Identification of old headlight lens, not necessarily M-B
 

I've been collecting headlights and headlight parts for about 45 years, ever since I got an "A" on a high school physics paper about the then-new asymmetrical low beams being introduced in Europe. One item which I have never really identified is a lens and trim ring (the latter very rusty, but originally painted, not chromed) which seems to be designed to lean back just a bit at the top like the Mercedes of the late '50s -- not nearly so much as the lights on VWs or Porsches of the era; the fluting of the lens suggests that it may be pre-asymmetric, but I'm not sure.

On the bottom of the lens is a trademark with an Aladdin's lamp surrounded by a gear (?), and with the words (as best as I can read them) "Cristal Faessa" on each side of it. On the right side (as you look at it) is "INCFISA-5923" and on the left is "189-C." I haven't found any markings on the metal rim.

Does this ring a bell (light a bulb) for anyone?

Something Italian? Late '40s - early '50s Lancia or Alfa Romeo maybe? Do you have a picture?

Happy Motoring,
Maek

Italian was my first guess, too,
 

since _cristallo_ is an Italian word for "glass," but it could also belong to other European languages as a loan word. When I first acquired the lens and rim, about 20 years ago, I searched my library of classic Italian automobile coffee table books and found nothing with a headlight with the actual lens "laid back" aerodynamically, although there were lots of the clear plexiglass cover types.

Someone else (A fellow Latin teacher who knows more Italian than I do) just suggested to me that the "FAESSA" may actually be "FA.ESSA" which would be an Italian abbreviation for _Fabbrica Essa_, so I'll have to pursue that lead.

I don't have any means of posting a close-up picture with any useable degree of resolution.

Your description reminded me of a picture of an early postwar Alfa Romeo. If it's not from an Italian car, maybe off an Italian truck or van.

Happy Motoring,
Mark

This may be Spanish. Cristal is lens or glass in Spanish. Doing a Google search I found 3 links which indicate that a Spanish company called Faessa (or Faes SA) was doing business in Barcelona in the 1960s making electrical automotive equipment. There is also a 'Society Faessa' listed in a book on automobiles. These links are:

http://perso.club-internet.fr/pboursin/autohis3.htm

1959 Book on automobiles - details 1923 acquisitions and mergers of electrical? companies half way through the document under 1923, including a paragraph that mentions Faessa, Marchall, Cibie, and SEV all in the same context, and part of it seems to translate as '1966 acquisition of a holding in the company Faessa I Men Par , Barcelona, manufacturers of thermal (electrical?) equipment. This site details a French book on the history of the automobile.


http://members.es.tripod.de/miseat127/id246.htm

(Faessa-Trico) reference to auto equipment in a Seat 127 auto

http://www.iscar.net/z/pieldetoro/detalle.asp?ID=250

(SEV-Faessa in context of a Chrysler 150sx: "Equipo: Faros: Cibié rectangulares/halógenos de 300 x 180 mm., con lámpara H-4 de 60/55 vatios. Limpiaparabrisas: Faessa-SEV. Escobillas: SEV-Marchal. Velocidades: dos continuas y manual. Frecuencia: 45 y 71 ciclos/minuto. Instrumentación: Veglia-Bressel. Bocina: dos. Luneta térmica: de serie.")

Since Cibie and Marchall make electrical equipt and Headlights, I speculate that Faessa (or Faes SA) is/was a Spanish car equipment manufacturers in Barcelona, Spain.

Hope this is right, researching it was a lot more fun than starting in my income taxes!!! :D

Thank you for the lead!
 

I do have one old book with a close-up of the front of a Pegaso convertible which has a light which seems similar, except for having chrome trim. Maybe it's from a Spanish truck? But how would such a thing get to a junk yard in Williamsburg, VA, around 1980???

Hispano Suiza
 

Hispano Suiza used Cristal Faesa SA lights. They also had one of the first car delerships in the US (New York city).