I put a head-hi taillite on the back parcel tray of my 1978 Triumph sedan cause nobody was noticing the stock lights down low on the back of the body. Everyone's far too used to high brakelights now, it's just not safe to be on the road in a car without a hi-light. The last thing I want is some ****er in a huge 4WD with a half ton of s**** iron welded on the front bumper bar running up the rear of my pride and joy! And I followed a mate in a 39 Ford with blue dots on his rear,and I nearly ran up his behind when he braked hard, I simply didn't see his brakelights working at all. Cheers, Glen.
Albert Drake said the same in his book 50's Flashback, which leads me to believe they just never caught on in the Pacific NW. Tucker
They've been around for decades. I've had them in every Harley I've ever owned. Got 'em in the '39 Ford taillights on the back of my bagger, today. They will also be in the tailights of my p/u. All you young-un's need to research before openin' your pie-hole.
hmm - been runnin' blue dots for about 20 years - never been pulled over, never rear ended. Umm... seems odd a bunch of trad hot rodders are worried about the long arm of the law - when everything from ride height, fenders, and pipes are usually outside the legal limit on a trad rod - and y'all worried about blue dots?
Tell us how you really feel... Afraid I'm with Doc on this one. These were the detail touch on cars in the NE area for years. The addition of a center brake light strip (LED)? sounds like a smart move.
Your example of a c---****er cap is a golfer's or sportscar driver's tweed or plaid cap. So, that explains that. I didn't think you would be referring to the "Stroker" McGurk caps which are the traditional headwear or rodders for these many years.
Here is my eye witness report. In the 1950s, I would occasionally see cars runing blue dots. They all seemed to conform to the same recipe. The blue dots were accompanied by continental kits, mud flaps, suicide knobs on the steering wheel, full eye brow windshield visors, and the cap bill/eye brow treatment on the head lights. Add a wolf whistle and a '**** tail on the antenna and you're in business. Common theme here is bolt-on accessories. Never saw blue dots on a hot rod or a serious custom. Shoebox Fords were the favorite target for blue dots and they were sold as a full replacement lens, not a little add-on dot. Today's interest in blue dots is revisionist history, but is high enough for many state legislatures to address them in bills.
X2. Old cars have small enough tail lights to start with. Why do anything that will reduce their visibility or contrast? That idiot behind you on autopilot, his/her brain is programmed to look for red light, not purple. And my worst nightmare is being found partially at fault after an idiot has destroyed my pride and joy, and that fault coming from "modified taillights". Personally, sure hope cops are h***ling all the modern truck owners with those cheesy partial taillight covers. Do they make those with a cutout of calvin ******* yet?.
I had blue dots on my '48 Fordor. My brake lights were so dim you could barely see them, so I switched back to stock lenses. My '57 Chevy 150 has blue dots and the brake lights are super bright. Go figure.
I have many near miss rearenders in traffic at rodding events due to the poor performance of dotted lenses in bright sunlight and rainy, misty road conditions in dark or daylight. Using 2357 bulbs rather than the old 1157s could make a big difference as the 2357 is much much brighter than 1157 on the stop/turn filament. Another possibility for safety's sake is a travel lightboard, this is a well crafted easily removeable panel which has larger conventional lights powered by a trailer plug pigtail. The panel can be installed before leaving on a trip, then removed at the destination for cruising the town or fairgrounds. Better safe than losing your life or your car to the inattention of an everyday driver or rodder. Lynx Eye "Blue Dot" Lenses were very popular in some parts of country and almost unheard of in others. They were by all accounts illegal by the mid 50s due to more stringent laws about what color lights may be shown from the rear of a vehicle. The newest original Lynx Eye dotted lens I have ever seen was a 57 Chevrolet. I have seen original Lynx Eye factory lenses display boards but none have had any lens newer than 1957 so I have to ***ume they were gone from production after 1957. The proliferation of the dotted lens due to the availability of loose dots has led to them being seen on everything from motorcyles to mini-vans, which is usually a death sentence for a rodding "fad". Some states are considering, or may have already approved, SEMA-sponsored legislation for older car registration and licensing which, oddly, includes an exemption for dotted lenses which would legalize them in some jurisdictions.
