My cat has the stock sealed glass beam headlights… one is out… apparently its not a thing to just go get one of the non halogen sealed glass headlight bulbs anymore… the only ones are halogen… Most sites say a relay is required for running halogens… Thats not that big of a deal, easy enough, but I wanted to see what the consensus here is… remember, its a 1968 Cougar that I want to retain the classic car characteristics so no blue tinted LEDS or honda civic LED halos or anything like that… just a normal glass headlight… are most people swapping to the halogens or is there still a source for the OEM style old glass ones?
Phillips is still making the OEM style incandescent headlight bulbs. You might have to order them at your local auto part store or if you are lazy like me just click and order here:
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I’m not sure if you do a lot of driving at night and want better illumination but there are LED companies that make classic style LED head lights that maintain that OEM look. You can get the head lights without the halo and the set I installed don’t have the blue tint, but they are significantly more expensive than the standard head light. Just throwing it out there in case you’re interested.
Here’s what I did.
Sealed Beam Halogens in my '69.
(They are responsible for my HRK relay kits)
Hella H1/H4 lamps, with a relay harness.
I used this setup in my 68, it’s much better than the sealed beams, and has a better beam pattern. The relay is part of the equation for sure. They look like regular headlights, nothing weird or modern about them. The only thing about this kit is that it comes with blue-tinted H4 bulbs, so if you’re like me, you’ll want to change those out for regular clear bulbs.
I really like that if I have to change em… i would do without the blue bulbs as well…I’ll do some looking around and if I can find the OE style someplace I’ll put those in for now so i have headlights at least… cars not completely road legal and roadworthy for long drives just yet, so its not going anywhere at night for a long time… just want to make sure I have everything working properly as I go through these things
I use Phillips extra bright. I think I bought them at O’Reilly off the shelf.
what relay are you using?
My bad on the brand. Headlights
They are plug & go. No additional work.
They did get brighter when I replaced the cluster bulbs with LEDs.
You didn’t like the links I gave you for OE bulbs?
I sure did. Hard to find those . That’ll get me back with two eyes for sure for now . Thx!
I run GE halogen bulbs but I have not seen these in years. No need for modifications. I don’t drive much at night but I am able to see just fine.
Halogens are great but they pull more current than the incandescents (higher wattage)
They exceed the rating of the circuit breaker. So you find yourself with the high beams on until the breaker turns off all the headlights. Not happy.
You can add a relay and then you will have no issues. In addition the relay will brighten up even your stock headlights. Voltage drops across the many feet of connections and the resistance of barely adequate wiring.
Adding a headlight relay harness will also brighten up the instrument
cluster lights.
^^^ that would be a great “how to” thread or (even better) video.
- Phillip
Check out the video done by OperationMustang.com:
Doc reviews the RCCI Headlight kit: Operation Mustangs & More show 16 - YouTube
Chris “Doc” Ingrassia has some great videos on how to’s and conversions.
He and his sons are currently redoing my 70 Cougar
….and I forgot Scott Drake has authentic FoMoCo replacement highs and lows
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