MTFCA Forum

I could use a little help identifying these headlights a friend found in the family barn.

My guess is a black era T. The brackets don't look right, but I really don't know those cars.

I don't think they're Ford. Dodge, maybe?

Hi Joseph. I think we are looking at a pair of Studebaker lights. The cup that the shells bolts into has distressed the paint. These 2 at left are from eBay so we are at the mercy of the sellers knowledge or best guesses. The right one is an AACA discussion.
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/285860-1918-big-six/
The lens may have been an option for Studebaker or other cars as I see Studebakers with simpler lenses.
I'm not a Studebaker expert but several on the forum know a lot about them including Wayne Sheldon. If they see this they can tell you more.
Rich

Rich,

Thanks for the extremely helpful reply. The lights in the picture do look a lot like the Studebaker lights you found. Maybe Wayne will chime in with more info.

I am often amazed at the breath of old car knowledge that hangs around here.

Thanks!
Joe

I got your email message Joe!
I had a 1915 built series 16 touring car and before that a 1925 ER standard coach. So cars I had were before and after these headlamps would have been used. So, I am not sure how much I can help?
I did look through one of my go-to Studebaker reference books. As is usually the case, MOST photos of the cars are from an angle that does not show much about the headlamps. That rear mount is unusual by any common standard of the era. However, it appears to show up as early as 1918 on SOME models. Studebaker had a way of changing their marketing approach, model designations, and even use of year models, every few years. So tracking models through more than a couple years can be difficult.
In 1918, they were still manufacturing four cylinder models, as well as the larger six cylinder cars. It did not appear to be the four cylinder cars in 1918 or 1919 that had your headlamps. It appeared to be the "Light Six" models with lamps like yours. The "Big Six" models appeared to mount the same way, however, they had larger squarish bezels instead of the simple round bezels. I cannot tell from this book if any of the headlamp is the same or not.
They appear to continue on SOME models as late as 1922.
With the lenses in yours, they may likely be 1920 or later. I couldn't tell quickly when Studebaker switched to the diffusing lenses, but most cars made that switch due to changing state laws about 1919 or 1920.

I would suggest checking some of the Studebaker forums. I stopped using them when I had to sell my 1915 Studebaker. The Antique Studebaker Club is a wonderful organization devoted to pre WW2 Studebakers. They have a great magazine, and are very supportive of their members. I don't know how their website is these days. They used to have a few unofficial websites devoted to them.

Those lamps look really nice! They should find a car that needs them.

Thanks for all of the help. There is such a wealth of old car knowledge on this forum. I post some pictures of random old headlamps and within 2 hours, I have excellent leads on where they came from including pictrues of reference vehicles - kinda crazy.

The text on the lens reads:
Liberty Lens
Macbeth Evans
Glass Company
Dec 8 14 Type D No 47 69B

From what I have gleaned, the Liberty Lens may have been an aftermarket part, and the headlamp buckets look a lot like the Studebaker ones Rich found.

Based on Rich and Wayne's leads, I posted these on a Studebaker forum and facebook group. Sadly, knowledge of the teens and 20's stuff seems lacking there.

Thanks MTFCA!!!
-Joe

Besides posting here, this is a good one to use for unknown cars or parts: https://forums.aaca.org/forum/66-what-is-it/

Thanks Mark!

That looks like an awesome site - I have a few personal things I need to post there as well.

Thanks for the great resource!!!
-Joe