6 Volt Lights Not Bad At All

[55 Fargo]

Just took a quick spin in the 47, it is pitch dark out here in the country, my 6 volt headlights, are nice and bright, could be aimed a little better, but they work well.

The tail lights and dash lights are nice and bright too.

The speedo lights that go from green to red, are just too cool:cool:.

Just thought I would share this, as some of the newer members might think they have to go with 12 volt for better lights, just not the case;).....

[P-12 Tommy]

I attest to that!!

Tom

[RobertKB]

Gotta agree. I have no problems driving at night in any of my three old flatties.....'38 Chrysler, '48 Dodge, and '53 Plymouth. World War II was fought using 6 volt so it is good enough for my old cars!

[BobT-47P15]

Doesn't the Service Manual tell how to aim the headlights???

Seems like mine does.

[Cpt.Fred]

sure does, but who has the time for that?

i totally agree on the headlights, unfortunately my dash isn't that bright

and the green to red thing doesn't really work anymore, too, but that's ok

for me, it just ads to the nice cosy, somehow yellowish atmosphere in there.

we went to the last race in total darkness, and it was magical.

only thing i worry about is that some kamikaze BMW or Mercedes jockey will

smash into my trunk some day on the motorway because the backlights are so small and low.

praise the lord for reflecting license plates.

today's cars' rear ends are more like moving neon signs,

and people got used to that...

[Joe Flanagan]

it just ads to the nice cosy, somehow yellowish atmosphere in there.

Definitely. I love the way my dash lights look. I wonder if it was intended to be a soft light. My headlights, however, are nice and strong.

[JoelOkie]

My headlights are strong and bright also, but I am running blue dot tailights on the Dodge pickup, and they are not very bright, (although the over tag light is fairly easy to see). I am thinking about putting a couple of small lights with lighter red lens that would show up brighter just under the back of the truck, wired to just the tailights, for a little added protection at night. I have the same lights on the back of the 46 Ford pickup, but it is on 12 volts, and those lights are much easier to see. Joel

[Young Ed]

I've not had much trouble with my 6v lights except one time coming back to the cabin in a huge downpoor I couldn't see well but 12v lights might not have been able to see well either. I did rewire my car to have 3 tail/brake lights in the back and my center brakelight is a dual filament with both coming on when braking. I was going to redo the socket with a dual filament connection but Tim A said to keep it simple and solder across the bulb. Thats the way its been and it works great.

[desoto1939]

Capt Fred.

The green,yellow red indicator on the speedometer is not very complicated. On the pointer on the speedometer there is a little bubble as the speed increases the color will turn from green to yellow ten to red. If you look behind the pointer the speedometer face plate is painted witht he colors as it goes thru the arc on the varuious speeds.

So the car is not majically chnaging the color indicator the colors are then being visable. So you might have lost the coloring od the bubble onthe speed dial might be dirty.

It is a cool feature but is very simple and not complex.

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[greg g]

Like everything else 6V make sure wires are in good condition, connections are clean and tight, and grounds are cleanly connected. Also check the fuse on the headlamp switch to make sure it is free of any corrosion. The smallest amount of anythig that causes resitance will negatively effect the lights output. When everything is correct 40 watts is 40 watts whether its powered by 6 or 12v. At least as far as sealed beams are concerned. The older bulb reflector and lens headlamps could be in need of other items like cleaning the inside of the lenses, and making sure the reflector is in good shape, but electrical contections will kepp their bulbs nicely bright also.

[Mark D]

Definitely. I love the way my dash lights look. I wonder if it was intended to be a soft light. My headlights, however, are nice and strong.

I agree Joe, but it baffles me why the designers felt the need to add a switch that shuts off the dash lights.

[55 Fargo]

I agree Joe, but it baffles me why the designers felt the need to add a switch that shuts off the dash lights.

Possibly for driving with headlights on during day light hours, but still the few bulbs in the dash aren't sucking that much juice....

