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accessoire
#1
Just can't stay away
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maurice desrosiers
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good morning gentlemen maybe somebody can tell me what it this accessoire thanks Maurice

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Posted on: 2019/1/20 12:39
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Re: accessoire
#2
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HH56
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I can't speak to the year of that particular piece but it is the traffic light viewer. It was an accessory that Packard and most other mfgs offered during the period before AC when a sun visor over the windshield was another popular accessory. It was also plentiful as an aftermarket offering.

Most visors were large enough or positioned so it was very difficult to view overhead traffic lights without getting your head down closer to dash level to be able to look out under the visor to see upward. It could be quite the experience getting your head in the right position if the light was high and distance short.

The viewer was a factory option over many years but there could be differences in arm appearance depending on how or where it was mounted in a particular year.

Here is the item as shown in the 55 accessory catalog.

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Posted on: 2019/1/20 12:50
Howard
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Re: accessoire
#3
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Leeedy
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The traffic light viewer here was an accessory that usually attached to the base of windshield trim and allowed the driver to look up at overhead traffic signals without straining to see.

Visor or no visor, A/C or no A/C... traffic light viewers were intended for use regardless of whether a car had a visor. In Detroit during the 1940s and 1950s, the stop lines on the pavement (if even painted) were usually so far forward under the common hanging traffic lights that the first driver in line could not see the signal light above his vehicle. So when the signal changed from red to green the driver could not see and thus ended frustrated with drivers behind tooting their horns. Detroit and many other cities that had dangling overhead traffic lights saved money by not having signal lights at eye level on many intersections. This was an expedient move for economy from the city's perspective, but negotiating streets as a driver was quite difficult at certain intersections without eye-level signals.

The prism of a traffic light allowed the driver to see even the highest and most awkwardly mounted dangling overhead traffic signal light.

As for the one in the photo... it has the look of a reproduction.

Posted on: 2019/1/20 19:18
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Re: accessoire
#4
Just can't stay away
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maurice desrosiers
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thanks a lot to both gents who answered my question have a good day what a useful forum Maurice

Posted on: 2019/1/21 15:22
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