Okay...after last weeks short discussion on the validity of adding a third brake light to your TRAD ride, I decided to see if it could be done and still not end up screaming "GOLDCHAINER"!!! First off, just a few comments as to the reasoning behind even CONSIDERING such an option for your ride. At first I, like most of you, would have scoffed at the notion of adding such a "late model" device to a car built in the 40s...but there are some good reasons to think about it! For one, anyone who has even stood behind a 49-52 Chevy Fleetline, let alone driven behind one in traffic, knows that there is ALOT of rear surface area there...and the brake/tail lights compose but a tiny portion of that area way down near the bumper. Even with my 12v wiring and 1157 bulbs, the glow from the stoplights may be easy to miss...especially in the daylight hours. Another consideration is the fact that all cars built since 1986 have been REQUIRED to have a third stoplight. That means that for 18 years, drivers have been conditioned to react to them, and that there are MANY younger drivers on the roads who are of the opinion that ALL cars have them! These youngsters are the ones who will plow into the back of your sled while jabbering on their cell phones...then tell the cop that YOUR brake lights weren't working! They have been conditioned from the very first time they took the wheel to look for that third stoplight! Additionally, installing a third stoplight may not be as "anti-trad" as you might first think it to be...some handy car dudes, especially the more elderly ones, were adding them for quite a while before they became mandatory on newer cars. I remember seeing them added to cars in the 70s, and I'm sure at least a few souls tried it before then. Okay...enough philosophy...let's see what we can come up with here! I found an old bicycle headlight sitting in the garage from the very early 70s. It had a nicely rusted chrome case, and just begged to be transformed into a usefull part for my heap! (I'm going for a 70s styled "geek rod" with the old rusty Fleetline...the type of car you would have seen in magazines like Popular Mechanics and the like throughout the Disco Decade...an old cruiser equipped with a miserly "late model" (for the 70s!) high tech aluminum 4 cylinder and****orted related "updates"...so a bike light from the 70s will fit right in to the overall "feel" of the project!) There really isn't a whole lot to it...just gut the stock internals and install an automotive light socket. Buy one of them red "mood light" or "tuner deco" bulbs and you're about done! I added a really high tech "piece of fuel line hose" grommet to the hole where the wires come through and that was that! To mount the light on the angled rear package tray of a 49 Fleetline, I elected to go with my favorite medium...1/4" roundstock...for a mounting bracket. I could have used an angled piece of flat stock, but I think the roundstock looks alot cooler! I simply cut it to length, bent it to shape, then threaded a portion of both ends in 1/4"-20 with a standard die. Makes mounting and adjusting a snap! Wiring is a no-brainer...you'll need a good ground, and then you splice the hot wire into your current stoplight wiring! That's all there is to it...DONE! Not the most impressive addition...but it won't look plastic, tacky or "too new" for the era I'm building too, either...so it's a "modern safety upgrade" that I can easily live with!
I had this idea some time ago. If you have a club plaque you could run it in your rear window legally by adding a couple of small red lights wired to your brake lights. 2 birds, 1 stone.
I just scored one of these babys off the UK Ebay, 20 pounds, so I will be lodging it just inside my rear window, with the whole light wired as a stop light, instead of tail and stop. Its only 2" across so fairly discrete.
[ QUOTE ] Another consideration is the fact that all cars built since 1986 have been REQUIRED to have a third stoplight. That means that for 18 years, drivers have been conditioned to react to them, and that there are MANY younger drivers on the roads who are of the opinion that ALL cars have them! These youngsters are the ones who will plow into the back of your sled while jabbering on their cell phones...then tell the cop that YOUR brake lights weren't working! They have been conditioned from the very first time they took the wheel to look for that third stoplight! [/ QUOTE ] That's a really good point. It's a little scary, and it makes me feel old, but it's a really good point. --Matt
looking for a BRIGHT 3rd tail bulb? check out the 3rd brake light BULB out of Chevy Lumina and such not so much as the****y or lens but the bulb(s) are Halogen extremely bright they cost about $5.oo at Wallmart but could be had for free at your local salvagr yard. one thing CLEAN bulb and don't leave finger oils will deteriorate bulb,2, paint reflector white for a good backlight reflection
The Jalopy Journal
