32 cowl light question
- Thread starter todd3131
- Start date
tiger.1000
Well-known member
That's an interesting comment. Here in the UK cowl lights or "sidelights" as we refer to them are always on with the headlights. I wonder why old American cars were designed in such a manner that when the headlights were turned on that the sidelights went out? Does that feature apply to ALL old American cars ?
Does anyone have a clear explanation for that? My 32 B Cabriolet does not have cowl lights in the true sense of the word; i.e.mounted on the "cowl" but sidelights mounted on the wings (fenders).
Being a UK car they stay on when the headlights are on.
Does anyone have a clear explanation for that? My 32 B Cabriolet does not have cowl lights in the true sense of the word; i.e.mounted on the "cowl" but sidelights mounted on the wings (fenders).
Being a UK car they stay on when the headlights are on.
PeteVS
Well-known member
YES! As a child, the parking lights always went out when the headlights came on. They didn't start staying on until the mid sixties when safety became the rage. I don't know the exact year that that happened, but my '63 Ch___ has the parking lights to out when the headlights go on.
DavidG
Well-known member
Pete,
With respect, I believe that your '63 brand X was not unique with regard to the parking lights going out when the head lamps are turned on. Today's running lights confuse the issue somewhat, but generally speaking parking lamps are only just that, for minimal illumination when the vehicle is parked and are not used in conjunction with the headlamps, both now and yesteryear.
As an sidelight to this thread, it was the general practice in Argentina and Brazil until the late 1970s to use only the parking lamps when driving in cities and suburbs. This led to lots of unfortunate accidents and pedestrian casualties and to a certain amount of road rage if you drove with your head lights on (like I did). It explains why even the "standard" models came equipped with cowl lamps (and fender lamps after the '34 model year) on vehicles sold in those countries (and perhaps others), including trucks. It was in Brazil that I first encountered '32 cowl lamps with painted steel bodies instead of stainless steel bodies; they were on trucks.
With respect, I believe that your '63 brand X was not unique with regard to the parking lights going out when the head lamps are turned on. Today's running lights confuse the issue somewhat, but generally speaking parking lamps are only just that, for minimal illumination when the vehicle is parked and are not used in conjunction with the headlamps, both now and yesteryear.
As an sidelight to this thread, it was the general practice in Argentina and Brazil until the late 1970s to use only the parking lamps when driving in cities and suburbs. This led to lots of unfortunate accidents and pedestrian casualties and to a certain amount of road rage if you drove with your head lights on (like I did). It explains why even the "standard" models came equipped with cowl lamps (and fender lamps after the '34 model year) on vehicles sold in those countries (and perhaps others), including trucks. It was in Brazil that I first encountered '32 cowl lamps with painted steel bodies instead of stainless steel bodies; they were on trucks.
PeteVS
Well-known member
The change (in USA, anyway) to have the parking lights stay on when the head lights came on was to enable to better see a car if one of the headlights was out. Previously, if say the left headlight was burned out, a driver approaching might assume that the one lighted vehicle was a motorcycle and misjudge his position, resulting in a possible crash. If the parking lights stayed on with the headlights, an oncoming driver would realize that it was a car with a headlight out and drive appropriately, avoiding a collision. IMHO.
David: I wasn't implying that my '63 was unique. All American cars up to at least that time were wired that way.
PS: What gets my goat today is that turn signals are so close to the headlights that under certain conditions, they can't be seen clearly if the headlights are on. If they were separated from the headlights by a foot or so, they are much more visible. Once again, IMHO.
David: I wasn't implying that my '63 was unique. All American cars up to at least that time were wired that way.
PS: What gets my goat today is that turn signals are so close to the headlights that under certain conditions, they can't be seen clearly if the headlights are on. If they were separated from the headlights by a foot or so, they are much more visible. Once again, IMHO.