Correct US headlights Options

[Cal]

I know the original US headlights for our cars were the sealed type and not H4's but who made them Hella or Bosch and what did they look like? Are NOS or reproductions currently available today? What would the concours judges consider correct?

[914Sixer]

Hella, Bosch and Cibie made H-4. Bosch and Hella are still available today. Do not know about the judging.

[Tom_T]

Hella, Bosch and Cibie made H-4. Bosch and Hella are still available today. Do not know about the judging.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Jeff .... plus Sylvania & a couple of others on the sealed beam.

Also, IIRC the P-dealers back in the 70's sold both the Hell/Bosch & Sylvania H4 sealed beam & plain sealed beam as replacements. I had a buddy do the H4 sealed 7" upgrade when he bought his 75 2L new from the dealer.

As for judging, headlights burn out, & so are considered maintenance/replacement items like tires, shocks, brake pads - & therefore should not be gigged even at Parade from my Parade judge buddies comments - & the originality is not judged here in Zone 8/Regions nor any other Zone AFAIK, but check with your local PCA Zone Rules. An H4 conversion for better lighting shouldn't be a problem anywhere either, & those are available in both sealed beam & removable bulb flavors of the 7" diam. set-up (I plan to use H4s myself for the superior lighting).

As for non-PCA concours, you'll need to get their rules & maybe talk to a judge for it to know, & you could always carry a pair of USA-DOT 7" sealed beam bulbs to change out, if it were a concern at a particular show, since they're not expensive.

However, you may want to stick with the OE brand names - for both quality & reliability, as well as authentic look). IIRC Sylvania now goes under a different brand name, since they were bought out.

Also with your muffler, HE & other questions at other posts, the current Dansk 2.0 Banana muffler would be fine for judging on the same replacement/maintenance parts basis - as should be the SSI-HEs, & you can paint or PC the HEs for the OE exhaust system gray color if you want to match the muffler, or just for your preference (just do proper prep & match to a good sample of that gray).

I'd suggest that you find a currently judging PCA judge nearby in your Region who knows the older pre-80s cars, & just chat with him about how & what they judge locally. They may also have judging &/or concours prep classes back near you by the Zone or Regions that you can attend, similar to what we do here in Zone 8. You can also shoot me a PM for my phone number if you want to talk judging & prep sometime, but I would only be able to speak to Zone 8 (SoCal, Central CA, So. NV, AZ), & not your home area's Region & Zone.

I think you'll find quickly that the current PCA CdEs are basically cleaning, prep & detailing contests, & not so much into originality due to the long history across a huge number of models & variants of same, making it nearly impossible for volunteer judges to know all of them well enough to judge it.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[914Next]

I know the original US headlights for our cars were the sealed type and not H4's but who made them Hella or Bosch and what did they look like? Are NOS or reproductions currently available today? What would the concours judges consider correct?

Hi Jeff. I was finally able to check the headlights on my survivor '73. They are both general electric. Not sure if anyone might know if these could be original or would have been replaced. The car is very original and I do know the original owner so I can definitely ask if the headlights were ever replaced. Will post a couple of pics for now.

[Cal]

Thanks for posting the photos Steve. Both of my headlights are General Electric sealed beam halogens.....I'm not sure if they're original. Did Hella offer sealed beam headlights for the US market?

I've been temped to install the Hella H4 E-code units that are made in Germany that bus depot currently sells.

http://www.busdepot.com/0301600118

Here are a couple of photos of my current headlights.

[arne]

Neither Hella nor Bosch made sealed beams.

[914Next]

Jeff, I got a response back today from the original owner of my '73 2.0. He said that the General Electric sealed beams that are in the car now are definitely the originals. So we at least know that GE's were original on some of the '73's. Not sure what others might know about other years.

I feel so fortunate to be able to just fire an email over to Jim the original owner of my car when I have a question like this. He's a wealth of info and, of course, I keep all of these emails for future reference.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks for posting the photos Steve. Both of my headlights are General Electric sealed beam halogens.....I'm not sure if they're original. Did Hella offer sealed beam headlights for the US market?

I've been temped to install the Hella H4 E-code units that are made in Germany that bus depot currently sells.

http://www.busdepot.com/0301600118

Here are a couple of photos of my current headlights.

[Cal]

Steve, thanks for confirming that your GE's were original....that's great info.

[scallyk9]

On purchase, my '74 2.0 had one Wagner and one Sylvania H4 headlight so I recently replaced both with a set of Hella 70476, same as in the link to busdepot.com. Mine came in original, but unsealed Hella boxes and were made in Germany.

Does anyone know exactly what E Code means? Euro approved? Mine came with no mention of E Code but did have stickers on the lens saying that they were "not cetified as meeting any Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard". I had the impression that they were not E Code until seeing the listing for the busdepot.com set stating that they are, also the same number 70476. It would be nice to know if they are approved for use somewhere, for something.

They do seem to have light disbursement for left-hand drive. Does anyone know more about these?