I'm going to be restoring an old pair of BLC's, and I was wondering, when these were new, I know the shell was painted, but were the headlight rings painted or plated? Or could they be bought either way? Thanks!
My BLC 682's have painted rings but I've seen them with both. The stainless rings off of Guide 682's will fit so who knows what got switched around over the years. Since Guide bought BLC and 682's (C's and J's) are the same bucket I imagine you could buy them new with either. Really, I think, it depends what you prefer.
Yep, either way. I've seen NOS examples with painted and chrome rings... Posted using my Lil' Orphan Annie Secret Society Decoder Pin
Thanks gentlemen, I was thinking they could be had either way; the ones I've got appear to have been painted steel from day one.
Thanks. They are the ends of a Model A light bar and attached to the side of the frame with the same bolts that hold the F1 shock mounts on. Once attached I heated and bent them where I wanted them. The drivers side piece is on the passenger side and vise versa. They pointed at the ground when I first bolted them on. I hooked my chain fall in the hole the headlight stud goes through. Gave it about 4 pulls of the chain and started to heat. The weight of the truck taffy pulled it for me. I was able to slowly move the torch and get the bend to go how I wanted it.
Brown-Lipe-Chapin was already a part of GM along with Guide Lamp. The company was purchased back in the dark years around the crash of 29 and I'm sure it was for pennies on the dollar. BLC actually used to make a lot of gear parts for FoMoCo in the model T era and may folks who play with trucks & 4WD vehicles know what a Browny box it. BLC had a stamping department that made all sorts of lamp buckets, head lamps, road lamps, and cover plates for the various GM marques. GM eventually shut down a lot of divisions due to redundancy and Guide Lamp lasted quite a while longer before they too were dropped.
Here's a great link to some Guide/BLC history...interesting: http://www.hotroddisorder.com/2013/01/guide-to-blc-headlights.html
I've got the 682-C lights on my roadster, original paint and the rings are painted the same really faded black as the buckets. Oddly though mine don't have the Guide tag / rivet holes. I guess not all had them. From memory they came factory as well as something you could buy and fit to say a Model A or something that had different lights to begin with. So perhaps the factory ones had no tag?
I think repro 39 Chevy truck headlight rims fit the BLC/GUIDE big size headlights. Might be 37-39. Just look for the horizontal screw at the bottom of the rim.
40s HL rings worked on mine. The first year for sealed beam HL was 1940. Some have a tab that fits into a slot in the bucket with a screw in the bottom. Some have a pinch bolt that tightens the ring around the bucket.
Nick, that is a very cool roadster! Very similar to what I want to do. Is there a build thread on it? Thanks, Jim
[QUOTE="rotorwrench, post: GM eventually shut down a lot of divisions due to redundancy and Guide Lamp lasted quite a while longer before they too were dropped.[/QUOTE].............................The headlamps on my 2003 S-10 still say Guide on them.
Don't wish to hijack but the 682-C's on 28A's car have the rounded marker lenses. I have a set as well and would like to know what years the rounded versus the peaked marker lenses were available.
I know what you mean. Just think of all the stories those original headlight rims could tell. Like killing thousands and thousands of bugs! Not to mention all the rock hits.
Old pic, but shows the lenses on mine better. They are the pointy ones.. i think they may of been the last version. There are three types of lens from memory.
Just had a look on OTB Gear's website, and the ones i have are the ones they reproduce. Infact, i think my lenses are reproductions because it has a new gasket under it too. They don't reproduce the flat lens. I coulda sworn there was three versions.. but perhaps only two? I prefer the ones my lights have, the forward point kinda gives it a little more aggressive look i think. I too, like F6 above, prefer original stuff. I paid a tad more for mine than you can get repros for.. but they are the real deal. I don't mind using repro lens and gaskets.. but the main headlight retaining ring, the inner ring and bucket as well as the lens cover thingy are all the real deal. I just prefer it that way. Another point, you can tell an original bucket from an OTB one because when you remove the marker light housing thingy it'll have a recess for it.. the OTB ones don't. They sit flat.
Nick, that article linked above does show three different kinds of lenses. Yours are called "Hawksbill" or something like that. Very cool. F6, OTB appears to be out of stock on the plated rings, but like you, I always like to get the old stuff, not the repro stuff. Too many new parts just hampers getting the old-time "aura" I'm going for.
I know. It's wierd isn't it? OTB makes nice stuff, especially if you're trying to piece a set of lights together. I bought my harness with the plastic plug in for the sealed beams. Nice stuff and great people to deal with for sure. Call it "aura", "vibe", whatever. No matter how close a reproduction part is, 9 times out of ten they are just a little different. You might not be able to put your finger on it but somehow your eye finds it.
Guide headlights that were used on trucks not made by GM did not use the ID tags. Auto-car, Federal, White, etc. there are only 2 types of lenses, but 3 types of tin tops. some big truck headlights mounted from the side, and some had a recessed radius at the bottom ,as opposed to the ball type mount of the 682, 903, 904 type.
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