Flashers

Every new car sold in the USA since 1967 has been required to have 4-way flashers.  This was not a new idea; kits have been available to install this safety feature on cars since the mid 1950s.  While "parking lights" have been standard since the '20's, they really don't cut it if your car is broken down on the highway.  Flashing lights naturally demand a lot more attention from passing motorists, and are a lot more visible in the day time.

A 4-way flasher is unobtrusive device that makes sense on a vintage car.  It can be hidden away under the dash or in a glove box. "Period correct" flasher installation kits continue to be easily available for 50's vintage cars.  I got a Roberk model 800 for a very reasonable price 6 months ago, and had been waiting for an opportunity to install it.  When I had the seat out of the car (see the prior post) I figured the time was right.  I found the installation to be remarkably easy, but then I am pretty handy with electrical connections.   Here are a few pics:

The Roberk unit is installed under the dash, in front of the shifter.  I used existing factory holes in the dash, which would have been used for the overdrive selector had this been a manual transmission car.

 I had to replace the light bulb in the unit, and plug in a heavy duty 3-pin flasher.  The cost was trivial.    I also used modern 3-way automotive electrical splices, instead of the funky crimp-on clips that originally came with the unit.  Power comes from the back of the cigarette lighter, and four leads are spliced into the four turn signal wires coming from the turn signal switch.  These are easy to find if you have a factory schematic... green with white stripe, white with blue stripe, orange with blue stripe, green with orange stripe.  I made sure to connect to the dash side of the turn signal junction block, so that it wouldn't complicate removing the steering column in the future.

The unit is pretty long,  including a heavy-duty thermal flasher.   Note the dual-zone equalizer for the stereo.

While I was under the dash, I rewired power to the audio amplifiers, and installed a remarkably inexpensive 2-zone equalizer I got off Amazon.  It was labeled as a "7 band parametric equalizer", but it's not parametric and it's not 7 band.  It has 3 bands for the "rear" channel which I connected to the center dash amp, and 4 bands on the "front" channel which I connected to the stereo amp.   This has made a noticeable improvement in the sound quality, providing a better blend between the under dash speakers and the center-dash speaker.  It sounds really great around town, but it's still not the kind of stereo that can compete with big rigs on the freeway... especially if the top is off the car.  Convertibles on the freeway are definitely high noise environments.  In fact, I tend to wear earplugs on long trips.

Ford Guy replaced the driver door glass for me... it turns out that the steel frame that supports the bottom of the window glass was broken some time ago, and poorly repaired.  That could explain why the driver side glass was broken when I got the car in 2011!  The frame has been replaced with a reproduction, and the window works fine.

Nell is running and looking great!  I'm digging the increased leg room, and the improved stereo.  My t-bird club was featured at a cruise night yesterday, and my wife graciously agreed to accompany me.  It was a great time, and Nell got plenty of compliments.

Looking sharp!

One of the cars that showed up with my club looked really familiar... a Peacock Blue '56 with a supercharger, 4-speed, and lots of speed equipment...

A blown, blue '56... where have I seen this before!

Then it dawned on me... I saw it at last year's west coast y-block shootout!

This was one very fast car!  I had a great time talking to the owner and discussing the modifications he had made.  He is a tall guy, and he also modified his seat to provide a few more inches of legroom!  I guess I'm not so unique after all.

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to driving a friend to my local t-bird club meeting, and then maybe sampling a few local micro-brews with him.  Life is good!