Spotlight Question

[byersmtrco]

I've probably asked before. Has anyone ever seen a Sq/Bird (or any other Ford) with a spotlight on the passenger side?

I need to figure out something for a RH mirr. I'm so used to (my other cars) having a mirr over there. A matching spotlight would be too cool though

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

Hi John, Yes! I have seen several pictures of Tbirds with spotlights on the left and right side. However, the problem with putting one on the right side is that the Unity Co. does not make a right side mount for the spotlight, for the Tbird. They have the left side mount and template for it, which I have. I have a brand NEW NOS spotlight in the box that is going to go on after that round mirror is taken off and the holes filled in during painting. I also have another used spotlight that is being re-chromed to get all the pitting off it, for the right side. I am told, and I posted this sometime in the last few weeks or month or so ago, that the guys who mounted their spotlights on the passenger side, used a mount from a Mercury of about the same years as our Tbirds and that mount worked. You might want to search here for 'spotlight' or 'spotlight/mirror' or 'spotlight/rear view mirror' and see what you find. Alexander posted about this subject also, as I recall. One final thing is that if you are not planning on using the long shaft and the pistol grip inside the car, as I am not planning on doing, you might be able to use the mounting bracket for the left hand side and use it as a right hand bracket. I have not looked into that yet. I probably should. I do not want a functioning spotlight on my Tbird. Just one for show. I THINK you can mount it like that, without putting the shaft through the fender and into the car interior. IF your spotlight shaft does not go through the fender well and into the car by the steering wheel, you can tell ME that and if you just mounted the spotlight to the mounting bracket minus the shaft and pistol grip!

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

Hi John,

Here is some additional information that I dug up, thanks to Alexander and others who have posted about this in the past, yourself included. I see that you have been wanting to add that right hand spotlight/mirror for years. Well, maybe you can. It was probably a 1959-1960 Mercury mounting bracket that was used in the past to mount the right hand spotlight with. I think this is still available through Unit, and I will call tomorrow and find out. I spoke with a very knowledgeable young man a year or so ago, when I bought my 130 left hand mount from them. They still had some. Here is that information I found for you. First of all the Unity website.

http://www.unityusa.com/

Then their search engine for searching for brackets.

http://www.unityusa.com/application_search.asp

Mercury Right Hand Mounting Bracket for spotlight/mirror - 1959/1960 Mercury - Left Hand Model - 131. Right Hand Model - 131RH

Look at the bracket on the right hand spotlight of this car.

http://squarebirds.org/images_1960_convertible/1960_convert_right_spot.jpg

Ford Left Hand Mounting Bracket 130 for spotlight/mirror

http://squarebirds.org/images_1960_convertible/1960_convert_left_spot.jpg

Notice that both those spotlight/mirrors have round mirrors in them and not the square ones like the Unity HL-1... I spend some time on the phone today, talking with Unit and others. Those spotlights were made by Unity and given a different stock number from the HL-1. Since Ford owned the HL-1 type, and had Unity make them for them, Unity decided to make their own version of the HL-1 and that is what you see here, according to a new friend I met today. He is going to send me the Unity stock number for it.

Getting the handle on the spotlight right.

http://www.squarebirds.org/images/spotlight_instructions3.jpg

Here is the template for mounting the spotlight/mirror on the left fender. Flip it over to mount it on the right fender

http://www.squarebirds.org/spotlight/spotlight_bracket_template.pdf

All thanks to Alexander...

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

As stated in the previous post, I spent a lot of time on the phone today talking with several people about the Unity spotlight/sideview mirrors and mounting brackets.

I talked with a rep at Unity about mounting brackets first. It appears that the only one that will work well on the right fender of the Squarebirds is the 131RH mounting bracket. It is for a '59 Mercury, which is what had been posted before. It might be a bit smaller in size but it will work, as long as you get the right shaft length, which is 15" as I recall. BTW, they still have the 130 Left Hand mounting bracket available for $58.56! The HL-1 and the other square spotlight/mirror are no longer listed in their online catalog.

Now, Bob of AccessoryLand in Iowa, 563-556-5482, has a good number of parts for the Unity Mfg. Co. HL-1 spotlight/mirror. He has shafts, and many other parts for them. So if you have a HL-1 that needs parts, give him a shout. He does NOT have any 131RH mounting brackets and has not seen any in years. They are almost impossible to find. But he gave me a good contact...

T-bird Ted (who El Guapo has told us about in the past) has maybe 2-3 R131 right hand mounting brackets! However, they are not cheap! $250 each! He also has shafts and parts for them, but I don't think he has any HL-1's in stock. He has a lot of Tbird parts and for good reason....

He has about TWENTY Tbirds for sale out of his collection. I did NOT mis-type that! He has mostly '59's, '60's and '66's for sale. Most of them are original Tbirds, with low mileage, 10,000, 25,000, 40,000 or so miles. THREE of them are Golde Tops! All of them, I think, have been restored, or nearly so. He is getting to be a bit long in the tooth these days, I gather, and wants to sell them.. He lives in the Grand Rapids area. He has collected Tbirds for many years.

