One of our very cool local vintage junk stores had a big blow out sale on March 30th, everything had to go (Big Top Curiosity shop) At the base of the 14th Ave South bridge in Southpark region of Seattle. The landlord has raised the rent to a staggering $10,000.00 a month, and the cool people that ran that shop, just had to have a huge sale, to help liquidate the huge inventory, and they will regroup at another location in the future. It had an amazing array of very cool stuff from A to Z. Among some other cool things I purchased there, I snagged this old headlight bucket that was in a bin, got it for cheap, and I intend to utilize it in an art project. I am just curious if the H.A.M.B. Universe can help identify it. Thanks from Dennis.
The light is from a Ford COE truck. I’m not positive on the year. Later ‘30’s early’40’s. The parking light is really sexy in the stand.
It always amazes me, just how knowledgeable, the brilliant historians of the H.A.M.B. are and how fast they respond to a challenge ! I had totally forgotten about the Ford COE trucks, the photos seen here are by me from the 2016, CHRR at FAMOSO. Thank you to all that responded!
You want another one? Pulled one out of my buddy's trailer over in Charlotte back 6 or 7 years ago. It's just taking up space in my garage.
Hey @alanp561 I totally appreciate the offer, let me mull that over, as these units are pretty heavy and bulky weight wise, shipping wise. If yours needs a home, I will be glad to cover the packaging and USPS postal charges. I paid $10.00 for the one you see in this thread. That being said, the one you have, might be needed by a person that really needs it for their COE truck project. So you can mull that over as well. Thanks from Dennis
That is a very cool old COE. Those headlights match the one I have. Thanks for sharing that photo. Thanks from Dennis.
This head light hasn't been taken apart for years, so I gently got the outer ring off, and took some steel wool to it. Then a little FLITZ and it cleaned up fairly well. Tomorrow, I take the rest of the housing over to a friends shop to deal with the inner retaining ring and the rusty screws that are holding the sealed beam in place. This thing is loaded with a ton of ancient dirt that I will deal with. The cool thing is, this is some vintage metal and its hefty and stout, and its not rusted so bad that is cant be cleaned up. I love doing this stuff.
I believe the headlight you have is from either a 1941 Truck (3/4 ton and larger) or 1941-47 COE. The previous ones pictured (except your initial ones) are either non Ford or of 1940 vintage. The later ones can be differentiated easily at a glance as the retaining ring extends out quite a way past the trim ring, whereas on the earlier ones the two are basically flush to each other. The difference between the two is that the earlier ones could only be adjusted by moving the entire bucket assembly, whereas those such as yours have an inner assembly that allows for adjustment of the sealed beam without moving the entire bucket. The mounting stands first had the light on them starting in 1940 I think. These stands have a round hole where the base of the bucket mounts to allow for movement of the entire bucket assembly for adjustment, whereas the 1941 and later stands (such as yours should be) have a square hole into which the base of the attaching bolt fits presumably to limit movement of the bucket itself for adjustment. Here's an exploded view showing the inner adjustment assembly. I have lots of other pictures showing the difference between the 1940 version and the later ones such as yours. -
Wow, what an adventure today, with the disassembly of this ancient headlight. I spent a few hours over at John Harwood's shop, and we got after it. I will say this for the people that built these headlights, they were built to last a life time, and there is nothing wimpy about the metal that was used to construct them. We had to use heat, and an impact wrench on the main big nut that was on the stalk, and even the air impact wrench, with a big heavy duty hex socket, could not get the nut to move, so the die grinder got the job done, about getting the nut to come away from the main stalk. We took our time, and we were able to get all of the little screws out, with out destroying any of them. So now its a lot of wire brush and tinkering to modify this old headlight bucket and the internal fixture, to evolve into the art project that it will become. Thanks @lamaison for that exploded view, its appreciated. I saw right away that my light isn't the same as the one on the COE truck that I posted. You all stay tuned to see what this will turn into. Thanks from Dennis.
