Cowl lights

[Ed's Vickie]

Need help with installing bulbs . The lites came off of a early 31 Vickie. They have a screw in the center of the back which screws into a horseshoe type of bracket which pulls in tight the ring holding the lens in place. Problem is installing the wire pigtail. There is no socket as the bulb clicks into the reflector.
Any ideas????? Thanks ED

[Mike V. Florida]

My understanding is that the screw you speak of, in the center of the shell, was used to hold the socket in place in early '30. Later in 1930 a rivet held the socket in place of the original shell. The pigtail goes through the socket, through the arm, and extends a couple of inches.

[Ed's Vickie]

My 31 PU has that type of setup, but these have the screw holding everything in place. that is the only way to remove the lens and ring, and put back together ED

[KGBnut]

Ed,

If I understand you correctly, you have a reflector that should hold the bulb, but there is nothing holding the center contact in place, or putting tension on the back of the bulb. Is that correct? If that is so, I had a similar problem with one of my cowl lights.

As goofy as it sounds, I made a flexible piece out of an old credit card to do the job temporarily... Temporarily has turned in to five years.

When I get a chance, I will take a picture of my solution and post it here.

Ken

[Ed's Vickie]

That sounds like it would solve my problem. Will look forward to the picture. The cowl lights are in such good shape I want to use them. ED ( could you email me the pictures when you have the time?) [email protected]

[KGBnut]

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We had pouring rain today. Still, Pop took the Model A out to get pizza. I had to wait until he got back to take the cowl light apart and snap the pictures.

You can see in these pictures that I started with a credit card type hotel key. I rounded the corners so it would fit inside the cowl light, then cut some rectangular notches so it would snap into the yoke, and not slide around. I poked a hole in the center for the contact and looped the wire through some other holes just for some strain relief. I seem to remember it took me a few tries to get it to line up right, but it works great now and has for several years.

So, can you call this a Farmer Fix, or do farmers not stay in hotels with mag-swipe keys?

Ken

[Ed's Vickie]

Thanks, It is just the ticket. Do you have any info on this type cowl lights ? Time frame they were used? Mine were on my 31 Vickie (Feb. date) Talked to a lot of Model A era and could not come up with any info. Thanks agin ED

[C26Pinelake]

Originally Posted by KGBnut

We had pouring rain today. Still, Pop took the Model A out to get pizza. I had to wait until he got back to take the cowl light apart and snap the pictures.

You can see in these pictures that I started with a credit card type hotel key. I rounded the corners so it would fit inside the cowl light, then cut some rectangular notches so it would snap into the yoke, and not slide around. I poked a hole in the center for the contact and looped the wire through some other holes just for some strain relief. I seem to remember it took me a few tries to get it to line up right, but it works great now and has for several years.

So, can you call this a Farmer Fix, or do farmers not stay in hotels with mag-swipe keys?

Ken

That was very kind of you to go to that effort to help a fellow Model A person. You are to be commended. Wayne

[KGBnut]

Sorry to say I have nothing more to add about these lights. In fact, I have no idea was the factory set up originally looked like. If anyone has pictures of what is suppose to be in there I would love to see them.

To make thing even more odd, my cowl lights don't even match. I have this style on the left side, but the other style on the right side.