It's not just modern era cars, headlight wiring on the US lights even back in the 80s was pretty piss poor.

That being said, I'd recommend going back to 55w or look for some LED bulbs if you want something brighter. I can vouch for The Retrofit Source (they're only 5 minutes from my house, never had a bad experience), they sell H7 LEDs by Morimoto and Profile Performance.

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Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.