Lighting is one area on older vehicles that can stand much improvement. For those vehicles with electric lights, head lamps produce more light with higher voltage. Unfortunately, the factory wiring is not always designed to deliver the full voltage available at the battery to the lights. For older vehicles, the grounds and contacts in the wiring harness can deteriorate such that there are now significant age-related resistances in the circuits. The end result is that many electrical systems do not operate at new-car levels and, in particular, the headlights are much dimmer than they should be.

Headlamp Circuit Upgrade

An easy way to improve vehicle lighting (to even better than OEM) is to modify the headlamp circuit so that the the head lights are powered directly by the battery and they are switched on by a relay controlled by the original lighting circuit. For more information, please visit Dan Stern Lighting's Headlamp Circuit Upgrade page. This modification is simple and effective. DSL can also provide a headlamp circuit upgrade kit specific to your vehicle.

A headlamp circuit upgrade is completely unobtrusive and can be easily hidden from view. If you do any night-time driving, this is a modification you should seriously consider.

Headlamp Upgrade

Rather than going to Canadian Tire and buying the cheapest replacement lamp available, you should also consider upgrading to premium headlamps from manufacturers like Cibie and Bosch. They provide more light and, like the Cibie CSR, provide a better distribution of light. For those of us whose night vision isn't getting any better, a major improvement in night-time visibility is extremely welcome. A headlamp upgrade should be done in conjunction with a headlamp circuit upgrade for maximum benefit.

Daytime Running Lights

For the same reason that modern vehicles now have OEM Daytime Running Lights, older vehicles can also benefit from the added safety of DRLs. These systems are wired into your lighting circuit, usually unobtrusively under your dashboard. With the Headlamp Circuit Upgrade, you may have to instead mount this system under the hood after the relay. These systems are commonly available and can be easily found on the Internet. Dan Stern Lighting offers a DRL retrofit kit.

Hazard Lights

Hazard lights are another modern safety feature worth considering. Many older cars can only warn other drivers with their turn signals but this can be confusing as it just indicates that the vehicle's driver is intending to turn. These kits do not seem to be very common but a few places on the Internet appear to carry them. Since hazard lights are standard equipment on modern vehicles, hazard flasher retrofits are no longer as easy to find as they were back in the '60s and '70s, but they can be had. NAPA Auto Parts carries a 4-way flasher retrokit under Echlin FC6401, which looks suitably "olde-tyme" for installation in an old car. You will need to supply the actual flasher and the indicator bulb because the kit comes without them so it can be used on all 6v, 12v and 24v applications. Pick up two Ideal EL12c electronic flashers at your local auto parts store because NAPA doesn't usually have them.

Centre High-Mount 3rd Brake Lamps

Many older vehicles have small and often hard-to-see tail lamps, compared with modern vehicles. Many drivers are not as observant as they should be and may not take into account the often poorer visibility of an older vehicle's brake lights. If you frequently drive your older vehicle, you may also want to consider adding a Centre High-Mount 3rd Brake Lamp. For more information, please also read the Allpar article entitled Hella LED Third Brake Light review.

Turn Signal / Brake Light Upgrade

With LED bulbs becoming so popular because of their brightness and low current draw, many people are replacing their brake lights with LEDs. This is BAD idea in this application as explained in the Allpar article What didn’t work: simple LED replacements. You are much better upgrading to a P3496 bulb or keeping your 1157 bulb. These bulbs are available from a number of stores, including Daniel Stern Lighting.

For an excellent explanation of how to make your vehicle's lights work better, please read Dan Stern's lighting post on the SlantSix.org forum. A summary of Dan's bulb upgrade recommendations is summarized below. The PNs are correct and there are no typos.

Do NOT use a 2057 bulb to replace a 1157 bulb! The 2057 bulb is dimmer on the "minor" (dim parking or tail) filament, thereby making your tail lamps less bright.

The 3496 bulb produces 43 candlepower from the bright (brake or turn) filament and 3.5 candlepower on the dim (tail or parking) filament compared with 32 and 3 candlepower respectively from the 1157 bulb and both bulbs draw the same current. The 3497 bulb produces 45 candlepower compared with 32 candlepower for the 1156 bulb. The Honda bulbs have a nickel-plated base that is much more corrosion resistant than the plain brass base of an 1157 (less likely to stick in the socket) and are generally higher quality than the 3496 & 3497 bulbs from a parts store, which are usually much poorer quality and don't last as long.