Ambulance Sign Light Bar

[Mike Owens]

Looking to buy a 4 or 5 socket light bar for my 1970 Superior Cadillac Rescuer front AMBULANCE sign. Rear sign lights, front doesn't.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

slip down to the parts store get 4 sockets for a 1156 bulb. put them on a 2x2 strip and screw it to the back of the sign. wire it in so they come on with the headlights. most of these in a car were so rusty you would have to rebuild them anyway. might as will start fresh. you want to make a MM out of it drop down to your RV place and get a 12 volt fluorescent fixture and put that in.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Or you could purchase a strip of LED's, and wire that into the circuit. They are so light, you probably could glue them to the rear of the sign box with silicone glue.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

better get two of them. and get the warm white ones the cool white look tacky. use a diffuser also or you will see every led.

here is the difference in them, my son's work lights are the led strips. the advantage is low current draw and low heat. and disadvantage is the market is flooded with the cool white and the warm white are hard to find. John powers these lights with a 12 volt rv battery

 

[Mike Zaccaria]

sign light bar

I need one as well. I was going to make my own probably use a led light bar.

 

[Ken Novak]

But won't LED lights give off a period incorrect lighting??

 

[Paul Steinberg]

If done correctly, it will be hard to tell when looking through the white plastic lens. The only thing that a dedicated enthusiast would see, is that it is more evenly lit, and that the sign is much brighter than with 5 or 6 traditional incandescent bulbs.

 

[John Royark JR]

And since the lights are hidden and PCS judging does not require the lights to be operational, you will not have any authenticity points deducted, if that's a concern. I know personally, I would rather see a much more uniform light than the original lights would have been, but that's just me and my OCD.

 

[Terry Broussard]

Use the regular bulbs...

But won't LED lights give off a period incorrect lighting??

Correct. I tried it on the Pontiac and really did not like the bright blue looking LED lights. I went back in and replaced it with a bar as Ed described from my old Cadillac. Much better looking behind the sign IMHO.

 

[Terry Broussard]

Light Bar

This is what I did ...

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Suggestion...... Next time you have that open, turn the bar over, so the bulbs point down, and put a light smear of Vaseline on the metal part of the bulbs. The bulbs when they are hot, and then turned off, will pull moisture out of the air and into the bulb sockets, during hot humid summer. The Vaseline will protect them from corrosion, and if you turn them over so the glass is pointed down, there is less chance that the moisture will migrate to the socket. In fact, you should give the Vaseline treatment to all the bulbs in your car, to help eliminate moisture problems and poor grounding.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

the silver paint helps a lot to. you can use gun grease in the sockets also bit it will harden up on you. the make a tub of light grease just for it also.

 

[Kurt Arends]

The light bar in my '74 Superior 54" parts car did have the bulbs pointed downward(glass-down) originally. I am sure that it was for the reason that Ed suggested.