240 quad headlights on an 850 ?

[JamesMoore05]

Does anyone have any experience putting quad 240/740 headlights onto an 850 ?

I get they won’t be a straight swap, but would it be possible ?

Would it even look good ?

[abscate]

I havent seen that done here, but Im sure it has been.

Asking aesthetics from a country who thinks you play football, with your hands...Hmmmmm.

Do you ever notice there are no egg crate grills in the UK, too?

[BlackBart]

Would it even look good ?

I would say no. The 850 lights are smart and functional, and designed to fit the shape of the nose.

Just one opinion....

[volvolugnut]

Two preliminary considerations:
Is the width of the dual 240 headlights wider than the 850 headlight space?
The 850 grill has a taper to the outside at the top. How would you adjust to this taper?
volvolugnut

[mdr1220]

I havent seen that done here, but Im sure it has been.

Asking aesthetics from a country who thinks you play football, with your hands...Hmmmmm.

Do you ever notice there are no egg crate grills in the UK, too?

What's wrong with egg crate grills? When I acquired my 850 it has one. The first one I ever seen, I like the different look.

[RickHaleParker]

Might be less work to design quad headlight Mounts and Bezels for the 850. Then 3D print the parts. One could use the stock headlights as a template.

[BlackBart]

I'll admit I'm a pretty biased person in design discussions, but there is some background.

The only reason the 1980 240 came with 4 round lights is because the silly American regulations prohibited the much much better single lens and reflector european lights, which was what the car was designed with. By designers.

It looks like it's startled, surprised. The proportions are all wrong.

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It was designed to look like this, with accurately cut lenses, halogen bulbs, and good reflectors.

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The later 240s went to 4 tiny rectangular lights, for the same reason - US regulations.


The 850 in the first year had taller headlights with one big glass and hi-low lamp. See the accurate cut-off of the light? It creates a sharp cutoff in the road straight in front of you so you don't blind oncoming drivers, and it kicks up to the right (in drive-on-the-right countries) to light up the Bambi's and the signs up ahead.

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In '94, they went to a wider and less tall lens with separate low and high beam elements inside. The European "E-codes" have much better lenses and light output.

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US on the right, E-codes on the left.... See the big difference in the lenses....

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Then some aftermarket kit person decided to do this.....

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We're back to looking really surprised, and the lights are fighting the proportions of the car design. They're also too close to the middle, like cross-eyed.

Also - go to Daniel Stern Lighting and read about the light output of little 5 3/4" round lights vs the old single 7". You can only bounce so much light off those little reflectors.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/home.html
There's a reason Cibie, Hella, and Marchal (rest in peace) were the best lights in the world. Bosch probably around 4th. The French ones were designed in the 50s and 60s so increasingly fast cars could see at Le Mans. Hellas came on Porsches and Mercedes.

So there's my spiel on this. Maybe way too serious! I don't want to discourage anyone from trying ideas out and having fun!

[matthew1]

I'll admit I'm a pretty biased person in design discussions, but there is some background.

The only reason the 1980 240 came with 4 round lights is because the silly American regulations prohibited the much much better single lens and reflector european lights, which was what the car was designed with. By designers.

In the 80s it was the "aero" headlight phenomenon... and us Americans couldn't have it. It finally showed up in 1984 on the Lincoln Mark VII. https://www.hemmings.com/stories/articl ... ghter-idea

Our DOT held back headlight tech, and continues to, from what I can find. https://www.lasermarketsresearch.com/la ... o-the-u-s/

Idiotic bureaucracy.

[Chuck W]

I'll admit I'm a pretty biased person in design discussions, but there is some background.

The only reason the 1980 240 came with 4 round lights is because the silly American regulations prohibited the much much better single lens and reflector european lights, which was what the car was designed with. By designers.

So there's my spiel on this. Maybe way too serious! I don't want to discourage anyone from trying ideas out and having fun!

Well, my '78 264 GLE is going to have the spider eyes and the flathood, because I'm weird. I'll probably look into an H1/H4 conversion, though.

I do have some vintage Marchal fog lights to mount on it as well.

[volvolugnut]

I do like how the 4 rectangular headlights and reflectors look on my '83 245. Very classy in my opinion.
volvolugnut