Pillar spotlight fitting

[Seaside Pete]

I managed to pick up a spotlight that I want to fit on the driver's side pillar. Has anybody fitted one before and could post up some close up pics of where it actually fits? I have searched but can't find any, and I don't want to start drilling in the wrong place and then find that the internal controls are in the wrong place.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Pete

[DonaldSmith]

I'm not really happy with my spotlight mounting.  It's a spotlight from a 49 Ford, so the fitting on the outside didn't set a level angle.  And I raised the location from the corner of the windshield, to avoid the built-in mirror.

 

  

 

 

But the spotlight was given to me, and after all, it is a spotlight, and it works.

Edited December 14, 2014 by DonaldSmith

[Oldguy48]

I can't help you with exactly where to mount your spotlight, but I can tell you that there are a number of wires that are located within that pillar.  You'll just have to be careful about that, and please post pictures after you've installed the spotlight.

 

Wayne

[P15-D24]

Go to the Unity website. They have downloadable templates.  

[RobertKB]

Spotlights are highly overrated. In my opinion, and others may well disagree, they look clunky. Drilling holes in the wrong place or running into wires is not worth the effect. I have also heard horror stories about not being able to open the quarter window properly if the hole is drilled wrong. List it on ebay and sell it or I'm sure someone on this forum would buy it from you.

 

Just my two cents worth..........although in Canada the cent is no longer used in change. Lowest denomination is now the nickel and change is either rounded up or down if cash is used. It cost more to make a penny than its face value.

[Don Coatney]

RobertKB, on 14 Dec 2014 - 12:43 PM, said:

although in Canada the cent is no longer used in change. Lowest denomination is now the nickel and change is either rounded up or down if cash is used. It cost more to make a penny than its face value.

How much longer until all coins disappear? And how much longer after that that plastic replaces bank notes?

 

[RobertKB]

There is actually talk of taking the nickel out of circulation as well. Actuallly, Don, all our bank notes are plastic.   http://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/bank-note-series/polymer/  We do not have $1 or $2 bills as those are both coins in Canada, affectionately known as a loonie (for the loon on the coin) and toonie. Talk of a $5 coin coming as well.

 

Whenever I travel to the US, probably once a year on average, I always wonder why my wallet gets so stuffed with one dollar bills, most of which are in horrible condition. I know you have dollar coins there but they are not in common usage.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread. Time to get back to spotlights.

[Seaside Pete]

Go to the Unity website. They have downloadable templates.  

Sorry what is the Unity website. (I am a newby after all)

[Jerry Roberts]

Unity is the name of a company that made ( make ?) spotlights . Try doing a goggle search for them . 

[P15-D24]

Sorry what is the Unity website. (I am a newby after all)

Ahh newbie grasshopper, p15-d24.com contains many wonders... Go to the Links page (Reference menu at the top, Links in the drop down menu) and search on Unity.

[Bingster]

Nice looking dash and garnish mouldings up there.  What colors are those, and who did them?

[jhm1mc13]

I removed the spot light from my P15 because it interfered with the steering.  FWIW

[BobT-47P15]

I've seen many cars with spotlights on them......think they are kinda cool......have never noticed one I would say was incorrectly installed from 

back in the day.    Back then they were pretty common and installers would have gotten the correct bracket and mounting template with the new

light.   Nowadays you can't tell whether a used bracket goes to a Ford, Chevy ... or what.    So I would suggest corresponding with the Unity company,

as stated above.   Some spots even went through the door instead of the windshield post.   

[DonaldSmith]

RE:  My dashboard and garnish moldings.  Cool, huh!

 

 

When I  bought the car in 1999, it came with a set of re-woodgrained trim.  I bought the car from Les Pesavento,  the current president of the National DeSoto Club.  He had spent 25 years and two parts cars to get mine together.  He told me that the man who did the woodgraining had passed on.  Sorry.

 

But there are threads here and there on woodgraining.  I've seen various color effects, but I don't know if there were standard finishes for the various car colors, except that convertibles got the solid exterior color.  

[Bingster]

Grain-It has a fabulous system of colors and patterns that seem fairly easy to use.  Rich Hartung has done some beautiful work with their system.

[Andydodge]

Donald......that is one beautiful dashboard, thought I'd just have a quick look at the woodgrain you mentioned but ended up staring at the pic for a few minutes admiring just how neat, clean and tidy that dash is.......very nice............thanks, andyd   

[DonaldSmith]

Thanks, Andydodge.  The car is beautiful.  My compliments to the PO.  (At conventions, he still shows off the car to everyone.  I guess that's his right.) 

 

The car also has wood-grain Bakelite panels on the doors and cargo compartment (trunk) sides.  At car shows, I tie a side door open, and the people swarm to the car like shies on flit. 

 

 

[Andydodge]

Shies on Flit?.............lol....................I suppose they stick like flit to a blanket...........lol.........o/k.......I'll go flit in my corner now..........lol.........andyd

[blucarsdn]

When I found my '39 Plym conv cpe sitting in an open field in Montana, in '96, it had the major portions of a pair of Appleton 551 spotlights. The major portions of the spotlights were in bad shape from over thirty-eight years of exposure to the eliments, however, the mounting hardware, brackets, etc, were saveable.

I hae not been much of a fan for spot and/or fog lights since the early '50's. As the restoration work progressed on the Plymouth, and I acquired a pix of the car taken in 1951 showing spot/fog lights on the car, the thought of retining that look started to grow on me. I elected to leave the holes for the spots in the "A" pillars and the dash where it intersected just below the windshield garnish molding. Actually one of the retaining screws for the inner bracket attaches to the windshield garnish molding.

After a lot of searching I found a near perfect pair of 551's, 5" Appletons. When I put them on the car they looked terrible, to large for the short Plymouth windshield. I did some research and found out that Appleton made the same spotlight, 451, which is 4".. Took me awhile to find a nice pair of 451's.. They look great on the car.

During the late '40's, early '50's I worked in the automotive field, from time to time I was given the task of installing spotlights on cars, some of which were new.. This is a very tricky proceedure.. The spotlights are basiclly the same, except for the shaft length. Mopars from about '39 through '48 generally require a short shaft, about 12" long. The mounting brackets vary from vehicle to vehicle, there again, generally speaking the Mopars of the '40's all use about the same mounting hardware.

Drilling the hole through the windshield post is a very trying proceedure, requiring a template for same, specific to the vehicle, and care planning and layout before the hole (s) are drilled.  Bill. .

[blucarsdn]

Oppps, should have added a pix of a spotlight on my '39..