Product testing, need comments from members

[migsBIG]

After reading the post below, please take the time to post and vote on the oll above. Thank you


Hey guys, been approached by someone who wants to see if there are people interested in a possible new product, so they are testing the waters ans checking responces. The product is yellow headlights. Yes, that does sound diffrent.
Now, the reason for this the that one of the guys was looking for vintage amber headlight lenses for a gasser project, but had problems finding some if any. They were able to find a set of nos ones, but at $600pr, that was a bit too much for a set. They decided to check into having a headlight company make stained lenses, but there were no takers. After some studing, he decided to try paint and coating, but those all burned off within minutes. He then tried diffrent mixtures and formulas to come up with something that looks very promising. IT look clear, didn't melt off or burn, stayed same color after testing and seemed durable.
Now you can't use them in CA or most states roadways, but they do look cool on street rods, gassers, drag cars, classic muscle car and such. If there is enought interests and purchases, they could see about making sets in blue, red and green. Pictued below is a set on a friend car. These were tested for durability, but most folks won't turn them on. To see how they work, he put his high beams on for 3 hours straight and park the car. Looks great and no problems that we could see on the car.

as you can see, they do look nice and diffrent and warrant possible production (though limited). If you have some comments of would like to post some interests, please do so. Thanks for your time to view the post. :wave:

 

[pettybludart]

I think blue ones would look cool in my blue race car.How much will these be selling for?

 

[migsBIG]

unsure of the pricing at this time. Hopefully a price can be figured out when raw material can be figured out.

 

[toolmanmike]

There was an old post about this a year or so ago. We used to just spray them with VHT window tint but it's not available any more. European sports cars had
amber lights as I remember. Maybe someone out there still makes them. toolman

 

[migsBIG]

I think they tried two diffrent types of window style tinting, which burned within 30 minutes.

 

[slantsixdan]

These are easy to make using a product from Dupli-Color called MetalCast. Clean the lenses several times with pure denatured alcohol and make sure they're good and warm before you spray them. Spray to give a barely-wet coat--not a light dust coat, but not so heavy that it drips/sags/runs. Let that coat dry for 20 minutes or so, then give it another coat. Repeat for a third coat. Once the third coat has been left alone to air dry for an hour or so, put the lamps in a low (200°F) electric oven and let 'em sit in there for an hour or so to cure/harden the coating. If your oven is gas rather than electric, don't do this last step until the lamps have air-dried for a day. Let the lamps cool completely, then go ahead and install them. The Metalcast product is specifically meant for good adhesion and durability on hot, slick surfaces (they have chrome in mind…glass isn't all that different) and they seem to hold up well.

France required selective-yellow headlamps from 1936 to 1993 on all vehicles; see here for the explanation. Some racing classes specify selective-yellow headlamps to identify cars in that class. "Amber" isn't the right word or color; that's the color of turn signals. Depending on what state you live in, you might or might not be able to run yellow headlamps on the street without the cops hassling you. Me, I can report that yellow headlamps once got me out of what would have been an expensive 80-in-a-55 speeding ticket. Using any color other than yellow is foolhardy, and using blue or red is also highly illegal. You might have a plausible excuse if you're restoring an old cop car, fire truck, or ambulance, but if you take it on the road, expect to get an expensive Talking-To about it.

Here's my '89 D100 just before I sold it; you can see the difference between the yellow headlamps and the amber turn signals:

 

[briankaplan]

I think a clip on system might be interesting. Pricing is important.

 

[autoxcuda]

I think it's a neat product for dual headlight cars. And not just mopars, all kinds of cars.

But every A-body was single headlight. So smaller interest from those folks.

 

[slantsixdan]

every A-body was single headlight

 

[GTGrinly]

I had a pair of Guide amber bolt on driving lights. They were off a 38 Chevy. A friend of mine still has them if anyone needs a cool set of lights for a ratrod...

 

[1wild&crazyguy]

ha ha...everybody forgets the lancer/valiant's

 

[autoxcuda]

Ok, I'm sorry I forgot about the 60-62 A-bodies.

Still pretty limited market for single headlight cars, IMHO.

But here's a 62 with yellow headlights....

