Whatever happened to round headlights? (vehicles, driver, Cadillac, Chevy)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Well, you can't exactly say the Chrysler Cordoba was "high quality".
What happened to round headlights was that the instant the headlight regulations were relaxed, the stylists took over. The result is that today we have the weird looking blinding glare-fests, which just cause a war of brightness, where everything has to be lit up like an airport runway.
Apparently none of the idiots that design these things has ever heard of the "IRIS" and how it contracts when exposed to bright light. All you do when you overilluminate everything is you make less-brightly-lit things ever more invisible.
I started driving in the sealed beam era and other than driving on extremely dark highways at highway speeds, I NEVER had any trouble seeing what I needed to see.
I would love to see sealed beam low beam headlights, round, be mandated again. for high beams, halogen is OK; and I think the police ought to write lots and lots of tickets for driving around with the high beams when not needed. Heck, the last few years people don't even know what my flashing my lights at them means. It means, "You're blinding me with your high beams, idiot!"
There's no doubt that today's headlights are vastly superior to the old sealed beam headlights. My 2015 Prius, with 95K miles on it, still has all the original lights -- ALL. I drove the truck I traded for the Prius for 14 years and 151K miles, and I can't recall having a light go out on it. That would never have been possible with the old round sealed beam headlights.
But what was nice about those old headlights, they were cheap and plentiful. Until the mid-50s, all "modern" cars used the exact same style of headlight, iirc -- same size, same everything. I always carried a spare in the trunk, but if you didn't do that, you could always pick up one at any service station or hardware store for a couple bucks. Then came the 12 volt systems, so you had two different kinds, then in '58 you had the smaller dual headlights, one for high beam, one for low beam. Still they were cheap and available everywhere. It took a screw driver (to remove/replace the retaining ring) and about 2 minutes to do the complete replacement.
But none of those were too dependable by today's standards. It seemed the first cold snap in early winter took its toll on headlights. When I was a teen dating, meeting a car on the road with a burned out headlight would get you a kiss from your date, just like when a rabbit ran across the road in front of you -- as long as you were the first to announce it -- "Padoodle!"
So far it seems that fun cars like the Mini, Jeep, Beetle and some throw back performance cars have round headlights.
I think some Mercedes have oval lights.
From what has been posted it certainly makes sense how the manufacturers moved from the sealed beam roundies to the formed plastic housings where the bulb is separate.
I do wonder if round headlights were still standard how common cars like a Camry would look if it had round headlights?
I still like the roundies and usually the cars that sport them.
For a while, since 1939, sealed headlight were all that was legal. Sealed beams came in round or rectangular. In 1983, replaceable bulb units were allowed. In 92, the US allowed H4 bulbs, so that allowed mfrs to make projectors and more complex reflector shapes. 2nd nail in the round coffin. In 2006, the Lexus LS 600 was the first car to come out with LED lights. Final nail.
The last sealed beam was the Chevy/GMC full size cargo van pre-2nd facelift. Somewhere around 2014/15. Square bulbs though.
What are you talking about? I had a 69 VW fastback that had replaceable bulbs. MOST of my cars had replaceable bulbs - until recently.
At least I THINK it was the Fastback. I know I got really annoyed when I started having to replace entire assemblies instead of just the bulb.
I liked the separate high and low beam round headlights. The focused high beams really reached down the road, and the low beams stayed on all the time.
I like the quirky look of my “Bug Eyes” ‘02 WRX Wagon. With not only oval headlights but also oversized round fog lights underneath. I actually think the style has aged better than the later iterations.
What are you talking about? I had a 69 VW fastback that had replaceable bulbs. MOST of my cars had replaceable bulbs - until recently.
At least I THINK it was the Fastback. I know I got really annoyed when I started having to replace entire assemblies instead of just the bulb.
Sealed beams were the law in the USA until 1984. However, it was possible to buy European replacement reflectors that had a replaceable H4 bulb. Motorcycle sealed beams also were a popular replacement as they were more powerful than the car sealed beams and they would plug right in without any mods.
The USA laws about sealed beams were an abomination. Euro lighting systems were way better for many years. German car lighting systems for the USA market were trash until the mid-1990s, but sometimes you could do a straight replacement.
The new lights are safer as they put light farther down the road and they rarely burn out. They are also more aerodynamic which also helps increase MPG.
I would love to see sealed beam low beam headlights, round, be mandated again. for high beams, halogen is OK; and I think the police ought to write lots and lots of tickets for driving around with the high beams when not needed. Heck, the last few years people don't even know what my flashing my lights at them means. It means, "You're blinding me with your high beams, idiot!"
My goodness, yes yes yes!
I'm convinced some people don't even know that there are high beams and low beams, and they are just turning their headlights on "all the way".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
