The 1955 Ford Fairlane gets an upgrade while in "dry dock"!
The 1955 Ford was recently brought into the garage, put up on four jack stands, and placed in "dry dock" for a while. Among the many tasks I had determined to perform was the installation of a set of amber lens, chrome housing, 12 volt fog lamps. I guess I checked off this item on the list a whole lot faster than I thought I would. If you go back to post 95 and see the date of my last post you can tell that it was not too long after posting that blog entry that I finished the installation. A few companies do sell aftermarket lamps that look very comparable to what Ford offered in the 50's for their vehicles. Everyone has their own opinion, but I like how these look and I especially like the added brightness of fog lamps when driving at night - a real plus to not only see more as a driver but to BE SEEN BY OTHERS on the road!
I found this set on eBay, and was very happy with the quality. They were made "off shore" but since we drive the 55 Ford right much, I really did not relish paying the extra price for NOS parts, or having a used set re-chromed, chasing down sockets/pigtails and what have you. Only the purists would notice that these 5" round fog lamps are not original Ford pieces. Since I had a good number of guys interested in this installation I made a video that gave the procedures I followed to make these things work. If you decide to mount a set of fog lamps, I highly recommend that you use a relay to send power to the lamps. This way your amperage draw (I think I say "volts" in the video below) is not a concern when the voltage goes through your toggle switch under the dash.
Click the video link below to see the installation from the very beginning to the time when the garage lights are turned out and I test the toggle switch under the dash. The video turned out to be over 17 minutes long, but I promise you that I did my best to cut out the fluff! While I never did measure the lumen's, the lamps are brighter than what I expected them to be. If you are interested in the link to where you can find these lights online I will be happy to provide it for you. Send an email to danaxjessup@yahoo.com or leave a message here on the website.
Speaking of lights, how about this interesting photo of circle track racing in the 50s with convertibles? And the race obviously took place at night - that must have been something to see as a fan, but you can tell those cars did not have working headlights. I would imagine that in 1956 the lighting at such tracks could not have been the greatest! That 26 car most probably is Curtis Turner, one of the best NASCAR drivers in history. He drove a Y Block powered car in the mid-50's and won quite a few races.
Keeping the FaYth,
The Hot Rod Reverend
aka Daniel Jessup