MTFCA Forum

Since I bought my B-ARD Armadillo Speedster, I have never restored the GUIDE TRACTOR drum lights that came with it , I have been using a set of Model T headlights I bought. I saw these lights on Ebay with a buy it now price, and they looked awefully clean so i went ahead and bought them . They have STANDARD lenses, they are dual bulb and have interesting brackets. So far I have not found them online. Can anyone identify them ?

I seriously doubt those were for tractor use. Does anything on them say anything about "tractor"? They might have been for a truck, but even for that they appear much too fancy. The style suggests somewhere between early 1920s to maybe 1928 at the latest. Probably a midsize moderately cheap car. The brackets probably bolted through the inner skirt of the front fenders into the fender brackets, at an angle to hold the lens flutes upright. Some series of Chevrolet had mini drum headlamps mounted that way, however, all of those I have seen were not nearly so nice as these.

They're not Chevrolet. I would post maybe over on the AACA forum where there's a greater amount of multi-make expertise and see if someone over there can help.

The "Other" lights that came on the speedster were the "guide" tractor lights Wayne, they were 8-1/2 inch (Smaller) and plain steel front bezel , much more industrial looking. I posted way back when when I first got the car . I agree fully with your description of these . I am hoping I can orient the brackets horizontal and switch things around inside so the reflectors and lenses are oriented the proper way . On this Duo-lamp style, is one socket for a running light of a different color ??????

They might be after market accessory headlights or “replacements” that were made in the 30”s.

That is a valid possibility, John. The brackets certainly seem to be different than most I have viewed. I was hoping to find a picture to see how they were mounted, but no luck so far. Possibly on a headlight bar that went from fender to fender is my guess.

Your headlights look like my Victor drum headlights, but with different brackets. Victor made these to mount on the Model T fender bracket, or if the car did not have fenders. then the bracket would get cut off just past the headlight mounting hole. Some of the companies that sold speedster bodies had the headlights in their catalogs.

I would be very tempted to carefully remove the original mounting brackets, fill rivet holes etc. Then take common model T post mounts, remove the rusty beyond salvage buckets, and reshape the posts to a nice "goose neck" to hold the drums lower and more forward. Position those under these drums rotated to hold straight up and down for the lenses and bulbs, and rivet them into place. I think those would look GREAT on your speedster!
Just alter the T brackets so that the original back angled cradle comes up level under the drums.