Black car, R lights -- not safe

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks to UTKarmann_Ghia, who did the same mod on his car. Now, I'll be a little less worried about someone slamming into me at a stop sign.

[dd74]

Jack: your (brake) lights were hard to see even in the daytime. That's a very good - and smart - mod. I'll remember it if I get R lights.

[speeder]

As much as it's not a period correct type upgrade, I applaud you for doing this. Driving back from Monterey behind you at night w/ a little fog, your tail and brake lights were all but non-existent. I remember thinking that the R lights looked cool but were worthless as actual lights.

Maybe a manual cut-off switch for the third light so that if you need to slow down in front of Smokey they will not know that you are braking hard, (w/ only the R lights).

[Victor]

The red neon strip in the rear window should really be under the bumper illuminating the tarmac under the car.

Not only do I beleive this to be period correct, you will impress the hell outta the kids too.

[Leland Pate]

How about an accompanying Fog Horn to go with it?


Looks nice, Jack.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally posted by Leland Pate
How about an accompanying Fog Horn to go with it?

Maybe a strobe light on the roof, like they mount on school busses? Just for making that comment, I'll probably get rear ended sometime because some SUV driver couldn't see my low-mounted tail lights. Looks good, smart mod.

[911r_parts]

What wattage Bulbs are you running?

[dotorg]

I have the identical LED light in my car, too. Very very good investment in these older 911's, I think.

Even with stock lights, they're so much lower than cars today, I don't trust distracted SUV drivers to notice them.

[Early_S_Man]

Jack,

Maybe your 911R stoplights need 50 Watt Halogen bulbs???

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

Nice Jack, I'm sure it will make you feel much safer hitting your brakes. The first few weeks of owning my car, I had some scarry close calls from SUV's riding a bit too close. Since I've had the new light in my car for almost a year now (wow, has it been a year?), I cant recall having any more close calls as I did the first month.

[MAS]

If you check with you insurance agent, you may be entitled to a slight discount because of this add-on.

-MAS

[911ctS]

Hey Jack, are you currently using 18W bulbs for your R brake lights. If not... ive found that they brighten things up a bit compared to the 10W bulbs that people have been using. They do obviously run hotter but I have not had any problem with melting the plastic on the lenses. Ive even tried holding the brake on for 10 min. and still no melting. Anyway just thought id share.
Clint

[JonT]

Now you just need that light to move back and forth ala Knight Rider (or a Cylon for you Battlestar Galactica guys)

[sundaypunch]

That center light is a great addition, especially in a lowered black car. It's easy to forget that many of the things we really like are from an era when safety just wasn't a big issue. You hate to compromise the original design but being alive is a better alternative. I'm still dealing with lap belts in my '69S so that's high on my list of projects.

[racemor]

This is something to consider for sure. But if someone was concerned about being period correct, take a look at some of the old Daytona and Sebring pictures from the era. There were some pretty strange added on lights. One of the coolest was the teardrop shaped lights that used to be put on the roof to help identify the cars at night.

Or maybe the addition of a round Euro style rear fog light. I've actually considered doing this, mounting the light in the exhaust tip hole left behind when using a dual-out muffler.

[911r_parts]

If you need the 18watt bulbs let me know, I have a bunch.I also have 10's too.

[911pcars]

Jack,
We've discussed this before regarding LED lights.

I think you should train your video camera on the rear end, then hit the brake pedal. People can then see the LED response time compared to tungsten filament bulbs.

At highway speeds, the lag time can be several feet of stopping distance. All it takes is one foot more between a close call and a total writeoff.

Sherwood

[pbs911]

Glad to see you did this Jack. Like others, following behind you it was very difficult to see your brake lights. Not that I was able to get too close, but it was still difficult. I think this is especially necessary considering most cars you see on the road today must have at least 1000 watts of brake lights. The tiny ones are no longer noticeable.

[Jack Olsen]

That's a good question about wattage. I haven't been able to find out what the bulbs I'm running put out.



Anyone know?

The faster response time on the LED's is a nice bonus. Of course, the fact that they're directional is a drawback (the picture makes them look much brighter than they look in real life). But I suppose having LED's up high, and incandescents down low gives me some of each.

The thing that finally made me add the third light was that people were having a hard time seeing my brake lights in a lead-follow session at Willow Springs. I don't want there to be any doubts when someone's behind me at the track.

[Randy Webb]

Why not put an LED strip inside the 911R lamp housing?

And, BTW Jack, where does the strip mount and can you psot some pics of the mounting itself. Thanks!


Finally, just for humorous effect, how about establishing an alter ego....

Jack Molson, writes for Maxim magazine and drives a '78 Camaro known as "Black Booty II"