Plymouth Owners Club

General Category => Parts and Paper => Topic started by: zumdale on June 10, 2006, 11:27:27 PM

Title: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: zumdale on June 10, 2006, 11:27:27 PM
My 49 P18 still has the original head lamps, with the magnifing center.? one of them is burned out on low beam. Does any one know where I might find a good lamp of this type? My grand father bought this car new and did not drive at night. I suppose this is why the lamps are original.
Title: Re: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: jtw37 on June 12, 2006, 10:50:16 PM
Have seen them on Ebay, but the price would scare you. They think their gold because their old.
JT
Title: Re: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: zumdale on June 12, 2006, 11:57:29 PM
With out going on e-bay what prices have you seen thenks  Dale
Title: Re: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: jtw37 on June 19, 2006, 12:18:59 AM
All I've seen is on Ebay. Otherwise I don't know what they would cost, but I'm sure they are not cheap since they are hard to come by.
JT
Title: Re: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: OldCarNut on June 29, 2006, 09:50:47 AM
I have seen them every now and then in Hemmings Motor News.  Again, very expensive. (Over $100.00)
Title: Re: bulls eye head lamp
Post by: David Pollock on June 29, 2006, 11:31:09 PM
Some years ago, I wrote an article in the Bulletin entitled Brighten Up those Bulls Eyes. (#162, Jan Feb 1987)  It is easy if you are patient  to remove the lense from your Bulls Eye unit by gently prying the metal lip away from the glass by using a pair of medium size diagonal wire cutters.  Do NOT pry against the glass and be prepared to go around several times.

The lense, once separated may be attached to another semi sealed beam unit (with bulb) from which a plain lense has been removed or better still to a Bosch reflector which has had its lense broken out and which will accept a H-4 bulb.  The lense can be glued in place with windshield urethane. Unfortunately H-4 bulbs in 6 Volts are hard, but not impossible to obtain. (for part #s refer to the article)
These modified units give good low beam output and Excellent High Beam plus a perfectly stock appearence. Both my 50 and 51 Plymouths are so equipped and have been for 20 + years.  Time flies!

Some states, Ohio being one as I recall, did not allow Bosch headlights, so readers there were unfamiliar with the lights I wrote about, but they were used in Volvo and some motorcycle applications and are not hard to find where I am and certainly a lot cheaper than $100.    dp