buds in high school broke my chops driving a pink car but the girls loved it. In the era of short skirts I always let the girls have a view of the interior - the guys were envious then! Lol!

 

I see loads of newer cars with dim headlights, dim taillights or no lights at either end all the time. Lots of cyclops too. Some of these new cars like my 2012 Malibu, you have to remove the bumper cover to replace a HL bulb, I had a shop do mine and it ran me $80. I changed a driving light on my gf's 2014 VW... you have to be a contortionist to get at those.

 

I convert all my builds to flashing headlight for turn signals. Avoids the little hard to see accessory lights and no one can ignore them!! Use electronic flasher so its resistance isn't an issue. A couple cheap Bosch relays, 3 inexpensive resistors, a terminal strip and some chunks of wire. Cheap and easy.

That's also one of my big gripes; I LOVE to see my Willys on the road but I am always driving it so never get to see it!!