Third brake light question

[CEO]

Hey yall, my 81 911 Targa does not have a third brake light and after a few close calls in traffic, I think I will invest in one. My question is how do you think the basket handel light will look on my silver 911. I have the C2 decklid wired and working. So do you think I should get that or the one in the rear window? I do like the fact that the basket handel is LEDs instead of a bulb.
Any feedback would be of great help. and where do you think I could find one. Does pelican have them?
Thanks, Ken




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Kenneth
Silver 81' Targa

[Joe Bob]

Try Parts Heaven, the Porsche only bone yard in the Bay Area....

[Ted Stringer]

I just did the little goosehead 3rd light on my '84. Looks good. It makes the car look like an '86/'87. I wrote a little tech article, just haven't gotten the pictures back. I still use a 35mm camera, can't afford a good digital.

Any exterior light will be easy to install, an in the rear window will be more complicated from a wireing standpoint, and it looks like it dosn't belong. The goosehead runs about $90.

Sorry Wayne for taking so long getting the article to you, I didn't forget.

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Ted Stringer
nuke3@juno.com
'84 911 Targa aka pocketrocket

[nhromyak]

I did a 3rd brake light inside. It was rather easy, after I found the brake light wiring in the engine compartment.

I simply used the wiring harness/hole for the rear window defroster, plumbed my wires and voila' done. No worries about someone stealing it either. NOT that IT happens...



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Nick Hromyak
'85 Carrera 7 & 9 Fuchs
Havin' Fun in Sacramento

[Early_S_Man]

I think the 3rd brake light AND daytime running lights are just about as much use as a 5 mph bumper, and a lot of other govt. 'safety' standards ... why don't you get about eight Vivitar 283 strobes with red filters and mount them in place of the 'PORSCHE' reflector! A bank of those going off when you touch the brake pedal might just discourage tail-gating! A string of LEDs isn't likely to put you in any less jepardy!

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[oldE]

Hey Warren!
In Canada, we've had daytime running lights for years. I have been running with low beams on since driver's ed. in the early seventies. I'll take any edge I can get to make sure the 'other guy' sees me coming, especially after riding a bike for a few years. Maybe the quality of daylight is different or perhaps we have more fog up here so we appreciate the lights. I am chagrined by the volume of letters to the editors of R&T, C&D, Automobile, Sports Car Int. etc complaining about DLRs. I like 'em!
Les

[CEO]

Warren, I don't know about you but down here in the deep south,(Baton Rouge)where there is a lot of fog, rain and stupid hicks driving Excursions and F150 jacked up to 11 feet tall. I really doubt that they will be looking down far enough to see two little bulbs glow brighter than the tail lights themselves. Lets just put it this way Warren. I actually drive my car and want to make sure that it is as noticeable as possible. I am sorry that you feel the way you do about safety. But if it weren't for the goverment enacting some safty standards the American auto manufactures would be making cars only for profit and could give a $hit about the lives of the consumers. I do not agree with all of them like airbags for example. But do belive that a lot of good has come out of it. I do belive in less govt. I am conservitive but there comes a point where someone needs to help make the products safer for you and I.

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Kenneth
Silver 81' Targa

[Early_S_Man]

Les and Ken,

I am not opposed to government safety standards that work, but many of the laws from the past 30 years had nobody but insurance company lobbyists pushing them, not engineers or scientists ... 5 and 2.5 mph bumper laws, airbags, etc. I have yet to ever see any evidence that the bumper laws did anything but raise repair costs, and airbags killed more people than they saved over a major part of the past ten years!

The current Explorer crash controversy is typical of vehicles that pass all existing safety laws representing a hazard because one minor thing for which there is no 'standard' ... tire pressure, was changed to give a typical, soft, 'FORD' ride, and there is not a tire engineer in the world that would support usage of 26 psi tire pressures in a 4600 lb Ford Explorer!

The safety 'experts' like Radical Ralph Nader and Crazy Joan Claybrook are lawyers and lobbyists, not engineers or scientists! Nader only attacked GM in the '60s because it would make a bigger news story! There were a lot more other cars and vehicles using swing axles, including the Ford M-151 'Jeep' and VW Beetles, that Nader could have cited as unsafe, but he didn't! In fact, he 'branded ' Corvair as unsafe, when the feature he criticized had been changed more than four years before his book was published, and he continued to hold news conferences at every opportunity until GM announced that the Corvair would be killed after the '69 model! And, please note that he did not complain about the underslung, exposed gas tanks of the Pinto, and we all know about that scandal in the late '70s! Nader was never 'for' anyone but Nader, and anyone that thinks otherwise is misinformed!

In my opinion, the only two US safety standards in the past 50 years that made cars SAFER were the two regarding seat belts and dual-circuit brakes! Does anyone really believe that pointed hood ornaments are a significant safety hazard to pedestrians, compared to the 4000 lb to 6000 lb SUVs and minivans at the hands of inattentive drivers with cellular phones in hand?

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Warren Hall
1973 911S Targa
1992 Dodge Dakota 5.2 4X4 parts hauler

[daz911]

Hey Kenneth
I installed a thin internal LED brake light, I have got it on the targa bar trim. It cam on a multi angle bracket so that I could position it properly, during the day you hardly notice it - black plastic, and it is not much thicker than the LED's - got it in the u.k. for about £18 -$28. e.mail me if you want to see photos

Good Luck

Darren -dazg27@hotmail.com

[Joeaksa]

Darren,

Can you pls post pictures? A light or set of them at the top of the Targa bar might possibly get the attention of some of these bimbos here who put on their makeup or talk on the cell phone while driving!

Joe

PS Warren's idea of the strobes in the back end just might work. Course they might interfear with my proposed "oil spray" system for tailgaters...

[Roland Kunz]

Hello

Funny, I do have two Vivitar 285 with remote sensor and the large cardboard reflector. Both died after several years intense use.

BTW two airbags are much cheaper then good brakes. Also good brakes are bad for the economy. many car mechanic will be out of work not repairing typicall damages and the car industrie has no chance to replace old cars.

This recall´s my first testdrive with a Syclone ( Its a blown V6 Jimmy who eats the driveshafts like other cars oil. )

Never had a car that startet fading after driving a bit faster trough the landscape.
Even the 4 drum Impala didn´t brake worser.
OK SUV and Trucks have other rules and other brake standards ?

Early Porsche 928 S4 have simple 928 S brakes in the staates and US Cars in germany have always the largest brakes possible. Ever tried to find brake parts for a german delivery Cadillac or 5.2 Cherokee in the staates ?
In germany the cars have to pass ten brake downs from 75% topspeed and if the brakes fade more then 25% they will not pass aprovals. Hell, most Porsche have better distances after the brakes warmed up.

BTW witch car had the "hot" cable in the fueltank ?

On Topic:

JC Whitney had a "LED brake light bar" that fitet flush under the gap beetwen targa bar cover and rearscreen. Just to hang into the cover and run down the wires. The thing also could make wandering led effects ( Hasselhof kit car style ) and was dirt cheap.

Grüsse