discrete marker lights for subtle cars

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-163 Marc Alley, commenting on the 72 GTV Restoration, connects the idea
of eliminating side marker lights to my opinions on debadging C-pillars (thank
you, Marc) and knocks "those big rectangular markers which sure stick out".
They do, and unfortunately they are not fragile; they can turn what might
otherwise be a paint-scrape into a sharp metal-folding exercise, and they are
not really in character with the refined detailing of the best parts of the
best versions of the loveliest Alfa.

My 1973 Eurospec Veloce was brought over by an architect, and the people who
federalized his car required US-size markers. He found, and they fitted, a
Ferrari marker light which is quite elegant; it is recessed just below the
surface with a thin chrome bezel around the perimeter, held in place very much
as an instrument in a dashboard. It is quite nice.

Eliminating the marker lights, as Marc suggests some have done, may or may not
be practical, depending both on state laws and the driver's manners. If I were
in the habit (which I am not) of making obscene gestures to people who might
be policemen who had had a bad day, I would probably want to have whatever
equipment the rule-book required. (Once, when I was young and foolish, my
daily driver was a Ford roadster without a roof or windshield, in a cold state
which did not require a windshield, but after one courteous brush with the law
I had a working windshield wiper, which WAS required. The book said all glass
had to be safety glass, but it didn't say you had to HAVE any glass, and it
did say you had to have a windshield wiper.)

Anyhow, a marker-light option out of the hot-rod culture would be to "french"
a set of side marker lights. Acrylic plastics are available in all colors and
are easily shaped with any power tools, and it should pose no particular
problems to make markers either flush with the surface or recessed, with form
and size to taste and, of course, to law. 

John H.

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