Grinning to myself here, it appears that @hotrodjack33 and @Okie Pete have taken the bait, and have been drug down the rabbit hole to see what this cool old head light is going to evolve into! Stay tuned fellow HAMBERS, the adventure has just begun ! Thanks from Dennis.
Lol Dennis...yeah, I got sucked in quite a while ago as I've got a pair of earlier '38-'39 ones that have been sitting under my workbench for 25+ years...just waiting for that CHEAP, rust-free'38-'39 COE to come along. Jack
That one picture looks to be a 1935 1936 passenger headlight bucket the other pic is a commercial 1935 1941 both have the mounting plate moved back . The marker light is cool and see a lot of applications I can use that in
I am heading out early in the morning to go to the Portland Swap-meet. I got the stainless steel retention ring all cleaned up with steel wool, and I am taking it with me to see if I can find a very cool flat lense of the same size. I can make my own shim/gasket if the thickness is thinner than the original sealed beam. The retention ring is the most important element, for this type of headlight bucket, in regards to what the final application will be! Thanks from Dennis
Absolutely amazing progress today. I was able to get the entire back of the sealed beam cut out, with out breaking the entire sealed beam! My friend Tom McIntosh, the owner of McIntosh glass here in the Ballard Neighborhood, did it, with a Makita, baby glass cutting saw, that has a water lubricated, diamond impregnated saw blade. Saving the 3 square nubs, that are for the alignment of the lens, to nest in the retention bezel, was the most important part of getting the rest of the sealed beam cut away. He had never done one of these and I told him, if it breaks, no big deal, but he skillfully did it, in about 4 minutes, then he swiped the edge, to make it so that there is no sharp edge. I was very impressed ! Recently I scored a very cool 1947 Chrysler tail light housing, for $10.00 out at the recent Monroe Swap-meet It just so happens, that the curvature of the bucket, is the same curvature of the tail light bezel, and the attachment studs fit perfectly. Just to give you all a better idea of where this project is going, is as follows. The center of the top of the bucket, will be cut open to allow a double jointed, solar powered, color changing LED projector light, to nest inside of the bucket with the big solar collector on the top. The threaded original stalk, on the bottom of the bucket, will be attached to a 20 inch bicycle wheel, with some modification, to the center spindle, attached to a speed rail fitting, atop of an aluminum pipe. There will be about 10 metal funnels, with the ends crimped shut, arranged around the bicycle rim, as air catchers, to make the wheel spin around in the wind. I will attach the tail light housing to the side of the bucket, as it will have white solar powered LED'S inside of the housing, so that the lens shines red at night. I found another tail light housing to match the one I have now on E-Bay, but I will mull it over, as to if I want to spend the money for it. I probably will, because it will make this project look totally "BUCK ROGERS COOL" as a piece of functional yard art ! Stay tuned, fellow artistic minded H.A.M.B.E.R.S. Thanks from Dennis.
Hey @continentaljohn If you have a use for that cool little marker light, send me your mailing information in a PM and I will be glad to ship it to you free of charge, as I already have a lot of other lenses, and this should be put to use by someone like yourself, that can appreciate it. Thanks from Dennis.
To anyone that is still following along on this wacky adventure, today the extra 47 Chrysler tail light housing showed up in the mail today! So I thought I would take a few pictures, to show where this project is going. I figured at this point, I would include, @J.Ukrop @Hitchhiker @dana barlow @hotrodlane @Jeff Norwell as spectators to this little adventure, in old metal that lights up at night time! As luck would have it, and I am not complaining at all, both of these tail light housings are for the same side of the 47 Chrysler, which works out for me just fine. As you can see in the pictures, the contour of the tail light housings, match the contour of the headlight bucket shell perfectly. "BUCK ROGERS" would approve and be smiling big time. Two more steps to go, next step is to get the hole cut in the top of the headlight bucket, to accept the solar powered, color changing, LED spot light, to fit inside of the bucket. The spotlight is double articulated and is adjustable, so that is a big help as well. The adventure continues! Thanks from Dennis for following along!
