Question for the Canadians

[Phill Powell]

I'm looking at some '39 Plymouth headlamp glass's & the seller says they are for Canadian cars only, so being form the other side of the world I asked if they were for RHD cars, the reply was "Canadian cars only".

So my question is - do you or have you ever driven on the left hand side of the road & are your cars RH drive?

Thanks

[Allan Faust]

Never driven on the left hand side of the road, except to pass...and all cars here are Left hand drive.... only place I know of that is right hand drive and left side driving is in England....

Allan

[PatS....]

In this city there are people who drive on the left. Worst drivers in the world here, that's for sure.

[GeorgeLeonard]

FWIW, people who live in Australia and Japan also drive on the left.

[John Mulders]

Tried driving on the left here for a while, really scary.....maybe of all would do that is makes it easier

Done left and righthand driving even in left and righthand cars.

Once you drive a bit it is no problem , I do remember a roundabout in England on a quiet day, had to go right so should have done a 3/4 circle but took the short cut.... no traffic so not too dangerous. Guess that with traffic I would have noticed.

Former English colonies in the Caribbean drive on the left and even in Suriname (former Dutch colony) they drive on the left hand side.

Most cars are left hand drive though.

John

[Plymouthy Adams]

I tried driving on the left once..lots of flashing lights, horns blowing, tires screeching and many obscene jestures..didn't see no big deal myself..

[BobT-47P15]

I'm not sure the issue with the lenses is which side of the road one drives on.

Is the size of the headlight on a Canadian built car in that year different from

others??? Are they specially designed to spot mooses along the road....or

what?

[PatS....]

Not mooses, beavers, silly!!!!

[B-Watson]

I'm looking at some '39 Plymouth headlamp glass's & the seller says they are for Canadian cars only, so being form the other side of the world I asked if they were for RHD cars, the reply was "Canadian cars only".

So my question is - do you or have you ever driven on the left hand side of the road & are your cars RH drive?

Thanks

The last province to switch to the right side of the road was around 1920. Some provinces, such as Manitoba, always drove on the right. Which made life interesting for Canadian auto makers as they built cars with either LHD or RHD, depending upon which of the nine provinces the car was destined.

As for the 1939 lenses, Canadian Plymouth cars built for Canada used the same lenses as in the U.S. As well, the lens for the left side was the same as the right.

Canadian Plymouth cars built for export used a different style of lens. What the differences were, I do not know. And LHD export lenses were the same as RHD export lenses.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

[Andydodge]

Whilst I haven't seen any US/canadian LHD headlight lenses to make a genuine comparision the difference would probably be in the angle of the actual flutes molded into the lense itself, so that the light beam is directed more to the RHD passenger side of the road........using a LHD lens in a RHD car would shoot more light into the eyes of oncoming traffic......and conversely using a RHD lens on a LHD car would shoot more light into the LHD concoming car....this is why even today, late model/new cars for RHD/LHD have different lenses, ie lense part numbers........andyd

[james curl]

I must be slow but I do not recall ever seeing a round headlight that was marked right or left. Do they make special lenses for headlights in the British Common Wealth?

[Phill Powell]

Thanks guys, the lense's are different depending on which side of road you drive on as they are pre-focus. Left & right hand sides on the car are the same but LHD cars are differ from the RHD cars we have.

The confusion comes from the fact most(not all) RHD cars were built in(& exported from) Canada, but if it's a Canadian domestic market car then the lense's are the same as any other RHD car, so they're not unique to Canada.

Your right Andy about the flutes in the glass, most RHD lense's are marked "Export".

Thanks

Phill

[Ricky Luke]

Hi Phill

In Oz the rules stated the lamps must dip down and towards the left. To be honest, I dont think you will dazzle anyone if you use the LHD lenses - not nowadays with 150w blue xenon lamps and "fog" lights.

In the parts book for my 40 Chrysler it just lists headlights right and left (domestic), r & l (export), r & l (RHD 12v). For the trivia freaks it looks like Chrysler did make a 12v car before the mid 50's.

Rick

[B-Watson]

Hi Phill

In Oz the rules stated the lamps must dip down and towards the left. To be honest, I dont think you will dazzle anyone if you use the LHD lenses - not nowadays with 150w blue xenon lamps and "fog" lights.

In the parts book for my 40 Chrysler it just lists headlights right and left (domestic), r & l (export), r & l (RHD 12v). For the trivia freaks it looks like Chrysler did make a 12v car before the mid 50's.

Rick

Chrysler Corp. cars assembled in Britain before WW II were 12 volt, and I suspect there were other markets as well where 12 volt was common. After WW II, Chrysler built trucks in Britain but not cars. These trucks had unique British styling and looked nothing like the Detroit-styled models.

Getting back to 1939, the headlamp lenses came in two styles - domestic and export - and fit both sides of the car. Refectors also came as domestic or export with no differences side to side. And there were three styles of headlamp bulbs (domestic, export & 12 volt) while the auxiliary bulbs came as domestic/export and 12 volt.

To add to the confusion, the headlamp assemblies came as domestic, export, 12 volt and a version for Holland and the Dutch East Indies. No other section under Headlamps lists anything special for Holland. Also, Plymouth headlamp units were the same left or right side.

As Canada was LHD in the 1930's Canadian market cars would NOT have RHD headlamps. Cars built for the Canadian market had the same units as in the U.S. Canadian headlamp laws have always been a bit more free than down south with the result we got cars shipped from Britain and Europe with headlamp systems that were outlawed in the U.S. Still holds true today.

A few years back there were complaints about the headlamps on the Neon in North America. Turned out Neons destined for Europe got a better designed unit that gave off more light. It was not allowed in the U.S. but Canadians could acquire the European units and install them on their Neons.

Not only did Chrysler built 12 volt cars before 1953, but they also offered alternators before 1960, usually on taxi, police and fleet models. These alternators were Leese-Neville units with a mechanical rectifier that converted AC current to DC. That was the major improvement on the Chrysler alternators - the electronic rectifiers that greatly increased the reliability and, along with the ventilated aluminum housing, lowered costs.

Bill

Vancouver, BC