Bright IdeasBy cole Posted in  Hemmings Muscle Machine  | 22 Dec 2011

We love muscle cars. But some of the 40-year-old technology is a drag to live with, and some elements can take the fun out of driving yourclassic. One example is the exterior lighting. All muscle cars came with incandescent light bulbs of questionable wattage which can make driving at night frustrating and even a bit dangerous.

Your headlights remind you of driving a model T with gas lamps. They were dim and yellowish-brown in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and they have grown dimmer since day one. These cars came with incandescent bulbs. They give off a warm yellowish light, and did you know that they grow dimmer with every use? The filaments decay when the lights are on, and bits of the metal flake off and float around in the headlight housing. Halogen headlights have a light bulb within the sealed beam, and it is filled with Halogen gas. This gas causes a chemical reaction, redepositing separated parts of the filament back on the metal when the light is turned off. Regular Halogen headlights still have a slight yellow cast, although they are whiter than the original incandescent types