Been awhile HAMB. Thought I’d post a pic of my ‘56 Chevy pickup with a single driving/speedlight. I like the look. A car bud who used to be quite active on the HAMB (HemiFarris) had the finest cars. His 32 highboy had the single light. So fine that I put on my old 37 Ford Business Coupe. Thanks Mike for all that inspiration! Thanks HAMB.
Another name for them is "Passing Light". In the good old, bad old days of 2-lane blacktop state roads, a lot more pulling out to pass slower traffic was the norm. For nighttime passing when you pulled out to pass and the light just peeked beyond the slower vehicle in front of you, the higher power light on the driver's side was switched on to better see what was up ahead and coming at you. You needed to know whether to commit or duck back and wait for a better opportunity. After the passing maneuver was finished the big torch could be left on for a bit until oncoming traffic required for you to shut it off. Here's mine.......
If you like it, go for it. Just looks unbalanced to me. Just like a single tail pipe. Or a single tail light. Things just look better in pairs. Your car or truck, do what you like, not what anybody else does.
It just looks like you've lost one of the lights...similar to a car with 3 hubcaps. I've offered to buy Don an additional (the missing) light on a few occasions, but so far he's declined
My dad ran a single yellow light on family station wagon back in the 60s.I thought he was just cheap but maybe it was a thing in the 40s and 50s.
In Canada you were only allowed 3 lights on the front,not 4,this was before 1958 when the cars started to have 4 headlights. The highway tractors all had 1 fog light as 2 were illegal back in the day.This is why it is so hard to find a pair of matching lights now.Anold trucker told me that,and they would enforce it too he said. harvey
The first time I noticed one it was mounted on the tie rod ( in front of the axle ), not sure if it was practical or traditional, but I took notice.
In the UK in the 50's and 60's accessory fog lights were yellow/ Amber in colour. Might explain it for the US, might not? Chris
Clear lens are "diving lights" to provide more brightness for the driver at night. Yellow/amber were supposed to help in fog. I'm not sure if they were supposed to help the driver see better or be seen better, but I never saw an improvement with "fog lights". YRMV
Here's a little ammo Don. I saved this several years back from a post by @i.rant ......single fog light "accessory road lamp" was a $5.00 option in 1939.
Interesting! My ‘40 Olds above has had a single amber light since at least the’50’s - was my grandfather’s ( died in 1959) car - his big trips were from Portland, Maine to St. John, New Brunswick - may explain the single…
Have you ever done the same route in the car? I think that would be pretty cool. Cool history on the car!
The Jalopy Journal
