Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L
I am willing to bet that electrical, sealed-beam headlamps were mandated to force drivers to get away from the old non-sealed beam electric lamps as well as carbide lamps that were used in a number of old models. Then better non-sealed-beams were being used in Europe, but there was too much inertia to change the old law.
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I believe the main reason for the sealed-beams was to prevent moisture from getting in and discoloring the reflectors. The Euro lights I installed on my Fintail did have some damage to the reflector surfaces, but they still seemed bright enough, and I had antique tags so it wasn't subject to annual safey inspections.
OTOH, the Euro lights on my TD were driven long enough with cracked lenses to severly darken one of the reflectrrs, which I've heard are no longer availible separately, And my local supplier only has replacemnt Bosch lenses (my TD Euros are Hellas) so I went with the US lights.
As for the US bumpers, on the W123 they're not as obtrusive as the huge US 'picnic-bench' bumpers Mercedes introduced here in the mid-70s. And they're aluminum so they don't weigh all that much. In fact, the W123 is one of the first DOT-spec Mercedes that looks good to me in either US or Euro versions.
Happy Motoring, Mark