Quote:
Originally Posted by ADP
I was going though my random piles of Mercedes bits and I found a really old Hemmings motor news with a post it on an ad for Euro headlights for my '72. Apparently I thought that was way cool in about '94. Not cool enough to actually do though, there are always things to spend functional repair money on.
Like I'm one to talk. Today my car is in for injectors, next week an injection wiring harness. And it still needs some suspension bits and sub frame mounts, later this summer.
Oh well - at least it'll run real good when we are done.
But back to the Euro headlights. Has anyone ever done this conversion and does it look cool or dorky on a 1970s car?
Ann
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The W111 S-class Fintails have essentially the same headlamp setup as the W108. I converted my '60 220S to the Euros, and except for damaged, corroded mounting hardware on my right front fender, due to an old, poorly-done, fender repair. the installation was a piece of cake, and the Euros plugged right in to my Fintai's sealed-beam wiring harness.
Now the Euros do have the turn-signal/parking lamp built into the top of the headlamp assembly. Later US-market Fintails, and the US-market W108s had bullet-style, then Faux-fog turn signal lights mounted on the fender panel beside the grill, so if you install Euros on one of these, you'll need to route the turn signal wiring back to the headlamp units, and maybe install real fogs in place of the faux ones, or keep the US turn signals and leave the Euro's turn-signals inoperative.
Another consideration is how period-correct you want your Euros. The glass covers used on the Fintails and I suspect, the early W108s, have a rounded 'bubble' shape that I find more attractive than the flattened-glass Euros used on the later 108s.
Be carefull when shopping for Euros, especially if you're looking someplace, like eBay, and can't see them in person before you buy. Internal parts and reflectors may be missing, damaged or corroded. I wound up buying two pairs, plus a NOS replacement glass cover, in order to get one good pair I could install on my Fintail. But at least I now have 3 decent spare glass covers in case one gets cracked in a parking lot.
Also, the Euro's glass covers were made in LHD and RHD versions to accomodate countries, such as Britain and Austraila, where cars drive on the left
Finally, the Euros have foglamps built into the units below the headlamps. These originally had amber-tinted bulbs which are now hard to find. I'm running clear ones in my Fintail's Euros, but prefer the amber color mine had before my original foglamp bulbs burned out. The Bilux headlamp bulbs are still availble.
Happy Motoring, Mark