Interesting Headlight Conversion

[BAPhotowerks]

Bought an rusty old set of early USA headlights a while back at a swap, the style with the minimal chrome and a clear lens over a (lousy) sealed beam lamp. In this case, the lamps were Sylvania. Obviously not too terribly special, though uncommon, but the chrome rings were drivers, the housings could clean up, and the price was right...

Oddly enough, when I got them home and looked closer, I came to realize they were H1's (or possibly H4's) that have been cut out and stuffed to cradle a FLAP sealed beam replacement lamp! The lamp is secured by three metal straps that wrap around the exterior of the reflector, folded/bent at either end to be snug. Between the lamp and the reflector is common, yellowing open cell foam, probably 1/2" thick. I reckon this was done in the 90's, after the Dremel was widely available.

In the end, I felt like I had to share it. Kind of ingenious, but really dumb in my opinion. I hope the rest of the car survived under better care!

BA

[Scott Clarke]

I'll bet that was done as part of a gray market DOT conversion.

[BAPhotowerks]

I hadn't thought of that Scott, but it seems reasonable. To be honest, the cut on the reflector is a pretty decent circle, and there is not a burr to be found. If you look at the straps, they secure the front by passing through the adjustment ring of the reflector; those holes were cut too, with decent precision. I agree, the more I think of it, whoever did it probably knew exactly what he was doing.

[pcpaternie]

I believe this was a fairly common OEM 'fix' for U.S. bound imports back in the dark days (pun intended) when U.S. safety nazis enforced sealed beam laws. Seeing the photos brought back memories of the same type of setup on either the SAAB or Opel Manta (or maybe both) I owned in the 70s.