I need to get a pair of headlight assemblies for an early beetle. What is the best solution, price and place to get them in Australia?
It seems the Brazil ones sell for around $27US, but are they any good?

like anything you get what you pay for.
having fitted brazilian ones in the past and watching before my eyes the cracks appearing in the lens as you tighten them up i would say not the best option
try and get some better quality ones and fit local h4 conversions to them(maybe vintagevw)

Yes I agree that is usually the case. I would really like to buy new units and be done with them. Does anyone import the Hella headlights?

is that you nero from PF?

I think many of the VW shops who advertise on here would also sell Hella lights...
they are getting very expensive...

with the early lights, You can buy clear glass lenses and you fit a sealed beam behind it, same as in all vws in the USA. You can then fit Quartz Halogen sealed beams or semi sealed beams with QH or Xenon bulbs.
this is the best way to go as sealed beams last a long time.
or with the semi sealed beams, You just replace the bulbs.

Lee

My Son had his reflectors rechromed ....
which is also expensive, but then fit Quartz Halogen bulbs and You have good lights....

Only thing - and any older people on here who have had anything to do with older cars knows, You don't touch the chromed surface of headlamps...

well My Son's Newly chromed reflectors came complete with fingerprints on them....

So, some idiot packed them...

Lee

Che, yes it is, I came here as well as PF...virtually at the same time.
I have a pair of headlight units, but the chrome is a bit sad and I'd like sealed beams. I have clear glass as original you see, so the fluted glass is a bit odd on my car.

I have had the reflectors resilvered not chromed as per original spec and fitted QH globes ,$60 a pair.

I had them done at Industrial & Decorative Gold Plating 81 mars rd lanecove 94275910 , if this helps.

how much for resilvering??

in 1965 it was $8 each!! or maybe a pair at a city jeweller !
and then chrome was illegal to use.

i have a heap of splitty h/lights that i wanna resilver the reflectors from. All else is good.

Autobug those Porsche style things with the sealed beams are dear to get as a compl unit.!!!

$60 pr

What is the method for converting a set of headlights to sealed/semi-sealed beams?
The ones I have are original.

well it seems I have one bosch plastic and one hella metal unit. So how do I convert to sealed beam?

You dont

the best option is to buy Quartz Halagon globes

and have good reflectors, make sure all the adjusting screws work and piviot correctly

I do: I need to get rid of the fluted glass and put clear glass on the car. Clear glass and std reflectors do not work well.

you did not say if running 6 or 12 volt I can supply replated reflectors or inserts but need more info on particular model of headligts
Paul

Paul they are 12V headlamps ala early type 1/beetle
Do you need to know more?
Just went out and had a look at them. They cleaned up well, however they have different chrome rings, so I need to match one of them up with another one.

[ Edited on 29-1-2007 by rpmagazine ]

do you wnt to use clear lenses or standard ,bosch or hella?does the globe has three spade connectors?
Paul

What year car did you say are they slant or upright lights ????

best I popst some images. I have one bosch and one hella confusingly. One is steel bucket and one plastic, chrome rings are different.
I want to use clear glass and have good lightling, so reasonable watage lights: say 75/90's

You can only use clear glass with a headlight 'insert' ie: a modern, 6-inch headlight (like an AU XR8 Falcon, or a late-80s Pajero, for instance) mounted behind a clear glass lens. The US-market 1960s Beetles had this setup using but a sealed beam light

best to use a H4 Quartz Halogen unit behind the clear glass lens

that is what I was hoping to do, but do not know how to do. Perhaps buy the cheapie units and just use the buckets and keep the original glass etc?

You can't use the original Hella/Bosch VW lenses with a H4 headlight. You need to buy a US-specification clear-glass kit and install a H4 QH insert behind it

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160081277132&ssPageName=ADM... src="images/smilies/bigsmile.gif" border="0" alt=":D" title=":D" />E:1

i set up a deal with these guys outside of ebay

I have both clear and patterned glass for the units I already have.

SH 356 porsche Hella's on the way

Are the European lenses (LHD) acceptable on Australian roads??

Also if you buy from a "Registered business seller" on ebay Germany they shoud not charge you MwsT (their GST) so you will save 19% immediately on your winning bid price.