Mach1 sport lamps: What do they do originally?

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luxstang

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1972 Mustang Convertible
Hi guys,

time for a stupid question.

As some of you may have read in the "what did you do to your car today" thread, I replaced the standard grille on my 72 with a Mach1 grille.

Here´s my question. What do the sport lamps usually do?

Are they a kind of position markers, like the side markers, only up front, glowing whenever the headlights are on or are they supporting the high beams and stay off most of the time?

All the 71 and 72 I know have the standard grille, so I´ve never seen one "in action"!

A logical mod for our traffic regulations would be to convert them to run in parallel with the turn signals, as yellow lights are not allowed to glow permanently.

But I´d like to know what they did from the factory.

As always, there is a pic included. ;)

Here it is:

IMG_0968.JPG

 
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They are wired to be on ONLY when the headlights are on (low or high beam) so they are not on when your "parking" lights are on.

Hi guys,

time for a stupid question.

As some of you may have read in the "what did you do to your car today" thread, I replaced the standard grille on my 72 with a Mach1 grille.

Here´s my question. What do the sport lamps usually do?

Are they a kind of position markers, like the side markers, only up front, glowing whenever the headlights are on or are they supporting the high beams and stay off most of the time?

All the 71 and 72 I know have the standard grille, so I´ve never seen one "in action"!

A logical mod for our traffic regulations would be to convert them to run in parallel with the turn signals, as yellow lights are not allowed to glow permanently.

But I´d like to know what they did from the factory.

As always, there is a pic included. ;)

Here it is:

 
What do they do? Mostly they look good. Chuck
:D +1 I just made the experience.



They are wired to be on ONLY when the headlights are on (low or high beam) so they are not on when your "parking" lights are on.
That was fast, thank you very much. So they are simply wired in parallel to the headlights. (second position of the light switch).

That is unfortunately illegal in my country. :mad: But something tells me, it will be done that way nonetheless....

It´s easier to apologize than to ask permission! ;)

 
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What do they do? Mostly they look good. Chuck
:D +1 I just made the experience.



They are wired to be on ONLY when the headlights are on (low or high beam) so they are not on when your "parking" lights are on.
That was fast, thank you very much. So they are simply wired in parallel to the headlights. (second position of the light switch).

That is unfortunately illegal in my country. :mad: But something tells me, it will be done that way nonetheless....

It´s easier to apologize than to ask permission! ;)
I re-wired mine to come on with the park lights, I like the look without the headlights on...

 
They are illegal in Australia too Mike, and I had to remove the globes to get past the roadworthy check :mad:
Yeah that sucks. Here that wouldn´t work either, as lights that are on the car have to work, legal or not.

That means sport lamps with no bulbs= no registration.... buuuut sport lamps with globes = illegal = no registration. :huh:

So I need to find a way around it and make the lamps do something that is legal for a yellow light to do, such as wire them for turn signals.

My biggest problem, is that I don´t have sockets for the bulbs and they seem to be hard to find......

 
the sport lamp sockets are impossible to find anywhere because they only came with the mach 1 engine harness.

now you may be able to get taillight sockets to fit in the car. wire them up to a seperate 12V switch under the dash and just make them turn on whenever you need, wouldn't that get around the inspection?

as for original purpose they might be extra lighting in case of headlight failure.

i actually had a headlight failure on my passenger side just this weekend, and my low beam headlights malfunctioned, the high beams began to overload the main switch and the headlights were blinking high and low, i had to turn them off for oncoming traffic and that is when i discovered the sport lamps actually let off enough light to see the road without my main lights, for safety when cars approached i had to switch hi to low beams back and forth but i made it home ok, and have replacement parts to install this week.

 
They are illegal in Australia too Mike, and I had to remove the globes to get past the roadworthy check :mad:
Yeah that sucks. Here that wouldn´t work either, as lights that are on the car have to work, legal or not.

That means sport lamps with no bulbs= no registration.... buuuut sport lamps with globes = illegal = no registration. :huh:

So I need to find a way around it and make the lamps do something that is legal for a yellow light to do, such as wire them for turn signals.

