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I've ordered the halogen taillights from Bill Hirsch. As soon as I get them, I'll post a photo taken in the evening, with a halogen on one side and incandescent in the other. Thanks.

ok - finally got the bulbs yesterday and put them in this morning. They are brighter, but only when the car is running. Apparently the battery isn't quite enough to power the bulbs without the help from the generator. The nice part is that the turn signals and brake lights are really bright, much more so than the running light. I'll try to get some photos this evening.

David--

Based on your recommendation I just bought two halogen tail light bulbs for my 1950 Standard Eight. I spoke with Eric Hirsch and ordered the 1154 dual filament, bayonet with offset pins, 6-volt models in halogen. Price was $17 each. With shipping, it came to a flat $40.

I shopped around, a bit, online and couldn't find a deal better than that.

Last time I bought a standard, tungsten tail light bulb at the local auto parts store, they were about $3 each. But I've never been happy with my tail lights' dimness, particularly when I use the turn signal at night. It scares the bejesus out of me to be hurtling down the freeway during the evening rush hour not knowing whether the drivers immediately behind me are aware I'm planning to change lanes. If I'm planning to slide left I roll down the window and use a hand signal, just to be safer. But if I want to ease right I use the tail light signal AND do a lot of head-swiveling before I change lanes. Even so there have been times when I obviously took the driver behind me by surprise.

Hopefully the new halogens will pay for themselves in stress reduction alone!

On another note, did you ever get those pictures taken?

All the best,

Mark

Mark - what I've found is that the tail lights are slightly brighter, but the brake lights are much brighter. I'll get one of my buddies to apply the brakes tomorrow while I shoot the photo.

David--

How about the turn signals at night, when the running lights are all on?

Are the turn signals noticeably brighter, too?

Thanks,

Mark

Unfortunately, my helper got here during the day to shoot the photos. The first one is of the running lights, and the second one is of the brake lights. Even in the daylight, the halogen brake light is noticeably brighter. In case you can't tell, the left hand side has the halogen bulb. I think it is worth the money for the extra security of being noticed while braking.

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I sweated that decision some time ago and recognized that in all actuality, I probably wouldn't be driving to often during the evening, but given safety concerns, I'm all for being as careful as possible on modern roadways especially with all the other nut-jobs I often find all around me while driving. Do what you need to do to be safe.

As an aside, given the brightness of the tail lamps in my '55 400, I drilled one additional hole into the lamp casings and wired a second bulb to each lamp. Twice the light at the rear end I guess.

I also bought a small dash board light from Bill Hirsh. Pretty expensive, but I can finally read all of the gauges at night!