Repop headlight lens issue

[KCTA Chris]

Ordered a new lense for my ‘39 and not sure if I order the wrong one or its a bad repop? Same Two Lite script, logo and Top clearly marked but it’s smile is turned upside down. Was one half of the mold rotated 180 degrees? What gives?

[DavidG]

Vintique's supplier blew it when they made the mold and a complete absence of anything resembling quality control has reined since. Send it back with an appropriately irate note.

[Kube]

Originally Posted by DavidG

Vintique's supplier blew it when they made the mold and a complete absence of anything resembling quality control has reined since. Send it back with an appropriately irate note.

Has Vintique ever made anything of quality?

[oldandtired]

KCTA Chris...Is the headlight lens you are seeking for a 39 pickup or truck?

[51 MERC-CT]

Perhaps you should consider the possibility that at some point in time someone replaced the lenses in your vehicle with the incorrect year lenses.
The one you ordered may be correct, just order another one to match.

[KCTA Chris]

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Lens needed Is for a ‘39 COE, referencing green books I thought they were the same as 37-39 truck and some pass cars. Unfortunatly the three digit number on the bottom was not reproduced deep enough to read. At first I thought I ordered the wrong part but looking online I’m not sure. I see others advertised have the curve up “smiling unlike this one. First thought was to order another one but then started wondering if the prisms being upside down would diminish my lights on the road. I’lll call Monday. And as usual... add this to my swap meet needs list.

[Don Rogers]

As others have pointed out, The vintique part is incorrect. The logo is in the wrong place and the focusing zones are upside down. The segments(zones) in the glass lens control how the light beam is distributed on the road. In all examples of Ford lens that I have seen, the curved zones are in the upper half of the lens. I have included a drawing of a 36 headlight lens to show the zones and their light distribution. I realize that this is not your lens, but the similarity is there.
Hope it helps.

[DavidG]

The Vintique package in your photo has a 48 part number prefix, which is for the lens used on all North American '35s and on later trucks and commercial vehicles. While I lack the knowledge of whether or not it fits your '39 COE, I do know that the lens in your photo was incorrectly manufactured. It is always a 'smile' in terms of the lens prisms, never a 'frown'.

[Karl Wescott]

This was likely an manufacturing error.


Vintique's headlight lens molds (as well as taillight lens molds), as I understand, derive from the OEM supplier to Ford, and (until at least recently) were molded by that supplier. Someone in the 1950's - early 1970's (Greenland ?) acquired one copy of each mold, and later Vintique bought out that company. In talking with an ex-employee of Vintique there are stacks of un-identified (mostly non-Ford) molds in storage at Vintique.



The original OEM supplier had multiple molds, the one or two digit number at the top or bottom of the lens is the cavity number. The replacement lens has the cavity number that randomly survived.

[oldandtired]

KCTA Chris...I went out in the storage building and pulled out two Vintique headlight lenses that I bought years ago, both still in the original clear plastic wrapper. Both of the ones I have are with the "smile" facing the top, the opposite of the Vintique one in your post. To the best of my knowledge, the 39 COE used the same headlight bucket as the 35 passenger car, the same as the 38/9 pickup. The 40 and 41 COE used the same size bucket but had a factory seal beam setup, each with a different headlight door. If you would like the matching pair of new unused Vintique ones, send me a pm on Fordbarn or email me at [email protected]. If you email me, put something in the subject line about Fordbarn or the lenses or I probably won't open the email. I carried them around for several years to various swap meets. You can have them for the postage if you want them. I will need to know by Monday...have to pull out of town Tuesday morning. I'll trust you for the postage.

[KCTA Chris]

Thanks guys, I was worried my eyes were playing tricks on me. We used Vintiques quite often in the 90's street rod days and either no one payed attention because correct just didn't matter, or the quality has disappeared.

oldandtired - thank you for the offer, sent you an email.