maybe fog lights (in a general sense) are made/ installed so the vehicle can be seen rather than the driver see. if so, it would explain the evolution present in most production cars today.
Fog lights should have low scatter lenses, coupled with a bulb shield, with a wide, flat beam. Mounted low, as all the ones I have seen are, the object is to illuminate the road through as little fog as possible. Their forward throw is usually half to two-thirds that of low beam headlights, and the use of two allows for a better view of the side of the highway with one, and/or any painted lines you may be lucky enough to have guide you on the road in poor weather. In the UK, a single foglight was usually mounted on the passenger side, set toward the side of the road, they were popular in London during the "pea souper" smog days. At that time the roads were lit by street lighting and common practise in the city was to drive with parking lights on only. In the fog, a quartz-iodine lamp was used to shine toward the kerb, making it easier to follow the street. A second lamp, if fitted was usually a "pencil beam" spotlight, for "country driving". The law allowed for the fog light to be on by itself, or in conjunction with low or high beam headlights. Rear mounted red fog lights were common, just a single on the rear. One lamp because austerity.
A neighborhood kid inherited a 1950 Chrysler Royal. His mother had a VW bug that someone had put fog lights on. One burned out, so the kid took them off the bug. He asked me if the good fog light would work on the Chrysler and I said that it would. Since the bug and Chrysler are 6 volts, the light was fine. The kid mounted it at center of front bumper. Worked great and he was very happy.
I was up at the watering hole the other night in my roadster. A friend and his Mrs. walked up to my table and he said "one of your turn signals is missing". I said that is not a turn signal, it's a fog light". He responded "one of your fog lights is missing then".
One has gotta be a fifties (or older) thing. 30 years ago, I had a neighbor who was in his seventies who had a nice '70 Mustang convertible with one fog light. When I asked him what happened to the other one, he looked at me like he thought I was nuts.
At 74, driving a car with a fog light for the first time is NOT on the "Things to do list". However if they can outshine oncoming halogen headlights on the newest imports I may install a pair to let them know what I think of them.
The Jalopy Journal
