VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 '24 Headlight lens

Hello everyone,
I think I have all the parts for my headlights now except the two lenses. What exactly should I be looking for to fit these headlight buckets, a simple piece of flat glass or is there some place that sells the lenses? I have looked a couple different places and had no luck so far. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike

My 24 just has the flat glass. I broke one and had a glass shop make me a couple.

Dave

Here is a link to eBay for a "smith Lens" which is what was originally on the car.

Smith Lens

If the reflector is ribbed, the glass should be plain.

Regards
Al

I've seen Smith lenses in early 20s Chevrolet car headlights and wondered if they were correct or should be clear glass.

I have several Smith lenses but all are in the range of 7 7/8 to 8 5/8 OD with prisms in range of 7 to 7 5/8 inches (smaller than the eBay ad). Does anyone have sizes for the Smith lenses used by Chevrolet by model application?

The February 1924 catalog shows a 24958 Smith lens for 1923. It then lists a 25113 plain lens but does not specify the year model. There are no sizes listed.

Dave

Thanks Dave,
My lenses are not in packages, so I don't have numbers as there are none cast in the lenses. Really need a cross reference to sizes to identify them. Perhaps the plain lenses were for fluted reflectors and the Smith lenses were used for others. Tom

Good Morning, (at least it is here........)
I have a 25 Superior Sedan. I don't know what headlight lens would have come from the factory (Canadian, Oshawa Ontario car).
However, I have SMITH headlight lens that I have collected after being informed about 30 years ago by a 25 Superior Sedan owner, that the SMITH was the factory lens. I'm not sure I believe that to be true now.
That having been said, I purchased a set of NOS SMITH lens a few years ago, and remains of the factory packaging stated "One Pair Headlamp Lenses, General Motors of Canada Limited, Model: SPR (SPR hand written). Part No. (illegible if it was ever there) SIZE: (Also illegible if it was ever there).
They are "SMITH" lenses, and are 7 3/4 with 4 cutouts to assist in mounting them so you can turn them into place and the four tabs hold them in place (theoretically). I recall Ray Holland mentioning in a previous thread that he drilled a hole and used a screw to hold the lens cover in plate to the bucket after having ones pop off on the road. I have been a "student" of the SMITH lens, and note that the glass also comes in 7 3/4 with no cut outs (perhaps the glass could be dremelled to make the cutouts ...?). I have also observed the lens in 7 7/8 size. Don't know if that would fit.
Perhaps I should have started by clarifying that I believe the 1924 and early 1925 Superiors used the same headlight bucket and lens covers. The SMITH 7 3/4 is also correct for a couple years of Durant "STAR" cars. Their buckets were slightly different in that they had a raised ring at the back of the bucket on the "barrel", where as the 24 - 25 Chevy were smooth. The lens may have been used in other makes and I would be interested in knowing if some has that information.
For what it's worth................Joe........

In UK you can buy glass with a 1/2" rib on one side, Cut in circle and rib used on inside to looks quite original Eliza 36

Thanks for the comments Joe. You motivated me to look at the Smith Lenses that I have and here is what I noticed:

Several are about 7 13/16 overall diameter with a 7 inch prism (rim opening size). None of these have sizes cast in the lenses so perhaps they were marketed as 7 ¾ size but the overall diameters on mine all measure slightly larger and all are the same size. I expect these may be the size for early Chevs as one of them had a hand written tag saying it was for a 1923 Chev. I have three lens combinations in this size:
1) Four locating notches with no patterns in the upper and lower sections of the prism face
2) Four locating notches with rectangular patterns in the upper and lower sections of the prism face
3) Two (lower) locating notches with no patterns in the upper and lower sections of the prism face

Please see the link with pictures to illustrate.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kt1o8sdt6focpyq/AAA2JfFpMdzF4Y0U1wQfnp19a?dl=0

Hope this helps the discussion.

Can anyone confirm if any of these are correct for early Chevrolet vehicles? and if so for which applications.

By the way - I also have some larger Smith lenses (last photo in the Dropbox folder) with no locating notches in the flanges and with sizes cast in the top of the flanges (above the prism so not visible when mounted). The sizes I have are 8 3/8, 8 ½ and 8 5/8 and these match the overall diameter of the lenses. I believe these are aftermarket replacements rather than original Chevrolet lenses and the sizes are marked to assist in selection. The prism sizes for these are 1 inch less in diameter than the overall diameter in each case.

Tom