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Lucas headlight on comp cars
I’ve a question for the experts. (Dan, Larry, Jeff, Roger & Co) :rolleyes:
I’m looking on the headlights for a 289 USRRC Comp car and found the following information. Originally Lucas F700 headlights got mounted on the 289 cars. During the investigations for such lights I found some information about the Lucas Lemans lights (which got used for long distance races). Lucas Le Mans 24 headlamps on XK’s | Jaguar XK 140 FHC Part & Assembly Information Has any one of you some information if such lights got mounted on the race cars as well, or only the F700. MANY THANKS |
Dan, John and Larry or experts.
I am just a mear student. From memory these cars all came with Lucas sealed beam headlamps. Not old enough to know about the intrinsic rules of Lemans which may of mandated a lense. Most race cars had lights covered and as you can guess today original lamps are way changed out as the LeMans replicas I have seen did not have a special lense. You are ahead of me with F700 as to my knowledge the Lucas sealed beam with circle in center is correct as I know. There are two styles one is directional glass and the other horizontal. The horizontal correct. Would need to go pull a lenses for #. Std English lens Look at this on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/222033851969 |
Other than the standard Lucas sealed beam headlights used on the 289 Street roadsters, the 289 FIA roadsters used the P700. The "LeMans" headlights are not documented as being used on 289 Cobra applications this applies to the other tri-bar style Lucas "PL" headlights too.
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John
Great going.... Wealth of info. I do personally like the PL700 as they have a great look. What are you running? |
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I am using the same P700 (right hand drive) that were fitted to the 289 FIA roadsters.
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John
Sweet. I learned something ..... Looks great. These are available in repop. Look at this https://.com/ulk/itm/252294268651 P700 original center: Look at this on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/381545259826 |
Nice find Jeff! If you could find the bulb housing it more than likely would have an intact tripod assembly already in it, if it didn't it would be like trying to build a ship in a bottle to remove and reinstall the tripod parts.
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I'm sure not an expert on Lucas headlamps. Guessing that comp cars used whatever the team assembling the particular car wanted to use or the driver of that car wanted on a particular track/event. The bigger picture is that of the Lucas 700 series headlamps, the only one legal for importation into the US was the F700. (during the production time of the 2XXX series CSX cars) The P700, PL700 and J700 were not US legal at the time. Some owners may have replaced the original lamps with whatever they wanted but wasn't legal so to speak. The "Le Mans" unit was designed for fast driving on the European continent with either a British pre-focus bulb (England) or a French (Europe) design bulb. It was not US road legal either. Of course, comp cars weren't bound by import laws as they weren't intended to be street legal.
Larry |
I would have to agree on the use of specific headlamps for 289 Cobra roadsters imported into the US, only sealed beam headlamps would have been legal at the time. As for racing Cobras or any other manufacturers race team especially in endurance racing I am certain that whatever light manufacturer produced the most efficient lighting system was the one that you wanted to use on your endurance racing vehicle. You can look at photos of the 289 FIA Cobras at the 1964 Sebring race and see that P700 headlights are used in conjunction with the Lucas 576 "flamethrower" driving lights, emphasizing the need for as much candle power as you could get.
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This is the reason why I like this forum.
I post a question to you experts in the evening (living in Europe) and in the morning I can find all this great information. Many thanks for your help.:) I’m really surprised, and never noted, about the P700 used on the Sebring FIA car in 1964. Did they use the Lucas 576 fog lights (structured glass) or the version with the clear glass. It is difficult to verify on the pictures. As I’ve a set of Nick Actons stone guards in my garage I most likely will not go for the P700. This does not match together in my view. |
The Lucas SFT 576 were the clear lens versions not the fluted lenses.
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jolly rogers
hi guys i use geoff and andea rogers at jolly rogers brit electrical parts..lovely people and they have a store in england too that can get any light , switch , realy , box anything lucas , original and repo
Rogers Motors - Parts & Accessories for Classic British Cars & Bicycles |
Hi Paul
I ordered my Lucas headlights last weeks from Geoff and Andrea. :) |
It's difficult to post much of any use to US owners as in Britain cars were supplied with BPF (British Pre-Focus) lamps, which I'm guessing wouldn't work in LHD. I really have no idea what exported cars were given.
I know the original P700s had chrome letters with 'P700' on the black circular button in the centre of the lense. I think there are copyright-type issues around the use of this now, but SVC were still supplying them with the logo last time I looked. These had sidelights in the reflectors though, so a piece of polished stainless needs glueing over this to help make it less obvious. Roger |
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Hard to find old picture of P700 on race car.
Found 2287 using them. |
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The only 289 FIA Cobras that used the P700 were 2259, 2260 and 2301, 2287 (Daytona) and the King Cobras also had them mounted at times. Below is 2301 at the 1964 Sebring race....
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John
Nice! :cool: I still prefer the sealed beam... :p |
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