The Front Turn Signals


Situation

The 35 Chev came with a set of Turn Signals mounted behind the front grill. This location certainly provided a very clean look to the car but did compromise the safety aspect. The lights were only visible when looking at the car straight on, and the incandescent bulbs were even harder to see when the bug screen was inplace. As my mechanic stated, though the car didn't have many of today's safety features when built, you would be foolish to drive without them. The visibility of the turn signals had to be improved.


The turn signals were mounted on the air deflector behind the radiator gill.

The Solution

As with any new issue or project, a little reserach is required which more times than not involves a survey at the local cruise night
The great thing about Hot Rodding is the high level of creativity that exists in the community. It soon became apparent that there are many different ways to incorproate turn signals in an older car. The scenario I liked best, was to mount them on the front frame horns just under the fenders.
Here they would be significantly more visible while remaining some what inconspicuous to a quick glance.

The Lights

There are many options available for turn signal housings as a review of street rods at any meet will attest. In the old days when street rodding ws a fledging industry, motor cycle turn signals were often used as they were a complete unit in a nice housing that readily lend themselves to mounting.
With the recent explosive growth of the hobby, there are a number of brand new commerical units available specificaly tailored for home construction market.

The model I settled are are avaiable from most Hot Rod parts dealers and are marketed under the Vintage label. These units have two filament bulbs faciliating Parking lights along with Turn Signals.

These lights come in an attractive chrome housing with the wires already installed and routed through the mounting post stem.

Installation

The turn signals will be mounted on the front frame horns under the fenders. Here they will not be masked by such items as the radiator bug screen or bra. At the same time, we can position them for optimum viewing.

The installation was straight forward in that I only needed to build a couple of flat iron staps that attach to the frame at one end (two bolt holes) and the lamps (single hole) at the other. These were dutifuly cleaned, primed and painted black.


A bare metal strap is on the left with one of the light fixtures. The right lamp demonstrates how it will be assembled.

The metal straps were cleaned and primed. Here they are hanging in the basement for drying. The master cylinder, which was also being replaced, hanges on the left.
Here the turn signal assembly is mounted under the right fender.
The iron strap is bolted through two existing holes on the frame horn.

The lights were then wired into the existing wire harness.
The original lights were equiped with single element bulbs for the turn signals. The new fixtures had dual filament bulbs - parking lights and turn signals.
To be spliced into the existing turn signal and headlight circuits.


This Web page is written and maintained by Grant Knowles.
This page was last updated on Jan, 2003.