Re: IML: Amber Lenses

["Bill Watson" <wwatson5@xxxxxxxxx>]

Contrary to popular belief, the American federal government did not mandate
amber lights, seat belts, gear quadrants or anything else prior to 1966 as
they did not have the power to do so.  It was not until 1966 that the
American federal government gained such powers with the enactment of the
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.    It was at that point the
federal Department of Transportation was established.

Prior to that the states had power over vehicle regulations.   In 1957 some
car makers, such as Imperial, introduced the four headlamp system, but could
not sell it in all states as some had not yet approved it.  Same with sealed
beam headlamps on the 1940 models.   Manufacturers had to wait until all 48
states (and all 9 provinces in Canada) approved them before they could be
used.  And their approval did not outlaw the old bulb and reflector system
in all areas, which permitted Graham and Hupmobile, for example, continue to
build cars without sealed beam headlamps.

In the case of the amber bulbs / lenses for the 1963 model year, that was
the result of a recommendation of the board of directors of the Automobile
Manufacturers Association.  The AMA had conducted tests and concluded that
amber signals could be seen more easily against glaring reflections that
white signals. Pior to the establishment of the Department of
Transportation, the AMA played a large role in establishing safety and
equipment guidelines for the American auto industry, including sealed beam
headlamps, the quad headlamp system, safety belts and front amber turn
signals.

By the way, although Valiant, Dart, Dodge 880 and Imperial all had amber
lenses in 1963, while Plymouth only came in clear, Dodge (B body) and
Chrysler had both listed for that year.

Bill
Vancouver, BC



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 1:00 AM
Subject: IML: Amber Lenses


> Federal regulation required that all 1963 cars to have amber front turn
> signals. Per some trivia that I recently came across somewhere, there was
> only one Chrysler product in 1963 to use a clear lens, the Plymouth B-body
> cars (Fury/Belvedere/Savoy). To satisfy the regulation, they used an amber
> bulb with the clear lens. This was due to the lenses' prominence in the
> front end design, being large ovals on either end of the full width
grille.
> As for Imperials, 1963 turn signal lenses were changed to amber from clear
> for this one year only, of this series. Note that the 1963 brochure shows
a
> clear lens in all the artist renderings, and even in the lightly retouched
> photo on the cover page
> http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1963/Brochure/Cover.jpg
> and this page http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1963/Brochure/Page09-10.jpg
> This goes along with another inaccuracy in the brochure, see the steering
> wheel insert pad.
> 1962 pad, 1963 all gray instrument cluster.
>
> Eric
> Portland, Oregon
> ______________________________________________________________________
> From: "Henry Hopkins" <hhrp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: IML: Henry Hopkins' 1960 Imperial Crown Convertible
> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 20:39:41 -0700
> Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>



-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm