Hahaha @ccain it does make a big difference doesn't it! Thanks for that information @gene-koning. I had wondered what the exact case was with some states pushing back against the quad headlights.
Got my tires mounted the other day. Took a minute to get all that blue off! I decided to replace all the rear wheel studs with some longer ones. I had already replaced the left hand ones when I was rebuilding the rear end but I was never comfortable with how short the stock ones were so there's plenty of thread engagement now. The ones I put in recently came out easy but the old ones took a little bit to get out. You can see the number the air hammer did on the lug nut I was using. The wheel stud installer with the bearing worked great. They look great and ride even better. I'm pretty sure the beauty rings I've got will work. I think I'll end up putting them on because I like the way they look but I couldn't bring myself to mar that fresh black paint yet.
Tires look great. That is exactly what I keep looking at for mine although price landed West Coast Canada is prohibitive.
Whatever you decide about the wagon tailgate, your truck looks good. But mine was worth it in my opinion.
Detroit was ready to go all-in with quad lights starting in '57, but they were illegal in a handful of midwestern states. Each manufacturer handled this slightly different. GM only sold one car with them, the top-of-the-line Cadillac and there wasn't a dual-light version. I assume because it was a very low volume car, GM wasn't concerned about a few lost sales. And while both Ford and Chrysler had all-new designs, GM had just re-skinned the '56 models and the existing models didn't lend themselves as well to a quad light design. Over at FoMoCo, Ford had planned on quads across their lines but pulled back when this became known. Lincoln got a faux quad design with standard duals and two fog lights, but Mercury did sell both versions on upper-end models much like Chrysler did. The Fords had to wait until '58 to get them. MoPar went for it. The '57 Imperial, Chrysler and DeSoto models all came 'standard' with quads except in those states where they weren't allowed. Dual light versions were available there. A dual-light Imperial is close to being a unicorn, I've never seen one but have seen NOS headlight doors for one so some must have existed. The Dodge and Plymouth lines got faux set-ups like the Lincoln only using the turns instead of fog lights. Hard telling why the '58 Dodge trucks were late to the party. It was a new design for '58, pretty obviously set up for quads, maybe the truck styling department didn't get the memo... Detroit wasn't happy about this so went to Congress for relief and got it (Remember the quote 'What's good for GM is good for America'? This was that in action...LOL). By mid-year '57, quad lights were legal everywhere so a 'normal' September '58 introduction could be done, and quad lights appeared on damn near everything in '58.
That is super sharp @Kosmos55! Really nice metal work. Thank you for that information @Crazy Steve, that's very interesting. Since quads were legal in '58 do you think Dodge offered a dual light option instead of quads on the truck? I've seen a few pictures of others that are like mine but the majority of them are the normal quad setup.
Again, hard telling what happened. Dodge would have been finalizing/building parts for the new-for-'58 design while all this was going on and may have decided to cover the bases with a dual light set-up if the quads didn't become legal everywhere in time for normal new model introduction. Or possibly they planned on an earlier intro date than September, not unknown to happen. So they may have produced the parts but they became unneeded once Congress acted. So rather than throw those parts away, Dodge may have decided to use them up. It may have been a no-cost option for those who were skeptical of anything 'new fangled' like four headlights, or they simply stuck them on random trucks until they were gone. It does seem very odd to see them on a top-of-the-line model like yours, but then again, maybe a collision in it's past and a wrecking yard front clip or new parts availability at the time is why yours has them. A lot can happen to a vehicle in 66 years... Definitely a rarity, although not one that would add value IMO, just odd.
...I'm not sure you did an Inspiration but I did just for a looksie...if you clic the thumbnail then clic the image you can cycle the two looks at full size... Credit to All That Inspired This
Thank you for doing that @Stogy it looks great! This is giving me some serious ideas because I really like that look too with the quads. I need to keep a look out for any bezels that come up for sale that way I have the option to switch to either one.
It has been a while since I did an update on the truck but I haven't really done anything to it except driving it. I know there was a lot of discussion about the single headlights vs quads but the picture @Stogy did for me sold me on it and I have been collecting the parts ever since. Right now I've got a real Johnny Cash hillbilly Cadillac situation going on! I had planned on painting the bezels I got black but they match the original color of the truck almost perfectly. I'm thinking I'll get the conversion finished and leave it like that for a while to see if I like the contrast. I've seen that done on a few '58's and I can always paint them later. I really like the look of these trim plates like the ones that were around my single headlights. It doesn't look like they were put on many trucks though. It took me a while just to track down the parts I got and I don't think I would ever run across these for sale so I decided to make some out of 1/8" aluminum plate. I've only made the one so far but I will take it a little easier on the 1/8" slots on the next one. I went full depth on the first cut and it turned out a little bit rougher than I would like but this one cleaned up fine enough. I was thinking about painting the slots black so it stands out a little more. I decided to fill them in with sharpie real quick just to get an idea. I think it will match the plate I made for the front really well if I paint the slots black.