So if you are looking for a Tbird, you might want to contact Ted. Unfortunately, he cannot send you any pictures via email because his website and his PC is down and out. He hopes to get another one soon. But, if interested in what he has, he probably could mail you pictures. His number is 616-361-6837. If you call him about buying one of his Tbirds, please tell him that I, Ray Clark, suggested that you do.

We had a longgg talk. If you are looking for specific parts, you might call him, because he might have them also. And by the way, Frank, I know you are still looking for a wind bar for your Golde Top... He has a NOS one, with all the parts, for $800. They don't come cheap either!!! I know of only two people in the US who have a wind bar for sale and they are both $800, as I recall.

There ya go! I have to get some sleep! G'Night, Mates!

[bird 60]

I'm very curious, why would anyone want to put a spotlight on a car.

Chris....From the Land of Oz.

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

Maybe it has something to do with the beauty of the Unity Mfg. Co.'s HL-1 square winged spotlight with the big square side view mirror in the back of it? Here is a pic of byersmtrco's '60 Tbird convert with the HL-1 in place...

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

I have found a source for the Unity Mfg. Co. spotlight/mirror combination. However, this is NOT the HL-1. I think I mentioned in a previous post that Unity decided to make their own version of the spotlight/mirror. They could not use the same style as the HL-1 because that belonged to Ford. So they made theirs with out the "wings" on it and with a round side view mirror instead of the square one. It is the one you sometimes see on Tbirds and other cars. It is called the H2-C.

While doing my research on the HL-1 mounting bracket, I talked with Bob of AccessoryLand, in Iowa. Bob just sent me four pix of what the H2-C looks like. He also said "I can provide a limited supply of both right and left sides." I do not know if that includes the mounting bracket also. He did not give me a price. I tried to call him, but caught him out. So if you want to pursue this, you can ask him what the cost of the H2-C is and if it also includes the mounting bracket. His number is 563-556-5482. Here are the pix.

[jimc]

spotlight mirror

Hi Guys, I just got ahold of the "stock" drivers mirror for my 60 tbird. When I assess the "mounting template" it almost looks like the arm will pass through the dash pad. Does anyone have pics of the interior of a vehicle with the spotlight ? Thanks

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

Hi Jim, I have been looking amongst the hundreds of pix I have for Squarebirds trying to find a clear shot of where the pistol grip shaft comes through. I had thought that it came through the elbow section, close to the windshield washer button in the elbow. But nope, it comes in close to it, just to the right of that elbow section in the far left side of the dashpad. I found a picture of it on the web page where Alexander was showing us how to replace the dashpad with a new one. There is a picture with him having the pistol grip from the spotlight in his left hand, and showing the shaft sticking out of the dashpad after he took the pistol grip off the shaft. Here is the picture from that page in the TRL on Dashpad Replacement. You can see the windshield washer button in the elbow behind the pistol grip and off to the right of it, the shaft for the spotlight pistol grip sticking through the very left side of the dashpad...

[jimc]

spotlight question

wow, thanks so much for that pic ... i have been going nuts.
A shame to have to destroy the dashpad, but seems correct
Thanks again !!!!!!

[Dakota Boy]

To Chris from the Land of Oz:

The spot light is needed when you are out late at night "shining" jackrabbits in South Dakota.

Although typically this would be done with an old pickup truck, a couple buddies, some rifles, and some beer. And there would be snow on the ground usually. The cats that lived up in the hayloft of the barn would eat like kings on those nights.

So.... I guess I dont really know why an old T-Bird would need a spotlight Sorry I couldnt be of much more help on this topic.

[byersmtrco]

The main reason my dad put that on there, is in 1960 that
was the closest thing to an inside remote mirror available.

It is fun too coming in behind one of your buddies and shining
it in his rear view mirror.

Those things are bright. My dad caught me a couple times
with it. You do think it's a cop at 1st -- til you see the
Batmobile silhouette.

[YellowRose]

Spotlight Question

Just when I thought I had the location of the shaft for the spotlight nailed down, John Byers - byersmtrco, send me this! As I recall, he said that when they installed it at the dealership (correct me if I have this wrong, John), they did NOT put it through the corner of the dashpad. Someone cut a notch in that trim panel for the wiring and the shaft to come through. You will see how they did it in these two pix, which might be a better way to go. He also said that at one time there was a lite in the brushed alum panel below the dash. It glowed red when the spotlight was on. Thanks, John!

[byersmtrco]

Here's the hole for the Ind/lamp.
The red lens is long gone. The hsg is tucked
up under there. (it still lites) It comes thru from the back side.
Part of the lens holds it in from the front. If you look
in the TB restoration "bible" there is a picture in there
of the deck lid ajar light for the conv top syst.
It was that style light. Mine never had the one for the
D/lid, nor have I ever seen one.
More Ford mysteries. "Uh . . . it's Friday, let's do it
this way"

[scumdog]

I'm very curious, why would anyone want to put a spotlight on a car.

Chris....From the Land of Oz.

I see somebody has sorta answered that one Chris - but here in NZ lots (mainly utes mind) have them for spotlighting rabbit, deer whatever.

Most of them are mounted into the roof to give more range/less dazzle.