[Broke4speed]

So I'm not crazy then. That switch on the dash really is for turning off the dash lights independently of the headlights. Quirky .

[TodFitch]

I agree Joe, but it baffles me why the designers felt the need to add a switch that shuts off the dash lights.

Just a guess, but I think it was fairly common in the old days to drive with your dash lights off at night so that you aren't distracted by light from inside the car.

For a gauge equipped car without idiot lights and cruise control this doesn't work for me. You should be checking your speed, oil pressure and temperature pretty often and for that you need the dash lights on. Out of curiosity on my new car I've tried driving at night on rural freeways with the dash lights off and it is less tiring on my eyes. But you need to be driving where cruise control is okay since you can't see your speed.

[Young Ed]

Just a guess, but I think it was fairly common in the old days to drive with your dash lights off at night so that you aren't distracted by light from inside the car.

For a gauge equipped car without idiot lights and cruise control this doesn't work for me. You should be checking your speed, oil pressure and temperature pretty often and for that you need the dash lights on. Out of curiosity on my new car I've tried driving at night on rural freeways with the dash lights off and it is less tiring on my eyes. But you need to be driving where cruise control is okay since you can't see your speed.

I agree. On our recent trip the left dash light bulb socket wouldn't stay in its hole. I found it quite annoying not being able to see the oil pressure amp gauge or the majority of the speedometer. Plus the cool green yellow red thing wasnt working without that bulb(not that it changes much since my speedo with its crappy $300 rebuild reads 15mph low.)

[james curl]

The speedometer can be adjusted. The speedometer does 6 miles per 100 rpm or 1000 rpm at 60 mph. There is a hair spring on the needle that has an adjustable arm that fits in small notches in the housing. Using a drill with a known maximum RPM which you divide by 100 and multiply by 6 and use it to turn the speedometer, now read the speed and tighten the spring to slow the speedometer down to the proper speed as calculated or loosen to speed it up which ever is necessary. You can use an old speedometer cable in the drill to drive the speedometer. I bought a new speedometer for my 55 Chevrolet pick up and had a similar problem, the company kept asking me if I had calibrated it, I told them I thought it came calibrated from the factory. They told me that 1000 RPM on the speedometer should read 60 MPH and that I should adjust the hair spring to make it do so. I did and it worked until the bushing froze up from lack of oil. Oiled it up and got it free and now it reads 10 mph fast so will need to re-calibrate it. Just a pain to have to pull the speedometer out of its case to get to the hair spring. So I just drive by the tach.

[TodFitch]

The speedometer can be adjusted. The speedometer does 6 miles per 100 rpm or 1000 rpm at 60 mph. There is a hair spring on the needle that has an adjustable arm that fits in small notches in the housing. Using a drill with a known maximum RPM which you divide by 100 and multiply by 6 and use it to turn the speedometer, now read the speed and tighten the spring to slow the speedometer down to the proper speed as calculated or loosen to speed it up which ever is necessary. You can use an old speedometer cable in the drill to drive the speedometer. I bought a new speedometer for my 55 Chevrolet pick up and had a similar problem, the company kept asking me if I had calibrated it, I told them I thought it came calibrated from the factory. They told me that 1000 RPM on the speedometer should read 60 MPH and that I should adjust the hair spring to make it do so. I did and it worked until the bushing froze up from lack of oil. Oiled it up and got it free and now it reads 10 mph fast so will need to re-calibrate it. Just a pain to have to pull the speedometer out of its case to get to the hair spring. So I just drive by the tach.

Back in the 1970s when I first got my Plymouth the speedometer read low. Very low. I took it to a speedometer repair shop to have it gone over and calibrated. When the fellow was done I went back to pick it up and, I assumed, to have it calibrated in my car. He just handed it to me. I asked about calibration and he said that all American cars used 1000 turns per mile and had done so pretty much since day one. I guess that may have changed with the advent of electronic speedometers and odometers, but it did seem to be true back in the day of mechanical instruments.