I am trying to figure out the headlight assemblies now. It took some doing to get the single assembly out as it was pretty rusty. I'm surprised there was a good enough ground for the lights to work! It looks like single headlights is all this truck has ever had because I had to knock out the half moon plate to let the back of the quad housing go in. The single assembly was mounted to this plate. I assume I will have to make something similar for the new assemblies. I have looked around for a picture of how they were mounted but haven't had any luck. I assume they go in like this as this is the only way they would fit. I'm also having some trouble figuring out the buckets I got off of eBay. I hoping somebody will be able to shed some light on the situation for me. Y'all might have noticed in the pictures of when I was mocking up my bezel that the high beam was vertical. I think I have the driver side right now. I have two buckets that are marked LI-1 and LO-2 that line up right but then the other two I got are marked HI-5 and will only hold a high beam sideways. I tried looking into it and found an article about some later Mopars that also had a RI-1 and RO-2 for the passenger side. If anyone has any information about this I would very much appreciate any advice.
Thanks Billy! You were one of the driving forces behind going this way too and I'm glad y'all talked me into it because I think it's going to look really good.
No info on the buckets, but I may have a spare set if those aren't working out for you. I can't check until next week. Looking good with the dual headlights!
That 58 Quad headlight truck I had was many years ago, and then it was only here for a short time. My take on the buckets. The two flat sides of the buckets should be together, that allows the two lights to be closer to each other. If the buckets are marked, RI-1 and RO-2 and LI-1 and LO-2, the letters designate the bucket location. "R" (right side of truck), "L" (would be the left side of the truck), "I" (inner light, towards the center of the truck) or "O" (outer light, towards the outer edge of the fender). The # "1" (probably for the 1 element light or Hi beam only has two wire connections) and the #"2" ( probably for the two element light or the hi-lo beam light, has 3 wire connections). The bright only was always towards the center of the truck. I'm sure the labeling was for the production line purposes. For the record, the 3 notches in the headlight buckets match up with the 3 bulges on the lights. The lights only fit correctly in one position, but can be rotated and the bulges will fit in any of the 3 notches (they won't fit snuggly into place in the wrong rotation but can be mounted that way, a lesson I learned at that 1st job in the gas station many years ago). Later versions of the quad headlight buckets are one piece units with both buckets welded to each other.
I agree I think it's going to be a very good change. I can't wait to see your new Hemi in your truck by the way, that's going to be slick. Thank you, I would really appreciate that. I just haven't been able to find much information about them. Haha well I have taken to having the occasional inebriant down at the shop now but you don't have to tell her that part! That makes a lot of sense about the designations. I'm not sure what the HI-5 ones are for but I ended up with two of them. I was looking at it before though and where the larger protruding nub on the lamp is for alignment and the shorter one is what sits on top of the bucket it doesn't seem like it would be too hard to cut a notch in the correct location in the bucket and maybe make the ones I have work.
They look awesome...so do the singles...tough call but there isn't a wrong decision...I'm glad you found the inspiration helpful... It's interesting making conversions which in this case was an option but because it wasn't built that way...there are a number of components involved that you're making or sourcing...sometimes it's more straightforward, even the wiring has the extra clips but alas it varies by component and vehicle I guess...you are doing a great job...
I'd run two headlights on the drivers side and one on the passenger side. You could really have fun at car show with that setup.
Thanks everyone I really like how it is going to look too, I think it will be a big improvement and I will always have the single headlights should I ever want to change back. Sounds like maybe I should start a poll though for singles, quads, or three headlights. If three headlights win I'll go full "One Piece at a Time" and take one of the tailfins off.
Take the tail fins off??? If the three headlight thing makes the tail fins go away, that just can't be an option.... Just my opinion. If you intend on driving much at night, those quad headlights work better then the dual headlights do.
Haha no the tail fins wont be going anywhere. The three headlights just makes me think of Johnny Cash's song One Piece at a Time where the headlights on the hillbilly Cadillac had two on the left and one on the right and only one tail fin. I do have to drive at night fairly often so that's good to know about the quads. It will be interesting to see the difference.
The Jalopy Journal
