I have a pair of spots in my mercury, not dummies, actual spots. They may as well be dummies, since they don't work, but that's for another post..... Anyhow, I get the occasional question from random folks(at the gas station, etc.) if my car used to be a police cruiser. I tell them that to the best of my knowledge it wasn't. Of course the next question is "Why the spotlights?" Aside from the popularity of the spots as a "Custom Accesory" what were the reasons for them? My best guess is that back then, there were places were streetlights and such were fewer than the present day, and you had them to spot peoples houses, lost dogs, kids making out, blinding the occasional deer, etc. Am I far off base?
Might also have to do with 6v headlights not being powerful enough? I never really understood that look anyway. I can sort of understand it if they are functional, but far as I'm concerned, the day I put fake spotlights on my car is the same day I put a riceboy spoiler on the trunk.
Does anyone have a book to tell which mounting bases go to which car? From what I've been told, thats the hard part to get, the lights are pretty generic. I guess they were a cool accessory for the day, I'd like them on my 58 Ford. I think they were of more use in areas without streetlights so one could read the street signs... Kinda where I live now!
[ QUOTE ] the day I put fake spotlights on my car is the same day I put a riceboy spoiler on the trunk. [/ QUOTE ] I can picture it now, 50 Merc, chopped, channeled, nosed, decked, sectioned, shaved with some nice flipper caps and a cool paint job with neat striping, dummy dual sopts and a 3' high sculpted triple wing spoiler with the pollished alumium uprights and bright yellow grafics. Yeeeeeaaaaa***ssss Phat!! I think I'm gonna go throw up now... Gene
They became popular on customs because most were owned by guys, and they look like ***s...and are chrome to boot! and....their position was dictated by the fact that they had to be easily accessible for rubbing while driving, therefore they were placed where you could reach out the window and caress them.... one of the magazines had an article a few years ago discussing this very subject...but I forget what their consensus was. Brian
I can tell ya why my dad had a spot light on our fambly car. Actually, there were 2 reasons. One was to spotlight deer and the other came into play on Saturday nights. We'd go, as a family, to the drive-in movies when there was a good one playing. We'd get there early and as soon as it became dusk, the ol man would fire up the spot light. He'd dance it around the big screen and invariably, somebody else would do the same. Pretty soon, there'd be several guys chasing each other's beams around the screen. It was addictive to the ol man and he'd giggle like a little school girl..... When intermission came, mom would take us kids up to the consession stand to feed and water us while the ol man stayed in the old Pontiac and resumed his game of "chase the beams"....he always had a blast with his spotlight.
Holy ****, Rocky, that really brought back some memories. I forgot all about that stuff at the drive in!-MIKE
[ QUOTE ] as I'm concerned, the day I put fake spotlights on my car is the same day I put a riceboy spoiler on the trunk. [/ QUOTE ] It's fine to not like the look of spots, but love em or hate em, for a kustom it's a pefectly period correct addition. What's the purpose of a continental kit or non- fucntional lake pipes? No purpose...exhaust can run out the tail pipes and a spare tire can be carried in the trunk. But they look cool, so we do it. Isn't looking cool the whole point?
[ QUOTE ] What's the purpose of a continental kit or non- fucntional lake pipes? No purpose...exhaust can run out the tail pipes and a spare tire can be carried in the trunk. But they look cool, so we do it. Isn't looking cool the whole point? [/ QUOTE ] but at least that form has function. i would never run dummy spots or fake lakes. might as well get a fake quick exchange too!
I've always had a theory that customs looked like the speedboats of the era. They are low, sleek and have that down-in-back (or nose-in-the-air depending on your preference) stance. Then there is the way a custom just "floats" by with that smooth, gliding motion and the muffled burble of the engine. The spotlights go hand-in-hand with boats, so why not put 'em on a custom? The extra added uses are just bonus. There is no fact to back up my theory, but I always thought it seemed logical what with the baby boomer families finding new ways to entertain themselves and the idea that boating could be a hobby. Toss that in with the American love of the automobile and blend.....
