I cracked my front left light lens - the larger one that is embedded in the bumper. Mine is amber but I have seen a few cars with clear ones. I am about to order a new lens but was also thinking about switching over to 'clear' vs. the amber. I suppose it is all a matter of personal preference, but does anyone know of any years that had amber vs. clear. I have come a bit tired of 'correctness' and am a bit more interested in making the car look the way I want it to, but I am also enjoying the history and want to stay true to the applications meant for the car.
Anyone have any experience ordering these lenses? I am seeing a $618 quote for the pair/
I am heading down to see Mr. Hoyt at Perfect Reflections today. The discussion is about Perspex covers for my headlights. The perspex covers are a Euro model feature (from what I can tell). But I like the look and am considering it. If anyone has any pictures of their car with perspex headlight covers I'd appreciate seeing them.
Why am I always the one to stick my neck out first. Just martyrdom tendencies I guess.
Regarding the big lenses. Your broken lens is a U.S. lens. Euro cars had clear lenses.
Regarding the small lenses (the next ones to be broken). Both U.S. and most Euro cars had amber lenses. Some Euro models had clear lenses but I don't know which. Does anyone else know?
$618 for two big lenses sounds expensive. Are you sure that does not include the housings as well? Shop around. Reproductions are indistinguishable from production lenses.
The headlight covers were not standard for either U.S. or Euro models as far as I have been able to determine. I've seen them on early prototype photos and some people have installed them, but they are not in the Pininfarina body parts books for either U.S. or Euro models. They may be like the bumper bars. They aren't in the parts books either. Maybe they were dealer installed options. I suspect that, although they have been seen on early prototype photos, they were dropped very early, possibly before production. Someone else, especially the historians here, will probably have the correct answer to the headlight cover history.
Tom Kizer
So many sidewalk cafés - so little time left.
1969 365 GT 2+2 S/N 12293 (Gone but not forgotten)
1967 230 SL 4-spd (Currently on CPR)
Thank you for all of your help thus far. I appreciate you taking the time to help me with my postings. Hopefully I can help you someday.
Interesting info re: the lenses. My car - s/n 10431, is the prototype for the U.S. market. So I've got some latitude in terms of what's right and or wrong in terms of correctness. But I was indeed able to confirm that the car is the prototype (not the first car, but the protoype for the US market). So I have been hunting pictures down...I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, I have been going back and forth with Parker Hall re: what the correct exhaust systems actually are for my car (since it's a 1967 model). And I will post some of our research - I think it will spurn some interesting debate...It's not merely a question of Ansa or Abarth. There are other manufacturers invovled during the period of 1965 through the first 365 GTB/4...Bascially, I think Ansa is NOT the correct system for my car - although I just installed a new Ansa system!
I'll post something on it when I have the chance...right now I am heading for LA again in the Queen - flashlight in hand so I can check my frikkin gauges!
I think Tom K is correct; that the color of the front-most lens was dictated by country of first delivery:
USA - amber
UK - amber
Australia - amber
Germany - amber
Italy - clear
Switzerland - clear
France - clear (with those funky yellow-tinged headlights)
As far as the headlight covers go, I agree w/ Tom that these were dealer specific installations. And even then, I think they were limited by market, i.e., a US dealer would have never installed them. I have it in my head from either research a long time ago that Italian and UK dealers would install them. Tom is correct that early factory photos show a black QM w/ headlight covers (I think the pics were taken at Pininfarina).
I have seen perhaps a half-dozen QMs w/ the covers and no two attachment configurations have ever been the same - everything from simple painted angles screwed to the body, to more elegantly integrated flanges seamlessly curving out of the sheet metal. I have also looked closely at the cover attachments on 3 of the 365 Californias as well as one of the De Rethy 330 GT Berlinetta specials - cars that I know left Pininfarina w/ the covers - and their mounting were also different from each other.
I'm a new owner of a '69 365 GT 2+2, and am interested in adding the Perspex covers over the headlights. I know they're not correct for the US market nor for the year of my car, but it's a look I'd like to achieve.
Does anybody have any leads as to who might produce these? Or any idea if the Alfa Romeo Duetto covers would fit (I know they're not the correct mounting configuration, but they might be a good test case to see if I like it enough to try).