My biggest problem, is that I don´t have sockets for the bulbs and they seem to be hard to find......
As far As I know the sockets are not reproduced. You could try the vendors on this site or perhaps post a "want to buy" here or on the Vintage Mustang Forum. I'm not sure the turn signal wiring, switch, fuse, and flasher would support the additional current draw of the grille lamps (number 94 bulb). One solution may be to use super bright LEDs and matching sockets, very low current draw compared to regular incandescent bulbs. Chuck

 
As far As I know the sockets are not reproduced. You could try the vendors on this site or perhaps post a "want to buy" here or on the Vintage Mustang Forum. I'm not sure the turn signal wiring, switch, fuse, and flasher would support the additional current draw of the grille lamps (number 94 bulb). One solution may be to use super bright LEDs and matching sockets, very low current draw compared to regular incandescent bulbs. Chuck
Yup, you´re right, no repros available.

I´m waiting for an answer from sombody who mmight have some, otherwise I´ll post a WTB.

That LED idea came to mind too. I even thought of getting me some regular socket and make them fit somehow. First, I´ll see if I can find some regular ones....



As far As I know the sockets are not reproduced. You could try the vendors on this site or perhaps post a "want to buy" here or on the Vintage Mustang Forum. I'm not sure the turn signal wiring, switch, fuse, and flasher would support the additional current draw of the grille lamps (number 94 bulb). One solution may be to use super bright LEDs and matching sockets, very low current draw compared to regular incandescent bulbs. Chuck
Yup, you´re right, no repros available.

I´m waiting for a reply from somebody who might have some, otherwise I´ll post a WTB.

That LED idea is not bad. As an alternative, I thought of getting some standard sockets for a modern car and make them fit somehow.

First I´ll try and get some original ones though.

 
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you could also get a standard grill. Without the lights. Assuming you don't mind the grill change of course.:-/
:D I have this problem because I just threw out the standard grille in favor of a Mach 1 one last week!!!!

Took me 10 years to finally get rid of it!;)

 
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They are illegal in Australia too Mike, and I had to remove the globes to get past the roadworthy check :mad:
Yeah that sucks. Here that wouldn´t work either, as lights that are on the car have to work, legal or not.

That means sport lamps with no bulbs= no registration.... buuuut sport lamps with globes = illegal = no registration. :huh:

So I need to find a way around it and make the lamps do something that is legal for a yellow light to do, such as wire them for turn signals.

My biggest problem, is that I don´t have sockets for the bulbs and they seem to be hard to find......
Maybe you could connect them to your blinkers, but have a separate switch that stops the blinkers operating them. Then you could mark that switch as "hazard lights" and tell your roadworthy people they are hazard lights only to be used when the hazard light switch is pulled.

It's interesting that on our cars they are hard wired into the lighting. My old 1970 Mach 1 had a separate switch on the dash marked "Sport Lamps" which gave the option of having them on or off.

 
hahaha just after I posted my reply and took a look at you garage pics. I noticed you had the standard grill there. Guess I should of checked first:p
Yeah, bass players..... Play first, listen later! :D



Maybe you could connect them to your blinkers, but have a separate switch that stops the blinkers operating them. Then you could mark that switch as "hazard lights" and tell your roadworthy people they are hazard lights only to be used when the hazard light switch is pulled.

It's interesting that on our cars they are hard wired into the lighting. My old 1970 Mach 1 had a separate switch on the dash marked "Sport Lamps" which gave the option of having them on or off.
Yeah, weird...

First I need to find those darn sockets, I´ll worry about the rest later...

Oh, Hazard lights have to be turn signals here......

 
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I know you'll hate this, but they make round universal trailer sockets that have small clips that hold them in a round hole(simular in size to, dare I say it, My 73 Chevelle mini bulbs). I went out and looked but can't find a part#. You would have to make a solid piece of plastic or sheet metal and put the needed hole size (small enough the bulb will fit through the existing socket hole on your grill fixtures) and clap it, scew it, glue it, silcone it what ever to the backside of the fixture in the grill. The turning signal wiring circuit will handle the added watts. You may need to go with a higher wattage flasher relay. That's what they are intended for. The fuse circuit is rated to protect the wire size. But you should make it so you would be able to remove it without damaging the factory lampholder should you find the right sockets, and in the mean time not worry about the roadworthy folks. JMHO

 
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If you made or got clear lenses for them you could use them as daytime running lights or driving lights, which would look pretty cool in my opinion.

 
Kinda off the subject of 71 / 72 sport lamps, but this pic was taken of my 73 vert leaving a cruise back in July 'bout 8:30pm. One of the better pics showing the lighting.



 
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