One of my bosses that I worked with a few years back told me about the way they used to use their spotlights at the drive-in. You know when you go to the movies nowadays (the movie theatre, not the drive-in), they put stuff up on the screen to entertain people as they file in before the coming attractions and the movie starts? You know, little quizzes like name the actor, or which movie was this, etc? He told me that back in the day they had a little character named "Spotty" that they put up on the screen before the show. It was a little cartoon that would jump all over the drive-in screen and you were supposed to try to shine your spotlight on him. My boss also said that having a spotlight on the p***enger side was a big NO-NO back then--at least here in Denver. He said the cops would really give you a bad time if you had a light on each side. Sometimes they would even take the p***enger side light off the car and keep it! That might explain why you see so many old cars with spotlights on just the driver's side. For those of you out there that want to run real spotlights on your kustom, the mounting brackets may not be as hard to find as you might think. I buy the spotlights themselves at swapmeets, junk yards, Ebay, etc. The spotlights, arms and handles are the easy part. The brackets are tougher to find. Many of them will interchange with many different makes and models, but they are right and left specific. Anyway, the best place I've found for the mounting brackets is Kanter. They aren't exaactly cheap, but they can get you the parts to mount your spots--right and/or left side. I put real working spotlights on my truck and I love 'em. They are alot of fun! E
A number of years ago I took by '58 Chevy to work one day. It was built as a 50s custom just as the KKOA was getting off the ground. A young woman at work asked about the spotlights (and yes, they were Cal Custom dummies). I thought about it for awhile and said, "Does your home have shutters on the windows? They don't work either, but the house just seems to look better with them. It's the same thing with spotlights." Dave
[ QUOTE ] A number of years ago I took by '58 Chevy to work one day. It was built as a 50s custom just as the KKOA was getting off the ground. A young woman at work asked about the spotlights (and yes, they were Cal Custom dummies). I thought about it for awhile and said, "Does your home have shutters on the windows? They don't work either, but the house just seems to look better with them. It's the same thing with spotlights." Dave [/ QUOTE ] mine keep the sun and strangers lookin in at me out.
who cares why people have spots, there cool and i use em to shine light into peoples windows at night when there a sleep and iam cruisin down there street but i only use the big appleton spots not those wussy cheap small *** unity dummy piece of ****s the old timers use on there "kemps"
I think he's talking about all those fake plastic shutters. Anyway, I always just figured that the origins of customs was to make your car look like a more expensive model, like putting different side trim on the cars, different grilles, and shaving emblems so people weren't really sure what your car was. To me adding spots was just another way to add chrome and make the car look like a more expensive model. Kind of like cars of the thirties using the driving lamps or whatever they called them on the cowl. I also agree with the boat theory. What do I know though. I wasn't born 'til '79 so I missed all the good stuff.
A lot of cars that I saw back then that had dummy spots used them to hide the ****ons for their electric doors.
I always thought that people put them on cause the cops had them. Just to show the cops that they had all the same cool junk their cars had. On the same thread to give the cars a look of authority. I don't know but thats what I always guessed.
Spot lights back then were like coffee can muffler tips and "shopping cart" wings on Hondas today. Think about it. -Brad
atleast if you are going to put in fake ones put them so they look like they are positioned like functional ones, looks fulgy when they are so that they would have to be operated you laying on the foor reaching under the dash trying to operate.
Never understood why ya work so hard to smooth out a car. Remove all the lumps and bumps, strip trim, french stuff, round corners and then stick two chrome tumors right in the middle of it all. I've never liked spots on anything. I do have a pair on my truck but, they were there when I got it and if I remove them I have to fill a buncch of holes. But they are at least real, not dummys. Also continental kits ****. Laker pipes are OK if they are hooked up. I don't like silicon ***s either. I need Jiggle!
Before the invention of the steel-belted radial tire, flats and blown tires were a regular part of motoring. The spotlight could be repositioned to shine down the side of your own car at night. You could also shine the light into your engine compartment. Stopping to help a broken down motorist was common back then. The roads were narrow with poor shoulders. Extra light has a real practical purpose.
"Never understood why ya work so hard to smooth out a car. Remove all the lumps and bumps, strip trim, french stuff, round corners and then stick two chrome tumors right in the middle of it all." Yeah, I always thought the same thing about louvers. Lets smooth everything out then put these things all over my hood. You know damn well if cars came with louvers all over the hood everyone would be spending hours in the garage hammering and filling those ****ers to make them disappear!.
Does anybody have anymore information as to why spotlights were put on the first customs? I'm sure that most of the customs came to have them because it was the "in" thing to do and a few were installed for some of the practical reasons previously stated, but I would like to know why the first few customs had them. As previously stated, most of the early customs were really clean, sleek and slinky. Adding spotlights kind of goes against that. There must have been a REALLY good reason why the first ones were installed. Hell, most of them didn't even run outside rear view mirrors. Chris
i was always told the spots were to see the mailboxes,or house numbers,because they were so far from the roads ,back when.....
Pizza Drivers get the 50000 candle power or better to locate address at night quicker. The quicker you find the house, the more pizza's you can take on a run, the more you get in tips. Big ugly plastic ones, nothing you'd put on a car.... But like the others have said, lots of fun to play with. Id say, cause their fun. Ever ride in the front of a police car? Their really fun to play with, after the lights and siren, but the spot light, you can control..
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