Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

Improving my Mustang's headlamps.

The easiest way to improve the lighting, besides polishing the existing head light lens, is to replace the original bulbs with higher output units. From what I've read, the brighter bulbs will not last as long as the original specification bulbs due to increased operating temperatures.

Who could have ever thought that this was a good idea?

When I bought my Mustang it had a cool looking set of dark tinted headlamps and turn signal lenses. I asked the seller if they had been a problem and she assured me that they were fine as long as I was driving in the city or urban freeway. Was she wrong! I had driven out to show my brother my new car and it had gotten dark before I left. That was the worst fifty miles that I've driven at night since I rode my Sportster home one night with the headlamp out.

I'm not sure exactly what the stock driving lights are supposed to illuminate because they don't do much to light up the road in front of you. I used the high beams but still had a very tense journey. I vowed not to drive the car late in the afternoon until I had replaced the headlamps. Luckily I found an almost new set on Craig's List. The seller's Mustang had been rear ended and totaled. He had salvaged several parts and I lucked out although new replacement units are widely available. I still have that tinted set of lights in storage, maybe I'll put them on CL someday for someone to use on their "show" car.

While the stock lights are not that bad, have you ever followed a six volt VW Bug at night? It's probably a combination of my aging eyes and the fact that I've grown used to the superior lights on both of my 2007 vehicles. Even those newer systems pale in comparison with the flamethrowers that are attached to the front ends of new cars!

I'll try the higher output bulbs first.

Another important thing to improve night visibility is to keep the windshield clean once it turns to dusk. A layer of bugs and dirt doesn't make it any easier to see. Especially on a two lane country highway. The glare of oncoming traffic is brutal to a pair of older eyes.

We used to visit family out in the Central Valley, returning at night. Sure enough I'd drive through a swarm of suicidal bugs that made a mess out of my windshield. The windshield washer was of little use. It got so bad that I started carrying a scrubber squeegee and a bottle of window cleaner with me. This always happened on a back road far from a service station. I'd just pull off the road and thoroughly clean the windshield.

Mounting additional lamps.

A clean mounting of a driving lamp
to a classic BMW.

Growing up in the 1960s through '70s I always thought that it was cool to have set of European driving lamps bolted to the front end of your GT or sports car. This was a lot easier when cars had metal front bumpers. Modern cars like my '96 Mustang have sloping plastic bumpers with no real spot to mount the additional lights.

I saw a Mustang like mine on a forum that had round lamps mounted inside the grille opening next to the running horse. It didn't look very clean and I wouldn't want to block any air from entering the radiator.

Where can you put them?

Back in my motorcycling days we (and manufacturers) used the rear tail lamp /license plate mounts for a variety of supporting duties. The simplest was to replace the mounting screws with a pair of eyebolts. This gave us a place to hook one end of our bungee cords to strap a small load to our seat and fender. A bracket could be attached across  the plate mounts and a pair of turn signal or running lamps could be mounted. Luggage racks were attached to the shock mounts and then attached to the plate mount. Various saddlebag mounting brackets could be hung off of them. For extra strength a steel backing plate could be placed behind the plate.


My plan is to use a length of angle aluminium between the mounting bolts of the front license plate. I can rivet a metal plate to this angle material to spread out the load. I could also use threaded inserts to provide a sturdy point to attach the bolts to the bumper. Then I will bolt the driving lamp to the cross bar. I can shape this aluminium and round off the ends and maybe drill some lightening holes and paint it wrinkle or matte black. I could attach this bracket to the top or bottom of the plate.

Before committing myself to spending a bunch of money on a cool set of Marchal driving lights  I decided to mock up the design using a set of rectangular KC lites that I picked up at a swap meet in Santa Rosa for 5.00. They both work! And they are very light weight. I'll wire them up using a toggle switch and an electrical relay under the hood. Using a relay is the safest way to set up the lights. I used a double relay system on my '70 Mustang's headlamps with great success.

The downside to this plan is that the lamps are hanging off the front bumper where they could be easily damaged. Luckily, parallel parking situations can be avoided most of the time.

Besides making it easier to see at night, the driving lights should contribute to that cross country, road warrior vibe I'm going for.

Brock Yates famous Challenger.

A little legal research is in order first, to be sure that my set up won't be an invitation to a traffic stop.