It will be a l-o-n-g time before I'm ready to screw around with my park lights, but I thought I'd ask now so I'll have plenty of "mull" time. I really like the bigger size and "amber" choice of park lights for the front of (I believe) 55's and up. What I'm wondering is, would these be able to adapt to our beloved ADs? I'm thinking YES, but I thought I'd run it by you fine fellers first! I see all these cars going by at night when I'm walking my dogs, and every last one has my attention as far as bright lighting goes. I want to make sure that people see me at night from the front AND back. I am thinking I might need to break from original in the back half. I don't see how those little lights will be bright and big enough to signal to the guy behind me with the cell phone stuck in his ear that he needs to stop because I am... Any thoughts?
Let's get enlighted! I'll start at the back because it is certainly the best looking end of a GMC! The problem is location of the lights. On my '50 truck, the tailights are 30" from ground to taillight. That's low as compared to modern vehicles. My wife's Toyota's lights are 35" above ground and my Tahoe has 2 sets of lights at 40" and 49". People are used to the higher positioned lights now and have a tendency to not look down while driving to see the ones on these older trucks. Logic says to move the lights up. Possible solution? Move lights up or add more lights. The bed rail rolls are approximately 45" above the ground. Perfect height! Add lights there! LED's, definitely. While we're at it, let's add LED bulbs in the original taillights. Lastly, think about adding a "cyclops" light to the back of the cab, either above or below the rear window and wire it to be on when the parking lights or on and/or when the headlights are on. Get creative and use a vintage taillight. I love the '41-'48 Chevy taillight for this application. Classic bezel and big enough to get someone's attn. Now for the front end. Several options. Install vintage fog lamps, either amber or clear, switched under the dash as original so you can control when you want or need them on. Or, go to LED with original setup. Or, go to the nearest truck stop, and Lord knows Kansas has truck stops and look at the accessory lighting for the big rigs and found a round light, slightly bigger than your original and mount it on the front fenders. Another option would be to find a '54 grille piece to mount as they had some pretty big parking lights, much bigger than the '55 and up parking lights and easier to retro-fit. Just my 3 cents (adjusted for inflation)!
Why, thank you big brother! I didn't think about the height from ground issue... Good ideas! LED lights will no doubt find there way into my light housings. (And bed rails!) The truck stop sounds good too. Thanks, Ken!
Bed Rail Lamps I always though that sliding them in 2" or so would be nice as they'd be out of sight untill the LED flashed on and grabs the other driver's attention......
