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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