Priya

That's how I feel too. I much prefer the softer even glow of an incandescent bulb. The uneven light with many little dots of light of an LED is unpleasant looking to me.

flyingbunnys

There are two types of ways to build LED lights. They can get light scattered by using multiple LED lights that are spread out or they can use a convex glass linse to dispurse the light. If you don't like all the little dots than I suggest:

These


Not these

cor66vette

I can understand the attraction to LEDs, I would install them as brake lights. I rarely, if ever, drive the '68 at night, so dash and headlights are a nonconcern in my case.

Priya

I'm with you when LEDs can reproduce this look:

Aerovette

My uniformed observation is that LEDs can be visibly brighter to LOOK AT, but not necessarily to SEE WITH.

Christmas LEDs for example are great color, but they don't seem to "throw" light. It seems very concentrated at the source.

I have a couple LED flashlights that seem blinding to look at, but don't illuminate well.

mrvette

I went white gauges throughout on my '72 with green LED's in all the housings, dimmer don't work, but so what?? great change, actually see the gauges now......went LED in the front turn signals they are much brighter now, and they from a C2 the round ones.....behind the grill, but I thinking of moving them to ON the grill....lazy.... in back I think I did a LED on the license plate....but the brake light housings will not take the crappy SuperBrightLED bulbs they sent....rong flange spacing in their construction...idiots....but same thing fit the front just fine...go figger....the front side marker lights not flick maybe not even ignite, need to change to LED and rewire so always on.... I have no interior lights at all, long since removed as being not needed....

but I love my green dash lights....so easy to see at night with white face gauges....;-)

see pix below....

KenSny

I thinking of changing over to Halogen headlights this spring. Coming home after dark on unfamilar roads from a cruise-in a month or so ago really pointed out the limitation of the high beams as compared to my daily driver. I'm normally not out in the '75 too often after dark on roads where I would use high beams, But that was an eye-opener! I need to reasearch just what is involved in the change over.

Rescue Rogers

When I got my car it had the stock style bulbs. Its like driving with a flash light in oncoming traffic. I upgraded to bypass the High beam switch to get 12 volts and more amps to the bulbs. It was a small improvement but still dangerous on curvy roads in traffic. I switched over from old style incandescent to halogen in H1 and H4 lenses. I upgraded to add relays and direct voltage/ amperage from the battery and it helped for a while. I upgraded my alternator to 100 amp to cover my new electric cooling fan which had the benefit of adding power for my headlight upgrade. I bought a new add on harness that plugs into the stock headlight harness at one of the headlamp plugs which is used for the relays and powering the high beam relay. It also had a bigger gauge wire for power from the battery. I took power off the starter lug. And it came with 4, 3 blade ceramic plugs for the headlights. I could run all 4 lights in low and high, which is legal in MA but I didnt want the locals to keep flashing me because they dont know the law. All i had to do was rotate the high beam plug so only 2 of the blades actually went into the plug. It works great

It was a huge upgrade and I could see the edge of the road better but then the LED bulbs and little cheap driving light upgrades got cheap and everyone has to have them. I cant see anything anymore coming home from the beach or late shows. So now I added a 8 inch LED bar just above my front license plate to aid when the driving gets difficult. I added a shield so that it knocks the light down so it doesnt blind oncoming drivers unless we are cresting a hill simultaneosly. I have some LED bulbs for the lenses that are supposed to be DOT approved. We'll see how that goes this winter

Its ridiculous that the local drivers arent educated to drive with their high beams off in oncoming traffic patterns or when they come up behind me. I'm not risking my safety for these knuckle heads anymore. In my '01 truck my high beams ( with new bulbs) arent close to the brightness of some of these newer cars. I flash my high beams and it doesnt even phase these guys.

I also upgraded to LED dash and driving lights from Superbrite LED. The ones I have dont dim and I had to mess with the turn signal bulbs to get them to fit into the socket deep enough. I'm happy with them though.

kansas123

On my '72 it was just pull and replace, easy peasy

KenSny

Great. That would be the first thing on this car in 20+ years that was easy to fix/replace.

DaveN355

I replaced all the 75's exterior lights, except the headlights, with LEDs and have had no problems. I'm going through the interior a little bit at a time.

Jstan2014

kansas123

You got that right

SwampeastMike

Odd example you chose there. Yes, the look of T-bird tail lights of that vintage is great--except when backlit by low, harsh winter sun and it is impossible to tell if the brake lights and/or turn signals are on or off! The only road accident of my life was when I hit one of those in the driver rear fender as it made a left turn ahead of me onto a completely hidden left-only intersection. I admitted blame to the highway patrolman even if I think those impossible to see tail lights were the real cause.

caskiguy

Ok Richard that rear plate maneuver got me. Was that for "backup lighting" ? How the heck did you do that ?

Priya

Not odd to me, I love the look of those cars, especially the interior.

The13Bats

My dad had and loved his 78 thunderbird, logged just over 200k on it, so they have a sentamental tug at me.
It ran like a top, no smoke,
Had it painted once and kept everything up to par he was a navy plane tech and machinist he didnt mess around,
The seats had been covered since the day they bought it,
When he did sell it it really did look as close to showroom new that a daily driver could, the buyer was amazed,
The world goes further than c3 corvettes.

Bikespace

FWIW, I replaced all the interior illumination bulbs with WARM LEDs. It's a bit brighter, a lot less current and heat, and preserves the period charm. Usually I prefer operating room levels of light, but not in these cars.

Outside is a different story. 68-style (paired) taillights with bright LEDs. Being seen by the other idiots more important than a warm period glow.

Priya

My brother had a 77 Thunderbird he bought new. I told him several times over the years I wanted it when he was done. One day I saw him downtown and he said "I just sold my Thunderbird for $500". I was pretty angry he didn't give a chance to buy it for that ridiculously low price given its pristine interior and exterior and he was all like "Oh, I think the motor was gone, I barely made it into the city with it, you wouldn't have wanted it. I said FFS, for $500 I could have put a motor in it! I knew from experience with those years of Fords the ignition control module often went bad and the car would cough and sputter when you got into the gas at all and I'm sure to anyone not familiar it would seem like the engine was bad. I went by the Ford dealer he traded it into a few days later and they had it on the lot for $2300. I think very likely they put an ignition control module in it and it was good to go.

L-46man

As Bats says....the turn signals are the real problem....you have to change the flasher units out with compatible ones.

My recommendation is LEDS in non critical locations.....dome, footwells, clearance lights....etc...
I'm NOT impressed with the weather sealing and moisture rejection of various LED designs.

UnkaHal