Replacing awful headlights with Holley Retrobright

[pdentrem]

My ‘36 Chrysler Airstream was restored, today we would call it a restomod, back in late ‘80s or early 90s. The guy must of been stymied by the headlight reflectors. They are made of brass sheet metal and silvered on the lamp side. He cut away the central part and pop riveted a Cibie fog/driving lamp reflectors. They made a poor headlight! The light pattern was really close on low and tree high on high.

I want to maintain the original look of the headlights and the headlight lenses. I have been looking at lamps but they basically come in 7” or 5 3/4” for automotive. Motorcycle lamps were wrong as well. I borrowed a 7” and sized it up. It fits into the original reflector but was too proud. The retaining ring would not work neither. In looking at the drawing for the Holley Retrobright, I decided to purchase and modify one.

The following photos show the modifications. Ground off the locating tabs on the outside rear surface. Now the lamp fits the reflector very well, but is still too thick for the original lens to fit. I cut away the plastic lens and ground the outer ring until the lens, lamp and reflector fit together.

Installed on the car. You can see the light pattern of the left lamp, modified Holley vs the poor one on the right.

 

[pdentrem]

Photos set 2

 

[pdentrem]

Photos set 3

 

[MrWhoopee]

Very nice. I did a number of electrical/mechanical upgrades to my VW Double-cab while retaining the original appearance. Things like disc brakes, halogen headlamps, more horsepower and higher gearing make a world of difference for safety and driveability.