Period lighting question - mixed clear and yellow

[Darth Frivolous]

This might be a silly question, but here goes. If one were building a ‘68, drive to work during the week, rally through the hills at the weekend type of car, would it have ever been equipped with clear headlight lenses and yellow TTG fogs/driving lights? Or would the headlights and fogs have matched in color? Thanks for the advice...

[Darth Frivolous]

I did install the mud flaps the other day...

[LiveFromNY]

I'm by no means an expert, but I own a 1954 Austin Healey 100 with a fairly extensive race history and it has both. No idea if this was common, only a Healey thing, or specific to this car. But I love the look.

[NeunElf]

I kind of remember that era. If you want a real expert on historic sports car lighting, contact Aardvark International.

Headlights

Yellow headlights were France only and there only from WWII up to 1993. It might not have been legal to register a car with yellow headlights outside France but lighting regulations aren't always enforced.

If you ran yellow headlights back in 1968 you'd be considered to be a poseur.

Driving Lights

I assume you mean long range lights intended to be used with high beams. I've never heard of these in yellow although yellow bulbs are available. I'd run white to be historically correct.

Fog Lights

Fog lights could be either white or yellow: your choice.

I suspect a rally car with a rack of driving lights would also run white fog lights. I was at the Petersen yesterday; the Ferrari GTO on display had white fog lights.

On the other hand, yellow fog lights could work a little better in thick fog. The big advantage back in '68 when virtually nobody in the USA had fog lights is that yellow fog lights wouldn't be mistaken for high beams. If you ran white fog lights people would blink their high beams to get you to dim yours (even though you weren't using them).

[Darth Frivolous]

Thank you both for the information. I appreciate the period details you’ve provided, Jim, and you have a very nice Austin Healy, LiveFromNY! At both car events I attended this weekend (EASY C&C, and a drive this morning) I saw a few vintage cars with clear headlights and yellow fogs, and I like the look, so I’ve gone ahead and bought the Marchal yellow TTG fog lamps from a seller on the site here. Can’t wait to get them mounted. Thanks again for the input...

[HughH]

I agree with what has been said above
Lighting rules are very much jurisdiction specific and France was the only place with normal yellow lights.
Here in Australia there has always been a choice between yellow and white fog lights but yellow was only allowed on fog lights (and maybe not even in all states)
I have always preferred yellow fog lights over clear ones as I use them especially in heavy rain at night. In those conditions I find that they provide much better vision than white fogs (although white fogs are better than standard low beam due to the beam spread)

I try not to drive my 911 in those conditions theses days but I have it set up that way as shown on the picture if you what an idea of what it looks like

[911MRP]

This might be a silly question, but here goes. If one were building a ‘68, drive to work during the week, rally through the hills at the weekend type of car, would it have ever been equipped with clear headlight lenses and yellow TTG fogs/driving lights? Or would the headlights and fogs have matched in color? Thanks for the advice...

Slightly later than the OP question year but yellow (Amber) fog lights were a Porsche option around 72 and 73 in the UK Porsche price list. See exerpt from Porsche cars GB pricelist below. Lights as local option and optional fitting charge. While yellow is most usually associated with France (for obvious historical reasons) yellow was preferred by some as the auxiliary lighting for use in fog here in the UK. Probably for reasons Hugh says the colour seems to work in fog.

I recall the use of a yellow fog and a long range white used in combo like shown in earlier Healey post above from my parent's and grandparent's cars. Not just a Healey thing in UK in that era.


I have a feeling the practice was dropped (or certainly seemed less commonplace) when regulations auxiliary lighting to be matched pairs changed rather than allowing a fog and or a driving light pairing to be used and switched as conditions required along with the normal lights. Some switched yellow and white separately. Headlamps main beam and a single driving pencil beam when pressing on in country lanes. Dipped headlamp and a low yellow spread beam pattern if in fog. Iirc correctly headlights plus a single lamp became frowned upon by road safety folks here for some reason -- vague recollection it might be about safety wih busier roads beyond halcyon days of 50s because such a three combo on an unlit country lane might somehow get confused with car and bike close together?

Tbh not at all certain about that as that combining yellow and white "fashion" was slightly before my time.
Steve

[Darth Frivolous]

Here are some photos of my cheap hardware store mud flap mounts. I will say that this setup affords a lot of adjustability to get the positioning right.

[Darth Frivolous]

And here’s a nice shot from earlier this evening:

[Darth Frivolous]

Thank you for the additional information from the UK, Steve.