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

["Roger Schaaf" <obiwan10@xxxx>]

I too have a couple of newer autos(Jaguar and Lexus) with "HID" headlites
and I totally agree with you on their value. This however only makes it
worse for me when I drive my old Corvette or 300.

The question that I ask and I am not sure that was answered in your very
informative missive, was what to install in my B(large seal beamed light)
and my Corvette(smaller dual light system) to at least get a somewhat step
up in lighting performance.

Were the old "bulls eye" lights any better? At least they would look
somewhat appropriate in the B and look cool. Do not know how readily
available they are today however.

Roger
300 B Calif.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Johnl" <john@xxxx>
To: <chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <dan300f@xxxx>
Cc: "Rick ROYZE" <royze@xxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] Lefty's "BRIGHT" idea


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 first
one 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
things such a lighting, braking and overall handling had to be better to
accommodate the higher driving speeds. In Larry Jetts original e-mail he
mentioned Hella. 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 part of the world. They also do lenses, so next time you look at
a German cars tail 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 against
the 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 that
they 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 I
personally 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 aimed
properly 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 never
been sited and have never blinded anyone either. Also I've even installed
this 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.. If
we 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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