Dash lights

Cecil/WV

Cecil/WV

Well-known member
I just removed the dash light diffusers from a '50 instrument cluster and the glass diffusers are a dark lilac/purple, All I have ever seen in the past have been green. Has anyone else ever seen any that weren't green??
 
Mine were dark purple. I removed them, and painted the bulbs green with model paint. Looks great and I can see the gauges at night.
 
Cecil,

Mine are the dark purple also. They let very little light through. I picked up a set on ebay just to inspect. They were very dark also. I shined an led pinlight from the back and they didn't let much light through either. I am told that these "filters" darken with age. I was also told that someone in the '49-'53 Club has been working on reproducing a replacement for these. Perhaps John Treadway in Lima, OH can "shed some light" on this. I would be interested also.

Merry Christmas,
Pat
 
Cecil-

I can't speak directly to a '50 but on my '51 I had a similar problem. More unnerving was I couldn't see anything at night. Out of frustration I pulled the speedo cluster removed the filters and painted everything inside that could not be seen from the outside white. Result- no problems seeing anything at night! At my age my poor eyes need all the help they can get! :)

Tom
 
Pat/Ohio said:
Cecil,

Mine are the dark purple also. They let very little light through. I picked up a set on ebay just to inspect. They were very dark also. I shined an led pinlight from the back and they didn't let much light through either. I am told that these "filters" darken with age. I was also told that someone in the '49-'53 Club has been working on reproducing a replacement for these. Perhaps John Treadway in Lima, OH can "shed some light" on this. I would be interested also.

Merry Christmas,
Pat
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Pat, Johns a good friend of mine and i know he doesen't get on the FB website,not even sure he works with PC's. I can provide his phone # if someone wants it. PM only. ken ct. He's also listed in the EFV8C roster.:)
 
Ken, You are correct....John doesn't do 'puters! He is in our regional V8 club. I will give him a call later. Thanks, Pat
 
What I have is a spare instrument cluster that I am messing around with. I already took the diffusers out of the 2 '50 Fords that are in my garage and they were both green. I put green rubber covers on my bulbs and they are GREAT!! I just hadn't seen any that weren't green before and raised the question.
 
Cecil/WV said:
What I have is a spare instrument cluster that I am messing around with. I already took the diffusers out of the 2 '50 Fords that are in my garage and they were both green. I put green rubber covers on my bulbs and they are GREAT!! I just hadn't seen any that weren't green before and raised the question.
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What did you use for "green rubber covers", and do you think the heat from the bulb will last very long? :eek:
 
Pat/Ohio said:
Ken, You are correct....John doesn't do 'puters! He is in our regional V8 club. I will give him a call later. Thanks, Pat
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Tell him i hope he dosen't get this snow storm comming his and yours way. We try to vend next to each other at meets. ken ct. Merry xmas Pat.:)
 
Lawson Cox said:
What did you use for "green rubber covers", and do you think the heat from the bulb will last very long? :eek:
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Lawson, The MCI motor coaches in the 70's into the 90's used these coverson all their instrument lighting, probably as many as 20-25 bulbs in different colors depending upon whether they wanted green, amber or red and they work great, no problem with bulb life. I've had them on my '50 Ford for probably 10,000 miles.
 
Hi all; I read an article in the V8 Times, I believe, that explained thst some years of 5o's Fords used a 'Radon' instrument paint that faded with age. Your solutions seem right on. Newc
 
Cecil, I just spoke with John Treadway (Lima, OH) about these filters. He indicated that all he as seen are the purple color. But, he did say that there are special green colored bulbs for the turn signal holes in the dash cluster. Have you ever held a light bulb, or any light, directly at the instrument cluster at night? You'll notice that the numerals really glow after removing the light source. According to the '49-'51 repair manual, this was call the "black light" effect used only on the '49 and '50 models. The '51 models used direct light.

Pat
 
ken ct said:
Tell him i hope he dosen't get this snow storm comming his and yours way. We try to vend next to each other at meets. ken ct. Merry xmas Pat.:)
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Ken, I just spoke with John. He said you guys connected earlier today. It's getting real windy right now...trying to brew up something!

Merry Christmas to you & yours!
Pat
 
Cecil, I just spoke with Steve Chapman in California about these filters. He has done a lot of research on these little guys and has written an article or two for mags. Anyway, he has indicated to me that these filters are indeed green to almost black. He has come up with a kit to replace these with a blue filter which he says gives off a nice light. I believe he has converted his car from 6V to 12V. It seems to me that you could just remove the filters and use direct light just like the '51. Or, use somekind of transparent paint to paint the bulbs as mentioned above to filter the light a little.

Pat
 
Pat/Ohio said:
Cecil, I just spoke with John Treadway (Lima, OH) about these filters. He indicated that all he as seen are the purple color. But, he did say that there are special green colored bulbs for the turn signal holes in the dash cluster. Have you ever held a light bulb, or any light, directly at the instrument cluster at night? You'll notice that the numerals really glow after removing the light source. According to the '49-'51 repair manual, this was call the "black light" effect used only on the '49 and '50 models. The '51 models used direct light.

Pat
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The after glow is from the luminecsent paint that Ford used in this time period. It is similar to the luminecsent paint used on wrist watch hands. Many aircraft and military vehicles utilized this method for low light conditions. You could turn off the instrument lighting and still read the gauges for a while.
The colored boots I referenced are used to tune the lighting spectum of incandecent lamps to meet to the MIL specs for instrumentation lighting. These are not expensive and will allow very nice uniform dash lighting automotive applications.
 
You can remove the filters and then color your bulbs with a felt tip pen. I did this on some turn signal bulbs some years ago.
 
TJ said:
You can remove the filters and then color your bulbs with a felt tip pen. I did this on some turn signal bulbs some years ago.
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Yes, that works to a point. It boils down to "How often is it lit?" In the aircraft applications that I am familiar with they are lit whenever the aircraft is running. The felt tip solvent based inks are best for longevity. It was common to use Sharpie brand pens to do the fine color tuning. In the Aircraft application the pens were used in addition to the colored boots. For a car instument panel that method will work until a lamp burns out. The advantage of a colored boot is it can be removed and reinstalled on a new lamp at replacement time.
 
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