Half Amber vs all Red Tail lights

leadpot

leadpot

Senior Member
Am thinking of upgrading my tail lights to LED's for safety reasons. Already have the LED third light in my rear window. Wondering which gets peoples attention the best, all red or half amber? Usually drive with my lights on in the daytime. Know the lights are fairly small but am thinking the amber may show better in the daytime.
People will run up behind me at a fast rate of speed & sometimes I'm watching the rear-view more than the road because I think I'm going to get run over. The worst tailgaters usually get a few taps on the brake pedal to back them off a little, hopefully. While I'm on a rant what about the drivers that will pull out right in front of you so close you have to hit the brakes. They see an old car coming & don't want to get stuck behind you so out they go.
 
You can add to the list those who want to check out the car, point it out to the kids and take a picture or two while going down the road. I recently had a wife hanging out the window trying to take photos while being given instructions by her husband (possibly on how to use the camera) and in doing all that almost side swiped me until I pulled to the right in order to avoid it. I'm not talking about the friendly waves or kids wanting you to blow the horn...that's all part of the fun, but some can get so distracted and forget we are all rolling along down the road.
 


Hey Leadpot,,


Someone here on Fordbarn explained why some car's had the amber stop light's for a few year's at the same time Ford did. with my Swiss Cheese memory,,I don't remember what it was ?.


For safety reason's I'am going to run all red len's & a right side taillight... Two taillight's look "Balanced" & better anyway !!!


Greg out West
 
I like the all red. Your modern driver is looking for a red brake light if their looking at all. I went one step further and got the ones that say STOP that way there's no confusion. :)
 
I have a Red Third Brakelight and my LED taillites are ALL RED since it looks wierd if you put on the right signal and have one red "Third lite", and one amber taillite blinking, PLUS I figure its easier for me to conform to the modern driving world then to try to inform them that the Model A is different from anything else they see on the highway.
 
I would leave it the original amber.

On a related note, I was following some car the other day that had CLEAR lens turn signals. I think it was a Honda Civic, but anyway clear turn signals sure seems odd to me. Maybe Honda combined the backup lights with turn signals, but I'm not in favor of clear turn signals on the rear of the car.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I would leave it the original amber.

On a related note, I was following some car the other day that had CLEAR lens turn signals. I think it was a Honda Civic, but anyway clear turn signals sure seems odd to me. Maybe Honda combined the backup lights with turn signals, but I'm not in favor of clear turn signals on the rear of the car.
Click to expand...

Most state laws say, no white lights showing to the rear when moving forward. Rear showing white lights shall be connected so they can only be on when stopped or moving in reverse.
 
Tom the clear lenses are supposed to have amber bulbs, like when Model A cowl lights are used for turn signals. They also run clear lenses on brake/tail lights.
 
You have to be very careful out on the road ; I believe there is always someone with your number . Actually, the original lens colour was all red in 1928'29, I believe the half amber lens came in 1930. But of course, with repros , anything goes
I live rural , & never drive the A at night & as the car passes its inspection, have no intention of changing or adding lights. But,the number of times drivers have veered across in front of me, not looking whats coming behind ,is frightening. Yesterday roaming stock on the road made a run for it just as I approached.; they were not behind the usual electric fence at roadside!
 
Just for the best visibility, I have all red LED tail lights. The whole fixture lights up for running lights and goes very bright when the brakes are applied (or turn signals). I do have a 3rd brake light (also all red LED) that will go on it whenever I get around to putting it on.
 
I use the amber part for flashing light, and the red part for stop and marking light with a double bulb 21/5 and socket.

In Europe flashing light has to be yellow or amber by law, no LED as there to my knowledge is not any around with the opotunity to have 2 grades of red light in red section
 
leadpot said:
Am thinking of upgrading my tail lights to LED's for safety reasons. Already have the LED third light in my rear window. Wondering which gets peoples attention the best, all red or half amber? Usually drive with my lights on in the daytime. Know the lights are fairly small but am thinking the amber may show better in the daytime.
People will run up behind me at a fast rate of speed & sometimes I'm watching the rear-view more than the road because I think I'm going to get run over. The worst tailgaters usually get a few taps on the brake pedal to back them off a little, hopefully. While I'm on a rant what about the drivers that will pull out right in front of you so close you have to hit the brakes. They see an old car coming & don't want to get stuck behind you so out they go.
Click to expand...


There was a black sedan on the Blue Ridge Tour ahead of us one foggy morning whose tail lights had LED's. They were no less than FANTASTIC. A must for any Model A used for touring.
 
All red is the way to go. Everyone now days is looking for that red brake light. If you are driving towards the sun, and there is a car behind you, it is hard for that driver to notice the yellow lense with the sun being so bright. I think for a driver, red is the safest option.
 
You can use the AMber for turn signals, and fit a separate brake light.

dscf6697g.jpg
 
SDJason said:
Wow - where did you get the mounting bracket for that setup?
Click to expand...

The usual brackets are just a pair of repro brackets from Macs. We cut a sheet metal bracket that fits behind the A tail light, and extends off the the side for the V8 brake light. It's square on the bottom, with ledge folded out 45 degrees to stiffen it, and the top has two curves that match the back of the two lights. It then has a commercial light wiring cover covering the wire outlet on the inner light, and the cloth braided wires all run down the original bracket. The inner lights are brake only, the originals are amber indicators (with orange bulb fitted) and the normal tail underneath.

Certainly not "correct", obviously, but I feel it looks in fitting with the car. Here in NZ, people are not at all used to red turn signals and we really wanted turn signals and brake lights that people knew were there, even if they weren't on yet! :)
 
Just picked up a tilt trailer with a clear LED strip on the rear that turns red when brakes are applied.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top