Headlamps and Driving lamps

Had the 140 out after dark a couple weeks ago and noticed the
headlights are super dim! Switched on the 5" Lucas driving lights,
and still not much to work with.

Of course I’m spoiled by my 2015 Focus ST with HID “adaptive” lights,
so the light technology from 60 years ago may just not be up to it but
I was curious about a few things…

A) My main headlights are off when switched to the driving lamps… is
this normal? Is it something that can be changed?

B) I’ve got the Lucas “J” headlamps which I believe are correct for
the 55 140… Are these a standard size bulb where perhaps I could
pick up something brighter on Amazon or local parts store?

C) same as B but for the 5" driving lamps

This isn’t super high on my to-do list as I rarely drive after dark,
but would like to be OK with it when I need to. I always thought of
the driving lamps as being something that should really pierce the
darkness… Mine seem dimmer than the low-beam headlamps. Perhaps
they ended up with foglamp bulbs or something.

Brandon “J” lamps look great but were never offered in the US as standard. Sealed beams were the standard here–sorry.

Well either way, that’s what’s in it now. Repros from somewhere along the way.

So George,
What’s the JCNA policy position on Canadian-new XK140/150 and Personal-Export-Plan XKs picked up from factory/ Europe and then imported into USA after some continental/UK driving, both scenarios having LHD ‘J’ lights from new.
And what are ‘proof’ expectations?

Roger

Roger I know you have read this but here you go
,

Thanks George,

I hadn’t seen this JCNA document, or certainly don’t recall seeing it in recent many years, albeit no doubt it is accessible on the JCNA Web site to non-members.

But, I have to say I am a little surprised with:-

Headlights: Entries are allowed to have any style and/or size headlamps, offered by Jaguar Cars Ltd., Jaguar Cars Inc. or Jaguar Canada Inc. for the specific model, regardless of the country to which the car was originally delivered.

If I read this right, any XK140/150 whether sold new in USA or not, can have ‘J’ lamps fitted without JCNA Concours penalty, given LHD ‘J’ headlamps were offered by Jaguar Cars Ltd.

I always thought (didn’t check) that USA made sealed-beam lamps were required for all USA market XK140/150, but presumed if you could prove ‘sold new to Canada’ (or other LHD markets) then ‘J’ lamps would have been acceptable.

I had better keep a copy of this Chapter 6 guide, and not make wrong assumptions again, but that was purpose of my inquiry/comment, but this also clarifies Personal-Export car situation – makes no difference.

So does anyone know what bulb options there are for J headlamps and/or 5" driving lamps?

And whether it’s normal for the driving lamps to disengage the headlamps?

Brandon I can not tell from your car’s pic if those are driving or fog lamps. Xk 140s with fog lamps had a switch on the facia marked OSHF and when F was selected the heads were extinguished. That said it would make no sense for one to have driving lamps and have the heads go off (more light more better). So there is really no correct answer to your question. If driving lenses are in your lamps then do what you wish but if wired for fog the heads will go off at F.

Brandon,

No real factory options for ‘J’ lamp bulbs, albeit avoid the French market YELLOW bulbs, but it is a rather unique fitting so little after-market choice.
We do have a guy here in Australia who gets made Quartz-Halogen bulb replacements, using the original style bulb-base, but that’s a total special. Maybe something similar is available in USA.

But the normal rules apply - if you want to modify your car away from factory original the onus is on you to do it properly, or accept the risk - in both an engineering sense and a legal sense.

XK140s came ex-factory with only FOG LAMPS as auxiliary lamps, never with DRIVING LAMPS, thus the ‘Switching’ provided complies with the law regarding Fog Lamps. When you turn on FogLamps that automatically turns-off the headlamps - that’s the law.
If you want to modify your XK140 by replacing its Fog Lamps with Driving Lamps, then you also need to modify the Switching’ to comply with the law for Driving Lamps. I cant be sure about USA law, and indeed as in Australia, no one really cares now with a 50 year old car, but the law in Australia only allows added Driving Lights to be on, in conjunction with your Headlamps when on Full-Beam, and its illegal to have them operate independently, or be on when your headlamps are in Dipped-Beam position.

If it matters to you, I suggest you contact your local authorities, albeit as above, I doubt anyone would care to much about a 50 year old car, unless you have a vindictive authority wanting to nail you for something.

I do Historic Registration annual ‘roadworthiness inspection’ renewals here in the ACT, and only yesterday had a 1967 S-type owner with the same questions regarding how he can legally replace his factory original Fog Lamps with period-Lucas Driving Lamps. Its all about the Switching.

Boy, I forget it’s been over 10 years since I was fully active in here and my car maybe isn’t as famous as it once was.

So I gather the J doesn’t take a standard base bulb… a bit disappointing… maybe look at going back to sealed beam, though night driving isn’t particularly common.

Yes I have the standard OSHF switch which was run to clear lens driving lights that are the same size style as the factory fogs just clear lens instead of the fog lens.

It is interesting in other markets that fogs over-ride the headlamps… not so here, low beam headlamps stay on with fogs, but high beams cancel the fogs.

Here in NC cars older than 35 years are not subject to any sort of inspection other than VIN verification when applying for title.

My car is unusual

Also here in US “driving lights” are generally “for offroad use only”, never seen them as factory equipment.

I have tri-bars that came with fat bulbs that have a big flange soldered on the base body.

I unsoldered the flanges and put them on halogen bulbs that have the same size base body.

These work very well for night driving.

Brandon,

I’ve attached a copy of a Lucas magazine advertisement from the early 1950s showing the difference between the Fog Lamps (SFT576) and the Long Range Driving Lamps (SLR576). The SLR576 have clear lenses and are advertised to provide an 80,000 candle power “thin pencil beam of great intensity.” Although not explicit in the advertisement, the Long Range Driving Lamps take a bulb with a special filament to produce the advertised light output and pattern. These are the 48 Watt “axial” filament bulbs (see first bulb photo). Make sure your driving lamps have these axial filament bulbs and not the far more common horizontal filament fog lamp bulbs (see second bulb photo). If you have fog lamp bulbs in your Long Range Driving Lamps, performance will be disappointing.

There is no way to wire the 4-position Lucas headlight switch to operate so the driving lamps are on simultaneously with the head lights. You will need to add a separate switch to operate the driving lamps.

Thanks, that’s great info!

That axial filament bulb for the SLR lights (Lucas LLB185?) is VERY difficult to find. Usually all you can get are the LLB323 horizontal filament bulbs.

Original axial filament bulbs, a.k.a. Lucas Flame Throwers, are very rare. I hunted around a long time before finding an NOS pair. The photo I posted is off of Rogers Motors website. Reproductions are now available - likely from India. http://tinyurl.com/gtrlu2q

I found exactly that link yesterday.
What’s curious is they show
http://jollyrogersmotors.com/store/p/841-Lucas-style-LLB185-BPF-base-Halogen-Driving/Spot/Foglamp-Bulb-New.html
as an “updated” version but that doesn’t have axial alignment. I forgot to check which bulb fitment I have last night.

Also need to figure out switching since an independent switch would mean I have an extra position on the OSHF switch, though I guess I could try to find a switch from a non-MC car.

Well, Jolly Roger is quite ambiguous as to what you are actually getting. 2 of the three photos are the wrong bulb posed next to what should be the box for a correct bulb. Here is a website I have used fo rare or hard to find bulbs in the past: http://www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/b.pl/48t9p22s36ax12v~donsbulbs.html

Rogers’ states that it’s the vertical filament. The other website looks great too, but $52/bulb vs $15/bulb is quite a difference!