 

[2 Darts]

I'm not interested in colored headlights. The only color I might consider would be yellow. Dan's article tracked pretty well with my experience in the US and overseas. I found that yellow fog lights are more effective than "white" ones. There is much less glare and flare with yellow in both fog and snowstorms. I had a VW Scirocco with a Cibie 95 "amber" fog light that cut through these conditions extremely well and captured reflective road markings in a timely fashion.

If one is interested pursuing high quality yellow fog lamps, Cibie, Marchal, Hella, and Lucas make conventional units. Before wiring them in, make sure you have sufficient capacity to handle it. When I would fire up the fog and 2 95 watt driving lights, everything else in the car would go dim for a moment.

 

[LH23H2R]

I'd like to see custom tail lamp lenses cast ... ambre-coloured hazard / turn signals make much more sense to me than the red ones : a lane change or a disabled vehicle is a not a reason to stop travelling , as flashing red lighting would indicate .

I'd like to have some custom tail lights from my '72 Coronet ( they're similar to '71 - '73 Darts ) wherein a strip of ambre could be interfaced with the factory lamps , kinda like the c.1998 Mustang Cobra's lamps .

 

[slantsixdan]

You're right, amber turn signals are better. You're situationally up to 28% less likely to be hit from behind if your rear turn signals are amber rather than red, all other factors equal, and the overall crash-reduction benefit is over 5% (sounds small, but is actually large). Custom taillamp lenses with amber turn function are certainly doable. Not the way you have in mind with an amber strip; it'd be more like the outermost red lens would be amber instead. I had 'em made for my '71 Dart. But now we're steering off the topic of this thread.

 

[mopardrt]

I know the B body guys would eat them up since there is no company selling those anymore I have seen some sets of B body yella fogs go for BIG BUCKS sooo ya there is a market I had shot my fog lamps in my mustang yella I used a paint from a hobby shop and it worked great! called KRYLON stained glass paint

 

[slantsixdan]

I know the B body guys would eat them up since there is no company selling those anymore I have seen some sets of B body yella fogs go for BIG BUCKS

No B-bodies came with fog lamps, so…no.

shot my fog lamps in my mustang yella I used a paint from a hobby shop and it worked great! called KRYLON stained glass paint

Wrong color of yellow, and it won't stand up to the heat for long.

 

[scampy72]

so correct me if im wrong but didnt challenger come with them? also i know that the new ones have something like these as an option for the second lenses i see them all the time here in NY, i think it would be easier to just adapt theose to fit rather than making new ones like this. you could probably get a set of the new ones from a dodge dealer. just my .02

 

[Dartnut]

so correct me if im wrong but didnt challenger come with them? also i know that the new ones have something like these as an option for the second lenses i see them all the time here in NY, i think it would be easier to just adapt theose to fit rather than making new ones like this. you could probably get a set of the new ones from a dodge dealer. just my .02

The Challenger was an ''E'' Body not a ''B'' body.

 

[slantsixdan]

so correct me if im wrong but didnt challenger come with them?

The Challenger is an E-body, not a B-body. The optional "road lamps" were sealed beam 35w fog lamps with colorless lenses. The sealed beam they take is still available in white or yellow.

i know that the new ones have something like these as an option for the second lenses

I'm not sure what this collection of words is supposed to mean.

 

[briankaplan]

I'd like a set for show. A pair of green ones. New theme for the Duster.
The Green Eyed Monster!

 

[res1vw21]

got any more pics of the bird with the gray nose? lol

 

[migsBIG]

looks liek some nice responces. I'll inform the guy that wants to do the headlights and see how many batches he can make. He would probably have to ask if people need std headlight or highbeam ones. Hope to have some prices here in the next week.

 

[carjunkie247]

The point of lights is to see! So why paint them any color at all! Seems like everyone is trying to get brighter lights for their vehicles now days, or get rid of the haze on lense! They really just seem gay.

 

[momoparman]

There was an old post about this a year or so ago. We used to just spray them with VHT window tint but it's not available any more. European sports cars had
amber lights as I remember. Maybe someone out there still makes them. toolman

Might have been my post about the amber covers I got from england....they were vintage so I don't know if there is still a mfg.

Very simple to install and you cant tell there not real unless you get real close and look real hard.

Yellow is cool....they would look great on any car.

Mop