1939 Plymouth headlights

[thebelvedereman]

Hey guys I just picked up 39 Business Coupe off of eBay, haven't even gotten it yet, the guy converted it to 12 volts and stuffed modern round sealed beams in the holes without the trim rings, I know the original ones were the reflector setup, and it still has the original buckets and the original trim rings with the car, my question is can I just put a square bulb in there like the bulb out of a 1979 d150, not sure if they're similar in size as I don't have the 39 yet, but it's got to look better then the way the guy has it set up now

[thebelvedereman]

[Plymouthy Adams]

not unless you have the means to make custom bezels to contour to the body and new bulb...there is already a kit to change these to round eyes if you so inclined...however if you look about you will see these older styles are yet fully supported in parts

[Lloyd]

Congratulations on your car.

Yep you would have to make custom something if you want to install the sealed beams into the original buckets. Heres a pic of someone that installed sealed beams using the original trim rings but I would guess modified the buckets to accept the sealed beam. You can see he did not use the 39 original glass lens but did use the original trim ring.. The SB light is inset into  the bucket. Not sure if its the original bucket or not.

I would look at mounting the entire sealed beam assembly from the vehicle you take it from inside the original bucket. Or make a new bucket to fit the car. In either case may be better to at least plan on using the original trim  ring.

 

-- Unless you want to fill the fender hole in, do some body work and use the trim ring the sealed beam came with.

 

Another option is like Plymouthy mentioned above, they had kits for these cars to convert them to sealed beam way back then. I see them on eBay every now and then. The complete kit NOS aint cheap but a lot of 39 owners use them. But at least you will not need to go thru any modifications.

 

[Andydodge]

1939 was the last of the non sealed beam headlight...........I've never played with 1939 headlights but wondering if it would be possible to use modern H4 globes in the original reflector, this assumes that you'd also then use the 1939 square headlight lens and trim ring surround........here in Oz those square headlight lens are much sought after.........andyd  

[thebelvedereman]

 I'm sure people have done it before, but I'm going to experiment with the 79 d150 headlights, and also the 81 d150 headlights which are larger than the 79 version, on paper they look like they're very close to the size that would fit, although people have probably already tried and have not been successful, or else you would have heard more about it, but the lights are pretty cheap its worth a try

[Lloyd]

The original lens has grooves on the outside. I would guess it’s to either diffuse, direct, intensify or all three the light bulb. Not sure how it would do in front of a sealed beam if the sealed beam had its own lens. 

Another option I’ve seen is to swap the socket and use a halogen bulb in the original setup. 

Couple links that might be of interest. 

 

https://www.streetrodhq.com/dept/Lights.html

 

http://www.classicandvintagebulbs.com/page3.html

 

[thebelvedereman]

I wasn't thinking about putting the original lens back in, just putting a sealed beam in its place and putting the Chrome  trim ring back on it, I'm sure it wouldn't be a perfect fit, but I'm sure I could find one that was pretty close to filling the trim ring

Edited April 15, 2018 by thebelvedereman

[Plymouthy Adams]

the rat rod fever is still living large it seems...it does not take that much imagination or lack of finesse to throw a bezel around that headlight...wait till you get it at your place and inspect the original hardware, the answer may be more obvious and a bit more tasteful

[thebelvedereman]

 yeah that's what I'm guessing, I'm just too excited already and trying to make plans for it, it's not really going to be a rat rod that's why I don't want those round ugly headlights in there, the body is Rock Solid it just needs a little work and paint, it's going to be more of a Gasser type car, but nicely done with nice paint and body , I'm going to try and make it as close as possible to my fathers 39 that he used to race in the early sixties

[Lloyd]

I gotcha. That appears to be what the owner did in the pic I posted earlier. Not sure how he did it. I’m keeping my lights original, 6 v and all. I have read a few posts about the lights being to dim so I guess I’ll find out. 

Worst part is the reflectors. It’s hard to get a decent set and to get them resilvered is expensive. 

 

Be intersted to see what you figure out. 

 

Good luck. 

[thebelvedereman]

Well this car is already been converted to 12 volts, it has a brand new Painless wiring harness in it, brand new GM one wire alternator, and a lot of other electrical upgrades, along with all new gauges and fuel sending unit, and also upgraded  to a modern rear end  with a little more Highway friendly gears  and modern brakes , but still the original Flathead and three on the tree