Mine are bright as hell day or night...but mine are in round 90 degree lights (see avitar)...love the colour they make.... cops never give me grief... M
me thinks that since they are repopped now the "ol skool "look is common and fading away.. finding true old boxed gl*** units or gl*** old used ones is hard to do for specific models .. but then the oddball ones are still found sometimes in great shape? i have some displayed with original boxes and some missing the dots(used on other lenses) ol lynx eyes.. if the bulb is centereed right and is brite enuf they should be visible,, its the smaller surface area of older lites and cuz the car is lowered that they seem to disappear.. i have seen late model 3rd brake lites with them wonder if they are h***led.. hmmmmmmm paperdog
I run blue dots in most of our old cars and have for years, both in NY and Florida. Never been stopped by the poloice because of them...
Illegal in all states! Some law enforcement doesn't bother with the h***le, but regardless of year they are illegal. Can only have red for tail and brake lights, amber for turn signal and flashers. People get away with the clear **** all the time, but are also illegal. No blue lights are legal on any p***enger vehicles.
Not true. Legal in Mississippi, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Rhode Island and maybe other states.
In a lot of lenses, I agree. 59 caddy, 39 Ford, etc just dont look good with them. I think the F100 lense look good, but those thing are big and flat.
You guys are missing the point here. Harley Davidson used blue dots from the factory in the forties and fifties and it caught on as a fad for a few years on cars. Then back in the 80's when the kustom movement re-started again people were building their cars as close to the 40's and 50's style as they could with what was available at that time. There were after market everything popping up IE: dummy spots, lakes pipes, bullets, and yes even fuzzy dice. There were blue dots that are made of plastic and I think that is where the biggest problem is. Also remember when blue dots were used back in the 50's and even some what in the 60's we did not have street lights like we do today and allot of our driving was not in the city but back roads, Artesia, Cal. was mostly dairy farms where any light would stand out. If you look at cars from the 30's thru the 80's tail lights grew bigger and bigger "the better to see you!". By the way a blue dot that is working properly will give off a bright purple light, mix red and blue and what do you have? Suppose to be Red out back there not Purple! Anyway just my 2 cents!!!
This was also known as a "gook wagon".....lol I agree with the statement about if they are plastic they **** and if they are gl*** they brighten the efect of the tail light. You can find gl*** ones all day long on good ole e-pay.
We were selling hundreds of pairs of fuzzy dice in the 70s and into the 80s at swap meets and street rod events. The New Kustom movement had nothing to do with that! 1000s of hotrods sported the dice in complementary colors to their interior or exterior throughout that time period. Another fad which swept the nation, just as it did back when. The plastic blue dots were not a modern innovation. The last Lynx Eye Factory dotted lenses were plastic lenses with plastic dots. As with all things, somebody chose to go the "cheap-john" route in these days. I can find no evidence that any manufacturer of any vehicle at any time EVER used dotted lenses as factory stock units.
As or them not being bright enough... the ones my Dad ran in his 46 Fleetline (in stock lenses) would sear your retinas when he hit the brakes. His were the real-deal USA gl*** ones, not Taiwan/China stuff and not plastic. I like them on some cars, but not on others. Kinda just depends on everything else about the car. Also, as a general rule, I don't think I've ever seen any installed in a pair of plastic lenses that looked right.
Damn, doesn't take much to get some guys all stirred up!....And no real hot rodders had them gay fuzzy dice....NO DICE!............OLDBEET
All stirred up? I think that's what you ment to do Dad. I can see you laughing now! Next you'll be asking the difference between a glove box and a jockey box.
The Jalopy Journal
