Lenses over sealed beam headlights.

I drive a '39 Willys sedan daily. The original gl*** lenses over the previous owner installed halogen sealed beams were so weak, that I removed the outer lenses in the interest of safe driving at night. Now I'm putting an outlaw gl*** '41 front end on the car ('cuz I like the look), and I'm curious what others have to say about lighting options on these cars. I have reproduction bezels and old,cracked plastic repro lenses, which will never work, so which work best, are there coices I may be overlooking? Note, this is my 5:30 A.M. commuter car.

 

One old pic of the SWC Willys, at some event, just one time, showed what looked like old Electroline sealed beam kit for 37 Fords. It looked ok..but that's just me.

 

You may already know this but you can get everything new from Willys Replacement Parts, it can get a little spendy though. Another option would be an old sealed beam conversion kit like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/1937-1939-F...Parts_Accessories&hash=item41691a2b32&vxp=mtr
and compare height and width measurements along with the backside angle with the headlight level. A little fudging can be done with a gl*** nose but the headlight angle is pretty much set.

 

The outlaw front came with halogen sealed beams. I'm looking at the willys Replacement Parts stuff, just wondering if anyone has experience with them. I also need front turn signals, and WRP has some that fit inside the bucket below the headlight. also, for a lot more money, there's these lights with the turn signal built in, but if one bulb fails, are they both going to need replacement? Do any of these options provide good lighting? I want the Willys look here, but I gotta see those darned deer!

 

mohr hp,
Please don't put those SWC seal beam conversions on...(my opinion) they detract from the beautiful original Willys lights. Now for the down side...I have tried almost every headlight set up that could possibly work with the original trim rings and lenses, and I have only one or two more options that I want to try, but truthfully there are not many things you can do to have good original looking headlights. You can over drive your headlights very easily in a Willys. Here's what I did...had Ron Francis brite bulbs in my original re-silvered reflectors in my '41 pickup. They gave me some light, and a decent beam, but not very far out. Bright they were not. But they did work at speeds around 50-55. Next I have halogen seal beams in my '39 coupe...these have high intensity and they are very bright, but as is the case with original Willys lenses, you get a double prism effect going through the prism seal beam, and then through the original Willys prism gl***. As I said they are bright, but the light goes everywhere, and the beam doesn't go too far down the road...but others can sure see you. Here are the two other methods that I am going to try. I found some seal beam type with "clear" lenses, and replaceable H-4 bulbs(kind of like off road, or air craft landing lights)...my guess is that perhaps I can escape the double prism effect with these...worth a try.
In my current project (a '36 sedan), I am going to do something a bit different yet.
Bought the Bob Drake smallest reflectors(...7" vs original Willys 6-3/8"). Hope they will work like originally intended, and they are set up for halogen H-4 bulbs. All these go through original Willys lenses. I was however, disappointed that the Bod Drake reflectors are a chromed plastic. I am quite sure that someone does have a metal reflector/halogen set up out there somewhere, and I would prefer that. There will be some fabricating to make them fit Willys buckets. I try to have another remedy ready for the deer, as they are plentiful here too...a spare front clip. So far (knock on wood) I haven't needed to use them. Oh yeah, if you own a 37-38 Willys, you get lots of round headlight choices. GOOD LUCK
g-willys

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm interested in how the Bob Drake 37 Ford reflectors work too. They were brought up in the "driving at night" thread. Wonder if The WRP add in turn signals could be grafted in too. This may be as good as it gets for Willys drivers(?)

 

Going thru sealed beam gl*** and car lens is really bad. I am also looking for what really works. Would prefer not to have to change wiring. I hate to drive at night this way.

Anyone see or try these from Willys Replacment Parts

Reflector conversion kit SBWR 54
Fits 37 – 42 Willys headlight bucket

 

This might not be what you want to hear, but my friend with a Willys put small driving lights mounted just UNDER the front clip because he couldn't find anything that worked well in the headlights. You can't see them during the day unless you bend over to look under the front splash pan, but he says he gets much better visibility at night. There are a million options with add-on lights and if you're driving the car that much it seems like a reasonable compromise.