LED Headlight Bulbs?

These modern type headlight bulbs are not compatible with the reflectors in antique automobiles.There was a good article in Skinned Knuckles on this topic.The LED bulbs would look out of place even if they worked out.Even some of the later incandescent auto bulbs are not compatible with the reflectors.A #1129 21cp bulb of today has a different filament design than its counterpart years ago due to the fact that it is not specified for headlights on cars like in the 1920’s and earlier but now for taillights on six volt cars.The best thing to do is have good reflectors and a good stock of nos original bulbs of the correct type.The SK article covers this topic well.I have driven many times at night with bulb type headlamps with original type bulbs and did just fine.In fact drove a 1914 Model T Ford some 30-40 miles through the Colorado mountains by the light of my car’s gas headlamps with no problems and it was fun.

A huge problem today are these discharge headlights and people have voiced complaints that they are blinding and then you have people fitting these to cars not originally equipped with these style of lights and this compounds the problem.My 1929 Pierce Arrow has the original type 21cp 6-8 volt bulbs with the corrugated envelope and they put out a good light.The bulbs are nos Edison Mazda #1129 and date from about 1929-1931 or so and are what the dealer would have used to replace a burned out bulb when the car was new.These cars back to 1913 have a resistance dimming system and my concern would be overloading it say with 32cp bulbs.In my case both my C-3 and 133 Pierce Arrows have most of their original wiring so I stay with what the factory called for.I have always felt that original headlights if working correctly do just fine.I got caught in a blizzard below Abilene,Texas driving my 1927 Rolls Royce 20hp from Houston to Santa Fe.Those original headlights pierced right through the falling snow and the road was snow packed with modern cars stuck at the side of the road.If there was an oncoming car I had no problem seeing.A flat tire though probably would have resulted in death from hypothermia as I had left the tire tools back home in Santa Fe but those headlights did just fine getting me to the hotel in the middle of the night.I would suspect the bulbs in my Lucas lamps were probably about 32cp.I had a 1931 Packard 833 Roadster on which a former owner had put seal beams in the original headlamps behind a clear glass lens in place of the Depress Beam lens.Everytime I drove the car at night,the battery would run down.I found another pair of the original headlamps with the #1000 32-32cp bulbs and put them on the car.I had no more more battery issues and the light output was the same as with the seal beams.If I wanted more light in front,I would try to find a nice lamp like an S&M Oval Lite which dates from the 1925-1930 period which mounts to the bumper brackets.The Pilot Ray lamp also filled that need in that 1928-1932 period.

As I was reading this series of posts, and before I got to the last post by Greg, I was recalling that I have found and used a handheld LED flashlight and it put more light on the road in front of the car than did the headlights. I would also suggest that one consider LED taillights so those coming up behind can see the car. I recall that Restoration Supply has 6v LED lights listed as replacements for common 6v bulbs.

I am very much into originality so now when I drive at night I hang a couple of LED lights, similar to bicycle lights on the bumper. Here in southern california driving an antique car at night has become a challenge given how the other drivers behave.

James Whalen