VERY nicely done!!!
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i do not like third lights. Howeverā¦ I must admitā¦ that is about the nicest and lest intrusive setups I have seen!!!
Good job!! Good selection!!
LLoyd
In order to keep our big corporations prosperous, make the one percenters richer, and give the working class the artificial impression of prosperity, we require a small, controlled war in at least one country at all times.
LLoyd 2006
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Agreed, would rather not but I live in the NYC metro area, everyoneās driving SUVās and talking on the phone, itās crazy town here. I also encourage my son to drive the car so, you know, thereās that too.
Just to mention two things I left out, itās 13.5" from side to side, Iām not sure why it looks so big in the close up pictures. Also, LEDās need to have the correct polarity. I donāt remember which is which but I was able to quickly look up the wiring diagram for a 2015 MX-5 online and it was clearly noted.
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Very nicely done.
Cheers ā¦ Ole
Thanks for the great write up. I bought one off the 'bay based on how good yours looks. I did pay more than $41. But I think its the cleanest option I have seen for the OTS.
After a little epoxy and some paint and I will feel much better about the rube behind me looking at his phone instead of my dim OEM brake lights.
with all due respect, Why?
the PO on my '74 series II has a 3rd brake light, and it was the first thing to go. why on earth did the PO install it. Heck, Iād take them out of all my cars if I could
I guess thatās why !
Easy: it reduces rear enders. One of the BEST mandated upgrades ever!
I remember the year it came out, in the US: 1986.
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I have to say youāve done a very nice job on the installation, looks like it was supposed to be there.
Back to the my first question, and your response. Being rear ended.
Again, with all due respect, and at the risk of sounding like an donkey hole, I imagine back in the late 80ās (ā86 ā onward) there probably was a reduction in rear end collision because the high mounted light was, then out of place, which would get some ones attention. Thirty years later? I donāt think so.
In fact a report in the
Chicago Tribune concludes that between 1988 and 2014 thereās been an increase
-
in fatal rear enders of .6%.
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in Injury rear enders of 3.8%
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in damage only rear enders of 6.5%
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rear enders in total increased 5%
Now Iām holding these numbers up to the light, so to speak, because the article doesnāt provide any information as to the raw data gathered to support the statistic; Also whether or not the data took into account the increased number of drivers. Besides, How the hell could legitimate sampling be obtained (accurately) on an unmeasurable sampling. IMHO there are just too many variablesā¦
However, automobile color is quantifiable and there are statistics to support certain colors are more likely to be involved in a collision.
The reality is this, your Series II OTS E-type is so absolutely gorgeous, people arenāt going to miss it.
Cheers!
Mark
Edit:
One more thing. and Iām sure Iām going to get my pee pee slapped for this one, but if anyone looked at the link provided in this thread. All of the cars are late model and they all have the 3rd brake light. Please donāt hate me.
I hate them too. But I would rather have the option and avoid getting hit. and if its magnetic I can decide if it goes on or off for the day or trip. and so fo that I prefer one that I can at least make look decent.
Well, a few reasons. 1st, it would be interesting to see what a 50 year old E Type would look like after an impact at the speeds of all those modern cars in your link of rear end collision pictures. 2nd, your stats are also from the time period where weāve seen the onset of cell phone usage in cars, Iām frankly surprised the increases werenāt higher. 3rd, none of those cars pictured have a tin can full of of gasoline sitting in the trunk like a piece of luggage. And, lastly, I love my E Type to death, just my personal preference to try and avoid actually dying in it.
Kidding aside, in the late seventies I drove a '65 Healey 3000 as my everyday car for 11 years. It was brutally rear ended in a highway accident, by far the scariest moment of my life. So, you know, been there done that, you can chalk me up as overly cautious. But, hey, to each his/her own, Cheers!
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Itās funny that I didnāt think of this before, My ā87 XJ-SC, which I picked up as an insurance total was rear ended.
I didnāt mean to stir the pot, so to speak, I was more or less just curious.
Thanx
Mark
āā¦people arenāt going to miss it.ā
THATāS why the 3rd brake lightā¦
Iām going to step out on a limb, with my chain saw in hand here.
Hereās a couple of reasons why I questioned the effectiveness of the 3rd brake light:
- If people are distracted, then they probably arenāt looking at the back of the car, why, well because their distracted. There could be a naked man, women or farm animal (I live in a rural area) on the back of the car in front of the distracted driver, and theyāre arenāt going to see it. Why? because there distracted.
- People are use to seeing the 3rd brake light, so it doesnāt look out of place on a car, If looking at a car stopping, which brake lights do I see, Iād say the ones on the sides of the car. This is a good lead in to the next item.
- After I started down this highly fertilized path of my own doing, I started tallying how many cars on the road had a functional 3rd brake light. Much to my surprise 1/3 of the vehicles in my random sampling of 162 cars at a stop light had a functional 3rd brake light. during all of this, I also noticed that lorries (semi-tractor / trailers) donāt have a 3rd brake light. Another thing that I noticed, I had to force myself look at the 3rd brake light. which felt weird.
- I own a Jaguar XJ-S that was rear ended with a 3rd back up light. Didnāt help this poor broken kitty.
In theory I it make perfect sense to add an āout of placeā light to warn people to stop. but unfortunately, if people are distracted theyāre distracted.
I spend a lot of time driving from client to clientās office. One spring day, I was driving down I-5 south, I witnessed a minivan 4 cars in front of me bounce off the center barrier. I immediately slowed down. watching the car behind me who wasnāt slowing, I put on my hazards, which did get their attention and they slowed too. The 4 cars in front of me DID NOT slow, and became apart of the minivan and the car that proceeded their car. Iām at a dead stop, people are getting out of their cars, and I watched car after car, slam into the back of the car that proceeded them 4 of the 7 cars didnāt even apply brakes, the other 3 locked the brakes up for a good 50 feet or so, more than ample amount of time to stop. Seven cars in total. The cars collided with the car in front of them with such force the contents of the vehicle was launched through the windscreen and scattered about the motorway.
This was horribly disturbing to me to the point I was willing to sacrifice my beloved '96 Impala SS in order to slow people down. I moved the car to the adjacent lanes on the motorway sideways across 2.5 lanes in order to get the drivers attention to stop. It worked. Why? Because it was out of the norm to see a car sideways across two lanes.
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Someone with a mind for mathematics analysed data following the introduction of third brake lights. Their conclusion was that they had no effect whatsoever. They were originally instroduced by someone who thought they would be effective, as the third light would be visible through the car in front, thus giving you advance warning of cars braking ahead. But it turns out they were wrong.
As pointed out already, if someone canāt see a bright and highly polished E-Type with very small brake lights, they are unlikely to notice the extra third light.
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Thank you Chris,
My point very succinctly put. Thank you
Those with the mathematics say otherwise.
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/808696
Guys, I get your hatred of the things: I find it quite normal amongst gearheads. I also personally knowāanecdotal, like othersā imperfect observations, in this threadāthat the presence of a CMHSTL definitively warned me of a braking situation that I otherwise would not have had input.
In the end, no one is forcing you to install one on yer car: it was painless to do on my Rover, and any measure of additional signaling to those behind me was well worth the effort and small cost.
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Isnāt the internet wonderful?
Now I donāt know whether they increased accidents or reduced accidents.
Fortunately, I know I am a bear of little brain, so Iāll leave others with superior intellect to sort this one out.
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