AR headlight buckets

[Steve Suttle]

Good morning.

Could someone please tell me what the earliest Model A headlight buckets were like?

Did they have the Ford script stamped on the top or were they plain?

Are they different from the "two-lite" buckets used in 1929?

Also, I presume the buckets were nickel-plated steel and not stainless steel.

Is that correct?

Was there any provision for a parking light inside as with the later models?

Thanks for any help.

[jpage]

AR lamps use the same buckets with a couple exceptions. AR lamps and early lamps up to about March 1929 had a single 3cp-21cp bulb and a single bulb reflector. The lamps did carry the Ford script. They also used vertically fluted lenses. From that time on they used the "Twolite" lamps. All '28-'29 "A" lamps were bright nickle plate(except commercial) although there was a short time when some chrome lamps were used. Stainless lamps were intoduced in 1930. With the AR lamps the 3cp bulb was the parking light, there was no "high beam". The early single bulb lamps used a 2 position switch also. If you want high-and low beam on your AR lamps use a new harness with a 3 position switch and use double filiment bulbs. You'll also have to change the headlamp bulb wires to a double contact system. Both the early and late buckets look alike but with different lettering.

[motoringicons]

The early headlamp buckets also have a smaller size socket opening on the bottom. In later 1928, they went to the standard size that was used until the end of Model A production.

[Steve Suttle]

Thanks for both replies.

These headlights do not have a separate socket for a parking light and do have fluted lenses. The engine number 104*** indicates an April '28 build, but, of course, there's no way to know when the engine was mated to a chassis and the car was built. There's no visible build date stamped, so the gas tank may have been replaced at one time. The car is almost pure AR - parking brake, steering wheel, tail light, water pump, script bumper clamps, oil pump, wet clutch, etc.

If I understand, the correct buckets would only have Ford script on them and not Two Lite. Mine do not have any markings on top, but again, they may have been heavily chrome plated. They don't look like re-pops and they are steel, not stainless.

I was thinking of having them stripped and re-plated with nickel, but I don't want to re-plate the wrong kind of buckets.

PS I now understand why I have all of those 3/21 cp NORS bulbs!

[jpage]

Early Model"A"'s didn't have a wet clutch. They had a multiple disc clutch made up of several flat steel discs and several lined driving discs that slid inside a splined drum. It was modeled after the big Lincoln clutches. However, in use , the dust from the lined discs would pack up inside the drum and clog the discs so they would not slide leaving only the last disc to release and it soon wore out! The multiple disc clutch was discontinued sometime in late '28 and replaced with the standard type clutch. I had one in a Roadster p/u and it worked well except it chattered alot when you first started out. I guess the lined discs were not perfectly flat which caused excessive slipping along the line which caused the chatter. Eventually I replaced it with a regular clutch and tranny! Some of the Ford scripts were very lightly stamped and if your lamps were rechromed there's a good chance the plater polished them out . It might be possible that some of the early AR cars had lamps with no Ford script,who knows! The Judging Standards claim that all lamps had Ford script!

[Steve Suttle]

I'm sorry, that's what I meant. I had a momentary DB flashback!

Anyway, thanks for all the info.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Somebody told me that the "AR" headlight bucket 's screw in the back is slightly lower, giving the bulb a slightly higher angle. I guess this compensates somewhat for not having a high beam.