My 71 F250 had a set of Lucas fog lights on it when I bought it. I only have the truck is only for parts.
I’m sure they are not XR7-G, not likely California Special or Shelby units. But can anybody tell me anything about them?
Here you can see on the back side of the reflector unit it states “Made in Itialy”
And the top f the bezel had LUCAS 02 320012
And they are for sale. I just need to find out what they are worth. I will clean them up before I put them up for sale.
Neal. Correct they’re not XR7 G or Shelby. Judging from the mount and the rectangle lens. I would say they are aftermarket over the counter lights that were sold from the local auto parts store.
Cool truck
Like Brian said, they are typical lamps that might have come from most any auto part store or auto parts mail order catalog in Europe 35 - 50 years ago. The parts may interchange to some degree with the XR7-G version functionally if not aesthetically.
I’ve got a set that look just like those in one of my many parts bins. Mine have white plastic covers that snap on and off that say LUCAS in big black letters. As I recall, they are quite a bit larger than the square8 style on the xr7-g and won’t fit into the valance cutouts.
The Square 8 lights that were used on the XR-7G and Shelbys were also available as aftermarket parts. They were advertised in Road & Track and in Car and Driver and available at shops like MG Mitten and Vilem B Haan.
Yep, you’ll see them on lots of British cars, Lucas being based in the UK.
As has been stated in other threads on the subject, assembly-line 1968/69 XR7-G and Shelby Lucas Square 8s have the small, black donut shaped grommet and not the larger, conical grey grommet where the wires come out of the body.
Ford/Shelby changed to Marchal after all the electrical issues with Lucas lamps.
-Keith
^^^ That’s the first I’ve ever heard that - if anything I’d say that Ford/Shelby/A.O. Smith used the Marchals very early in production and then switched to the Lucas lights.
The vast majority of '68 Cougar XR7-Gs and '68/'69/'70 Shelby’s have Lucas units.
I’ve heard/read a couple of theories - that originally the '68 Shelbys were to get the Marchals and the Cougars the Lucas, but that it was discovered the Marchals were too bright and weren’t legal in some states so Smith swopped a few Marchals and Lucas units between Cougars and Shelbys and then switched entirely to the Lucas units.
The other theory I’ve read, most recently in Greg Kolasa’s book on 1968 Shelby Mustangs is that it was lack of proper government certification that led Shelby to switch from Marchals to Lucas.
In regards to the Gs, I don’t believe that any documentation has surfaced calling out the Marchal lights as the designated light for the Cougar, but it looks like a few might have come with them originally.
Actually you are mistaken. The states of California and Pennsylvania were both responsible for making the Marchal lamps illegal on Shelby GT500 / GT350 production as well as the Cougar XR7-G in their respective states in 1968. So vehicles shipped to those states received the Lucas lamps until all production could receive the Lucas lamps which have a Cougar part number.
The earliest fog lamp documentation that I have seen is the production drawing for the fog lamp installation. It shows the Marchal lamp, which is odd because the Master Parts Catalog shows only the Lucas lamp. The way things worked the MPC got written after production was underway. So apparently by the time the MPC was produced the change to Lucas fog lamps had already taken effect.
I retract that statement - the earliest fog lamp drawing is from Marchal and it does not have any reference to either the Cougar XR7-G or the Shelby cars. So the only documentation is the MPC which shows only the Lucas lamps for the Cougar. I do not have a Ford MPC, I wonder what is shown for the 1968 Shelbys?
And of course there is the Marchals that are visible in the G used for the few official pieces of advertising/marketing that Mercury produced for the 1968 XR7-G Cougar - namely the magazine ad and showroom poster.
This, as we know, wasn’t a production unit, but an early prototype/mockup created for photography which had to be completed before production started.
Those states in particular. Lucas lamps were also problematic. That may be true with Shelbys to those states, but electrically speaking Lucas is trash and were problematic.
“Why do the English like warm beer? - because their refrigerators are made by Lucas”…
rimshot -
Phillip
Now that’s funny.
I ran Lucas square eights on many cars for years without any problems (excluding smashed lenses). They were great fogs on our rally cars as they didn’t take up much room. Still have about six sets (used) in the cupboard(most are black plastic units).
Putting the current through switches without relays was always a problem, particularly if that switch was a Ford part. (Ever seen a BDA Ford Escort with Ford light switches). Some of the good things Lucas produced was the toggle switches from early Minis and the 6RA relay.
Lucas had US certification as they had been used on 1966 Rolls Royces
That joke I told was from and article I have somewhere on the history of Lucas - the gist was that they got a bum rap.
Like Cougars didn’t have any electrical problems on their own!
I don’t know, it might be very fitting. Lucas is well known, especially in England, as the “Prince of Darkness”.
1950’s Lucas and BMC Lucas wasn’t too great. Positive earth cars were the main culprit