Lots of progress today. The 47 Chrysler tail lights housings were attached today. And the exit hole for the solar collector was cut, and then a small plate to hide most of the exit hole was fabricated. When I got home today, I found this cool old 57 Chevy hood rocket, sitting on my desk, so, time to put it to use. So next visit to John Harwood's shop, the tail will be trimmed to be flat and fit flush to the headlight bucket. Gonna be a cool retro/futuristic space unicorn type of cool thing! Now waiting on the extra solar collectors, that will be attached to the tail light housings. The adventure continues. Thanks from Dennis, for following along!
My friend John Harwood, helped me getting the headlight bucket cut precisely, so that the solar powered LED spotlight could be fitted into the bucket. Its a good thing I listened to him and pretty much let him do it his way, because my original plan on doing this, would have totally fucked up this cool little art project. Its tricky to do the measuring, on the diminishing compound curves, on a piece of metal such as this headlight bucket. John was very methodical about all of the moves it took to accomplish this, and he had all of the correct tools, to make the clean accurate, precise cuts. Plus he fabricated a nice little sheet metal cover, to hide most of the exit hole for the solar collector. The one mistake that happened, turned out to be a much needed hole, where there wasn't one. After cutting out the metal bar inside of the bucket, that was the unit that the 3 springs were attached to, that help to retain the internal bezel ring. As you can see, when we were measuring where to drill one of the holes, for the stud to go through for the tail light housing, John realized, he was off by a bit. So we re measured and drilled another hole. The mistake hole, turned out to be very beneficial, because I used an old throttle return spring that I had, and it worked out perfectly, to retain that side of the internal bezel ring! That mistake hole, isn't seen either, because its covered up by the attached tail light housing. The adventure continues. Thanks from Dennis, for following along!
I stopped by John Harwood's shop today, for a few minutes, and he trimmed the tail of the 57 Chevy hood rocket. Now its going to look really cool as a top piece for the head light bucket! This is going to give this headlight/tail light/art project/exercise in futility/a real "BUCK ROGER'S", space nerd, galactic unicorn look! Stay tuned fellow HAMBERS, more to come! Thanks from Dennis for continuing to follow along!
That really nasty, super rusty, very important sealed beam bucket, that the stainless steel retention ring attaches to, got sand blasted and painted with black rust-oleum enamel. Looks a lot better, and is protected now from the elements.
Just playing around with this cool old Milwaukee electric tool's heavy base. For some of their displays. I have had it for years, as it comes in handy for a variety of applications. Now I am going to have to search the web to find a duplicate for it, as I am thinking about using this one to be part of the spinning unit, once I decide on the type and size of bicycle rim. Stay tuned, more interesting developments to come. Thanks from Dennis.
This just keeps getting more interesting, the more I tinker with it. So the idea of the 57 Chevy hood rocket, as a spike on top of the headlight bucket, is a no go! Looking through my stuff, I came across this very cool older Pontiac hood ornament, that had been sand blasted and had a dull finish to it. I took it over to John Harwood's shop, and he said, that will shine up, so this was just a test to see how its going to go. And I must say, the results so far are very pleasing to my eye. The base contour will need a slight adjustment, but this is going to really look cool, as cool as "BUCK ROGER'S" in a ZOOT SUIT! More fun to come fellow HAMBER'S Thanks from Dennis.
My friend John Harwood, got motivated and got after it, and really did a magnificent job of polishing the Pontiac hood ornament!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like the way the red lines look on it too! So later on today, we will try the first test fit of the hood ornament to the headlight bucket shell. This is really turning into a slick piece of work indeed! Stay tuned fellow HAMBER gear-heads, more fun to come! Thanks from Dennis. The test fit went very well. This is going to be the last piece that gets attached to the headlight bucket. No real need for it to be attached now, because there is still more fabrication to happen. A base plate that will be made to attach to the bicycle wheel, and then to the stanchion post that will support it all. As well as attaching the 8 galvanized funnels, to the rim of the wheel, that will catch the air, to make it all spin around !
The Jalopy Journal
