VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 I upgraded the headlight bulbs today

One of the headlight bulbs was burned out.
The car had two GE Mazda 32 CP bulbs in place, lord knows how old those were, but since the car came with AC K9 spark plugs that haven't been made since 1935, the bulbs could be real old also.

Saved the good bulb, replaced both with 6V LED units from The Filling Station.

Holy cow! Light!

Much better than the dim output reminiscent of kerosene lantern carriage lights it used to put out.

Doug

I did the same recently along with the LED tail/brake light. The difference is unbelievable. I still can’t believe it every time I pull the switch. Easy and no one can tell the upgrade was made!

Was your tail light a bulb, or one of those circuit board things that need to be wired in?
Doug

With 6v either 1 is an improvement for stop/tail over the original globes. Most LEDs are happy to operate with 3 volts and need a voltage reducing resistor to work on higher voltage.
Tony

Mine was the circuit board style. It went right in the tail light housing. I put the wires in black heat shrink so the coloring wouldn’t show Then I ran them out the tag light bulb hole (they are small diameter). I ran them around the corner and used the old wire attaching points on the housing to connect them to the current wires via eyelet. Essentially I used the wiring attachment screws on the original housing as a junction point. I didn’t have to cut the original cloth wiring I had just installed and you can’t see the wires running around the corner unless you look closely. The board is nice and bright and you can see the brake light from the moon.

I installed the board style LEDs in my "36 Chevy truck, then my '35 Chevy Standard coupe. I used the board style units from The Filling Station. The results are excellent but if you want a tidy and undetectable installation, it takes some some time and trouble.
The original truck lamps have screw terminals on the back side for eyelet connections on the harness. I had a supply of damaged and incomplete buckets so I rebuilt them to look correct on the outside with connections for the LED wires on the inside. It made for a very nice looking final product, but I had many hours of development and reconstruction in them. This is the fun part of our hobby for me. I am not complaining. The lamps I used would have required just as much, or more, work to return them to their original function.
The car lamps of the period had pigtails with twist lock connections. I salvaged connections from some old harness parts and the install went well.
The big problem with these conversion kits is that the method of retaining the board inside the lamp bucket is dodgy, at best. They are expensive but the results are very satisfying and make for a MUCH safer driving experience.
More recently, I bought LED headlamp bulbs from a Model A supply house. I got them for my truck, but decided to put them in the car instead. They are quite an improvement. The Filling Station is now offering an LED bulb which promises to be even better that the ones I used. I am planning to get a pair of them for my truck and if they pan out, I will replace the ones in my car with another pair. I have a Model T project in the future, for my Grand Daughter. The LEDs from the '35 coupe will end up in the T.
Another great feature, of the LED headlamp bulbs, is that they draw such a small amount of current that my dash lights are noticeably brighter.

Mike

I upgraded all my old car's headlights, I had cataracts removed. I was surprised how bright everything got. My old Chevrolet really did have some light on the road!