Thread: Lighting / Indicator Confusion

Originally Posted by jedwards

However all the lovely S1's I see with the Lucas ST51 lights don't appear to have anything else fitted, so I was wondering how these are setup , as the ST51 only has two bulbs. One is clearly a running light and designed to point downwards to illuminate the License Plate. The other can be either Brake or Indicator, but from the wiring, not both. I believe that only the US allows red brake/ indicator combinations.

So what are people, in this august group running? ST51 plus additional round light? Or am I slowing going mad?

Indicators weren't standard on Series I's but there was the option of trafficators. Trafficators - Wikipedia

Many have been fitted with separate round indicators, ideally not cut into the bodywork but on brackets that can be removed. If holes have already been cut in the past then most have continued with period indicators.

DSCF4237 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Pork Pie lights only have the sidelight/stoplight globe so a separate reflector is needed, indicators aren't needed but are considered a safety requirement in today's traffic as few would recognise a hand signal.

You have white indicators up front ?? Do you mean sidelights ?


Colin

IMAG1322.jpg IMAG1325.jpg This is what I did on my 80" . I bought Defender indicators , made up some alum brackets , I didn't want to drill any holes in the body panels. When I ordered the new harness I ordered it with all the wires in it for indicators. I use one of these switches 107555052_1009981986125114_7659453574998148270_o.jpg Landy also has trafficators with the correct switch mounted on windscreen frame, but these are dangerous to use as no one knows what they are & are a bit of a hit / miss operation. 94468550_952778435178803_3984100084261322752_o.jpg

Originally Posted by 1950landy

Landy also has trafficators with the correct switch mounted on windscreen frame, but these are dangerous to use as no one knows what they are & are a bit of a hit / miss operation.

I drove an Austin Somerset in the UK for some years.
Turning right into a side turning, trafficator out and someone decided to overtake me as I turned. Near miss but made me fit indicators on brackets off the bumpers.

Trafficators are also good for scaring cyclists when they are alongside.....

Problem I found was that they didn't always fully lower so you could park up, squeeze past the car in a carpark and break off the trafficator if you weren't looking !


Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

Indicators weren't standard on Series I's but there was the option of trafficators. Trafficators - Wikipedia

Many have been fitted with separate round indicators, ideally not cut into the bodywork but on brackets that can be removed. If holes have already been cut in the past then most have continued with period indicators.

DSCF4237 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Pork Pie lights only have the sidelight/stoplight globe so a separate reflector is needed, indicators aren't needed but are considered a safety requirement in today's traffic as few would recognise a hand signal.

You have white indicators up front ?? Do you mean sidelights ?


Colin

The one in my sig was modified around 50 yrs ago,similar to the pic, although the pork pies are slightly different.

Originally Posted by gromit

I drove an Austin Somerset in the UK for some years.
Turning right into a side turning, trafficator out and someone decided to overtake me as I turned. Near miss but made me fit indicators on brackets off the bumpers.

Trafficators are also good for scaring cyclists when they are alongside.....

Problem I found was that they didn't always fully lower so you could park up, squeeze past the car in a carpark and break off the trafficator if you weren't looking ! Colin

There is a Series 1 here with trafficators. At a club event last year I was asked by a local Thai if the lamp was supposed to "flash" or just light up.
Stumped me I am afraid as none of the old ones that I ever had were fitted with them. I suspect that they only light up, but as it appears from what I can find on the Internet there are two different types, does anybody know the correct answer?

Originally Posted by Old Farang

There is a Series 1 here with trafficators. At a club event last year I was asked by a local Thai if the lamp was supposed to "flash" or just light up.
Stumped me I am afraid as none of the old ones that I ever had were fitted with them. I suspect that they only light up, but as it appears from what I can find on the Internet there are two different types, does anybody know the correct answer?

The only ones I've seen had a single wire that energised the solenoid and turned on the light. I can't remember now if the light only came on when it was fully up.


Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

The only ones I've seen had a single wire that energised the solenoid and turned on the light. I can't remember now if the light only came on when it was fully up.


Colin

You can buy new bulb holders with double contacts to replace the single contact holders in S1 front park lights

I should point out that turn indicators of any kind were not legal substitutes for hand signals in Australia until about (after?) the end of Series 1 production, so none would have been fitted with them as delivered. As far as I know they have never been a retrospective fitment requirement in any state, although certainly it is a very good idea to fit them to any earlier vehicle.

So any Series 1 fitted with turn indicators will have had them fitted aftermarket, mostly long afterwards, and there was no "standard" way of doing it. There were many aftermarket kits appeared after they became legal for the first time. None of these were aimed at specific vehicles, although the target would have been mainly Holdens as they held about 50% of the market and no indicators were fitted until the FE or FC if my memory serves, as well as the large number of prewar cars of all types still on the road.