Cibi headlights?

The "Thunderbirds are Go!" thread got me thinking about the (I think) rather ugly and ill fitting headlights on these cars. I remember from the early '60's some European headlights used on some customs, wide rectangular ones. Weren't these Cibi lights? Or am I thinking of something else?

It occured to me that this would look MUCH better in my car than the quad stockers. I'd thought once about some late model ones, but they're all to square, no trim, and wouldn't look right. The rough sketch of my car shows the stockers covered with plexiglass covers, but I'm not sure about that idea either.

Any hints or suggestions on these headlights?

Brian

 

I'm thinking that it would have been later '60s but CIBIS were it.

 

OK, well I've got the right name anyway! Something else to search for! This is how my projects get out of control.

 

Brian, It,s CIBIE. MARCHAL had rectangular as wel. Here,s a 1960,s German Ford as an example. German Opel Rekord had rectangular as wel in the late 1960,s.

 

Cibie (generally pronounced as if you were saying the letters C-B-A in succession) is a French company that makes all manner of lighting products.

In the '60s and '70s, the European automakers didn't have to meet restrictive DOT standards for their products (except those shipped to the US), so their headlight technology developed faster and was both more advanced and more diverse than ours.

I'm not sure exactly which headlights you're refering to, but the could well have been made by Cibie - or Hella, Bosch, Lucas or several others.

Dave B.

 

Or a Citroen AMI, ( the funny looking one ) also an Opel Rekord. Opel would be HELLA.

 

Do you want round or rectangular? You can still get
round Cibie lights in both '7 inch round' and '5 3/4 inch
round' sizes. There's also, simillar, high-quality round
lights in the same sizes.lights from Bosch and Hella.
As far as night driving goes, any of the above are way
superior to sealed beams, both in light output and in
pattern. If you're gonna' make the switch though stick
with the genuine 'name-brand' Cibie, Bosch or Hella
lights only and avoid like the plague, any and all of the
'off-brand' Asian or East European made knock-offs..They
may look alike and all use similler H4 type halogen bulbs,
but the light pattern emitted from the knock-off brands
is HORRIBLE and n some casrs, even dangerous!

Mart3406
=============================

 

A bit anachronistic perhaps, but I suspect that a lot of European and Japanese headlights from, say, 1980-95 might fit those spaces. Most of the ones I'm thinking of were intended to lean back, so in the T-Bird the brows over them would still be prominent, which I think would be a good thing.

Off the top of my head, try Ford Sierra post-facelift; Mazda 323 and 626 mid-'80s; Opel Kadett and Ascona early '80s and the subsequent Kadett; many more. But that might not be the look you're after.

 

Barris used the Cibies quite a bit in the 60's...

 

Of course you could claim they came from a Lamborghini (who used the headlights which were originally on a Magirus Deutz truck)

 

Hay Brian...I'm thinking the rectangular Cibie's will not be wide enough to fill the
T-Bird opening. Might look like 7 pounds in a 10 pound bucket.

 

Rich, looking at the photos of the little cars originally equipped with them, you may be right. I'm just trying to think of something to do that would look a little different.
Maybe some PT Cruiser headlamps, or Mercedes ones cut back into the tops of the fenders?

(Just kidding! )

 

If some metal work doesn't scare you (and I know it doesn't) how about recessing the stock quads 6"?
OR
Mount the Cibie's in the grill area, and use the headlight area for parking lights.

 

These might work..

86 or so XJS Jaguar..Euro lights..but came on US deliveried XJS..in the last few years of the model.

 

These are off a late model but I think they look alright.

My other thought would be to deeply set them in like the Futura with single beams.

 

Maybe Peugeot 504 headlights would work if they're not to big:

 

Check out some motorcycle shops or catalogs - they used to run them for after market M/C head lights.

 

Here it is with XJS lights. Snake eyes!
Takes a bit of getting used to, but they actually match the shape of the grille opening pretty well, appear to fit the shape of the headlight area, and are about the only modern light you´ll find with a chunky chrome surround. Were you going with a chrome bumper or painted?

 

I like the size and shape of these Jag lights, they just need to be recessed a LOT.

Doc.

 

You could well be right. I put them on there where they´d sit if you just removed the Ford units. They don´t fit flat across the nose of the car either - they´re swept back, like on the Jag.

 

Just get four of these.

 

Bloody hell man!! I didn't even realize they were photo shopped!!
Good job, now to get them on there for real. FlynBrian, how about it, recess a little (Well a big little) and go with Jag?

Doc.

 

I actually have an ebayUK search on for XJS lights, so far, one surround only has popped up. There have to be some. Those do look good, and I agree they need to be back a little from the photoshop image, sunken, not frenched, into the fender. Seems like it'd be easy.

Bumper is currently painted, and will probably be painted body color again. It's really more of a rolled pan than a bumper, and has a really pretty, and simple, stainless surround framing the grill. That's enough brightwork up front. At the rear, I'm thinking of just having the bumperettes chromed, and the Dagmars.

 

Stop! UK spec units will be right hand drive units anyway - they´ll send the beam straight at oncoming traffic. Make you very unpopular!

 

Here´s a pair on German ebay that´ll dip the right way....
No chrome though.

http://cgi.ebay.de/Jaguar-XJS-Schei...temQQimsxZ20100316?IMSfp=TL100316138009r13063

 

There are two left hand bulbs on ebay here, but yikes, spendy! Who knew old Jag headlights would command 200 to 360 apiece? Not me...

 

I see the ones I posted didn´t sell. I´ll try and get hold of the guy, see if he still has them if you like.

 

Brian: This idea may not be your cup of tea and it's not very 'traditional' but at work the other day, I was checking out the current Dodge Charger we have as an Engineering Mule and I couldn't help but notice that the headlight shape might mesh well with the front end design of your Thunderbird. Ever since it came out, I have admired the very aggressive 'eagle-eye' look of the Charger's headlamps and could not help but notice that unlike 99% of today's cars with their laid-way-back headlamps, these headlamps stand nearly vertical, making them more easily usable in 50's and 60's cars. These may be too modern for your tastes, but would be more serviceable than a set of hard-to-find Euro Jaguar headlamps, probably a lot brighter, safer and there are aftermarket HID conversions out there if you'd like.
To get this look, you would need to fabricate a set of headlamp trim rings ([brass? chrome it...or wax back off of the headlamp and make a plastic part to be chromed?) and then sink the headlight deep underneath the TBird's eyebrows to achieve that eagle-eye look I'm trying to achieve.
If you like the look, I can easily take some measurements for you off of our Engineering Mule to help you visually mock it up...if you don't like it, that's fine too!
Good luck with your project!

All the best-Mark

Before:



Dodge Charger



Proposed

 

How's come I didn't think of that? It's actually alot like the original rendering I have for the 'Bird, which Steve had put plexi covers over the stock lights. They actually compliment the body, rather than distract.

Now, lose the bumperettes, the gunsight fender ornaments, drop the front about 4 inches, make it silver over charcole, 17" polished Salt Flats, bumper body color, and that's my car!

Brian