Re: [Chrysler300] Lefty's "BRIGHT" idea

["Johnl" <john@xxxx>]

Some further info regarding headlight replacements. First to qualify myself I've been in this business for 33 years and have sold lighting for that entire time period.

There have been two versions of the sealed beam headlight. After the firstone was introduced there was one improvement made in about 1958. That improvement actually raised the driving speed to 35 mph before you started to over run your lights capabilities. The main reason that nothing went further than that is major manufacturers in the USA didn't want to pay royalties to the Europeans who had developed far better lighting to go with the performance of their vehicles. Remember the Autobahn where there is no speed limit, well a lot of technology came from areas just like that where thingssuch a lighting, braking and overall handling had to be better to accommodate the higher driving speeds. In Larry Jetts original e-mail he mentionedHella. For those of you who are not familiar they are a very large European company and do a good portion of the OE lighting for cars from that partof the world. They also do lenses, so next time you look at a German carstail lights read the stamp on them and you will see HELLA. They also supply the big three with some lighting in this country.

Back in the 70's there was actually one state in the USA that went againstthe Federal Government and would not enforce the sealed beam lamp only. The reasoning for this was that state felt that it was such a "safety issue"they were correct. Finally there was enough pressure put on the Feds thatthey backed off. That is when you started to see rectangle lights and then Halogen sealed beams being offered by the big three. The American light manufactures were trying to by some time.

Today sealed beams have become a thing of the past. Look at any new car and you will see a much higher tec lighting system. Now you see the major USA companies offering upgraded bulbs just for these application. I will grant you see some companies bring not so great stuff in from the orient and Ipersonally don't recommend most of these.

Also you see on primarily high end cars the (HID) High Intensity Discharge lighting. I've owned a couple of cars with these and I can tell you they are phenomenal in performance. One car we purchased had this as a $500 option and I went for it when the car was ordered as I'm such a believer. Currently it is the closest thing to natural sun light you can get and that is what the human eye works best with. Trust me, drive a car with them and you won't believe the difference.

Now the issue of blinding on coming cars. If any of these lights are aimedproperly you won't have that problem. You will also find they are very easy to align without a machine. All you need is a level area, a wall and about 20 feet. A good quality halogen or HID light has very definite lines for cut offs. In fact, some HID set ups actually have a self leveling within about 5 seconds after they are turned on. Also they run on very high voltage and will kill you if you put your hands in the wrong spot. Factory cars with this option are clearly marked under the hood with a stern warning.

At this time I don't recommend purchasing any HID system for a car that didn't come from the factory with it. There is an enormous amount of engineering that goes into those systems. On the other had the halogen (separate bulb) replacements are easy to install, aim and you will be amazed and the performance and safety difference.

I've run this type of lighting in my daily drivers for years and have neverbeen sited and have never blinded anyone either. Also I've even installedthis type of lighting in some of my collector cars that I drive a lot, simply because my eyes aren't what they use to be and I want to be as safe as possible for others and myself.

John Lazenby


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dan300f@xxxx>
To: <chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] Lefty's "BRIGHT" idea


Hi all:

Not being approved by DOT does not surprise me, BUT, for which applications?
Apparently, if John Lazenby's company handles them, they are approved for 
something. Why not adapt them for our uses. If aimed properly, they should 
bother no one and provide additional lighting on our side of the road.. Ifwe use 
them on our 300's, how many of us drive them at night on mountainous roads 
anyway? Come to think of it, they would have come in handy in Montana when 
there was no speed limit! Maybe we could not have out driven our headlights.

It took years for them to approve Halogen headlamps when they were in use in 
Europe many years before we could use them. Now how many cars on the road 
have them?

By the way, I purchased some Halogen tail light bulbs for my 300F from John 
and they make a BIG difference in the lights from the rear.

Dan Reitz
Northridge, CA


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