Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by Paul-R »

Whatever happened to the old "must be able to place a (pre-decimal) penny over a light unit without overhanging" rule?
Last edited by Paul-R on 07 Dec 2018, 10:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Just to mop up a few examples already featured on the FCF...

The tail light has been the subject of a whatsthisthen?
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 17 Oct 2014, 21:07
Driving home tonight under Northumberland's dark skies spotted up ahead this take on the "designer rear lights"

Image

I'll give you a clue its not an Alfa Romeo Guilietta, if it was it would look like this

Image

So any tail light aficionardos out there?


Yes it was an Audi Q3 Dickie G and James (Hellrazor) came up with the goods.

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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

A classic in its own right :-D

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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by CitroJim »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 16:56 A classic in its own right :-D

Image


Oh yes :D Stylish and very functional...
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by xantia_v6 »

CitroJim wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 17:43
NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 16:56 A classic in its own right :-D

Image


Oh yes :D Stylish and very functional...

I saw a documentary a while back which covered some Ford history, and apparently the mk1 Cortina was developed at Dagenham in competition with a design team in Germany, with a committee from Ford HQ in Detroit deciding which design would go into production. The Mk1 Cortina was originally designed with wrap-around tail-lights similar to those on the Mk2 Cortina, and a full size mock-up of the design was made for the judging. Then days before the judging it was discovered that in the USA, "dustbin-lid" tail lights were the new corporate design feature, so on the night before the judging of the design, the rear corners of the car were cut up and the round lights fitted, with the paint hardly being dry when the judging panel came around. The Cortina obviously won the competition.

The Dagenham designers went back to the original tail light design for the Mk2.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by xantia_v6 »

white exec wrote: 05 Dec 2018, 22:05 Interesting to hear that Xan I headlights suffered the same as XM on dip.
What was changed when Xan II arrived? Did things improve?

On XM (having just driven back home 20km tonight), kept being reminded that on main beam, not only do you have two very good main beams operating, but dip is on as well - i.e. 4 x 55W on main. Switch to dip, and it's 2 x 55W compromised.

On main beam, the car is night-equipped for extremely high speeds; on dip, it certainly is not.

Idly wonder what would happen if an H4 were installed in place of H1 main...? This, after all, was what BX effectively had.
There is often confusion about S1 Xantia headlights. The bad ones were fitted in 1993, 1994 and early 1995. By the end of 1995 the lenses were redesigned and they improved considerably. The late S1 lens (other than the obvious difference in external dimensions) appears to be very similar to the S2 lens.

I am not sure whether LHD headlight units had the same evolution.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by xantia_v6 »

xantia_v6 wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 19:24
white exec wrote: 05 Dec 2018, 22:05 Interesting to hear that Xan I headlights suffered the same as XM on dip.
What was changed when Xan II arrived? Did things improve?

On XM (having just driven back home 20km tonight), kept being reminded that on main beam, not only do you have two very good main beams operating, but dip is on as well - i.e. 4 x 55W on main. Switch to dip, and it's 2 x 55W compromised.

On main beam, the car is night-equipped for extremely high speeds; on dip, it certainly is not.

Idly wonder what would happen if an H4 were installed in place of H1 main...? This, after all, was what BX effectively had.
There is often confusion about S1 Xantia headlights. The bad ones were fitted in 1993, 1994 and early 1995. By the end of 1995 the lenses were redesigned and they improved considerably. The late S1 lens (other than the obvious difference in external dimensions) appears to be very similar to the S2 lens.

If buying NOS headlights (e.g. on Ebay) you will find that most of the lenses on offer are the early type, but most of the complete headlights are the later type. You can fit the later lens to the earlier body.

I am not sure whether LHD headlight units had the same evolution.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

And then we have those made by Stickyfinger!
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by myglaren »

I never had any problems with my Xantia S1 ('L'-reg sinker) lights.
The best lights though were on the GS (for the time, as Michelle points out).
However, previous cars to that were Hillman Minx, Renault 4L and a few Hillman Imps, so perhaps an unfair competition as everything on the GS was better than all the best bits of the previous cars put together. Except fuel economy :(
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by white exec »

Going back to those older British cars, many used 7" or 5¾" sealed beam units, whose typical 60/55W performance was pretty dreadful, based as they were around a standard tungsten filament. Many of us ditched them, to be replaced with same-size Hella units (available new, scrap or as aftermarket items) which accepted H4 bulbs - the newly-available halogen!

By doing this, the appearance of the vehicle was hardly changed, and the drop-in new lights were around twice the brightness, and much better in terms of beam, even at normal 60/55W rating.

Being metal reflectors with glass fronts, heat was never an issue, and so higher wattage H4 halogen bulbs could be used. My final P6 ran with 100/80 H4 halogens in the outer pair (providing main and dip) and the same bulbs in the inner pair which switched in on main beam only. Four x 100W halogen on main beam was quite magnificent . . . and in marked contrast to Rover's original 70/37.5W (would you believe!) original sealed beam jobbies.

With the uprated lights, a couple of relays and some improved cabling was essential.

This was all in 5¾" units. A few cars ran to 4 x 7" (could have been one of the large Fords, some top-spec Range Rovers, not to mention the odd Bristol). Hella had it made for years. There was a French Cibié equivalent, but it had the habit of rusting.

There's a lot to be said for round headlights, optically, but styling - as always - wins out over function . . . except for the military, that is.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Nostalgic motoring accessories time.....Wipac hair raisers....Buckingham’s finest :)

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Regards Neil
Last edited by NewcastleFalcon on 06 Dec 2018, 20:37, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by white exec »

I remember Wipac. Some of the most dreadful automotive switches and connectors (especially for motorbikes), second only to dismal light fittings and bulb-holders from Lucas!
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by bobins »

NewcastleFalcon wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 20:30 Nostalgic motoring accessories time.....Wipac hair raisers....Buckingham’s finest :)

Regards Neil



So what's the car the person is driving in the Wipac advert ? :)
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by van ordinaire »

I might still have a pair of Hair Raisers (the poor man's Oscar) in the loft.

It was "flying pigs" (i.e. Mk4 Zodiacs) that had 4 7" lamps & the Rangies were Montverdis, or possibly Overfinches.

ONLY 400w? My 3500S (fitted with ex Polski Fiat ersatz Hellas) didn't quite make that, the only use I'd discovered for relays then was to be able to flash the foglights with mainbeam. Why? 'cos I could! My SD1 had 80/100w outers & 130w inners & a BMW 323i 90w dips & 130w mains - I remember on deserted M-ways you had to dip the lights approaching signposts,so you didn't dazzle yourself! WAS going to pull those 130w H1's forthe Xantia but understand they run too hot, so will be looking for some of those +120% jobbies - IF such trivia is ever on the menu.
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Re: Lights! (Interesting and Awful please)

Post by white exec »

van ordinaire wrote: 06 Dec 2018, 22:18 I remember on deserted M-ways you had to dip the lights approaching signposts, so you didn't dazzle yourself!

Remember that - the kickback was considerable from those huge and highly reflective signboards.

Despite high-wattage halogens, most of those round lamps produced very little dazzle, as the dip beam was well controlled. In marked contrast to what we have today.
Chris
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