New Lighting For 32410S Geneva

Mr. Michael Ehrlich ( aka Rum Runner ) , Your work on the lighting system of S#32410S (aka Geneva) is superb. Although a modification from the original configuration of 1937 you have retained the ability to quick convert back to original and have gained immense rewards in terms of driveability and safety. You are a wonderful successor to myself as custodian of this wonderful Cord automobile. Carry on. , Jack Richards in Chesterfield, Missouri.

And here are some night time pictures on my driveway. The lighting shown is only from the non-original 7" LED driving lights - the original Cord headlights are still closed. Took Geneva out again this evening to snap these photos - like driving in a modern car. Low and high beams are excellent. Now I can go out for dinner after dark!

-Michael

And now onto my tail lights. Some of you may remember that I asked on this forum several weeks ago how to access the tail light bulbs. And now, while I understand how to do it, my rear lenses are simply not budging. At all. Period. So, I removed the entire housing from the car, scored the original frosted glass, broke it, and removed the glass to get access to the bulb (figure easier to break the frosted glass than the red glass lenses - sorry glass!). I then removed the original 6V bulbs from the sockets. With the original bulbs and rear frosted glass gone, there was room inside for modern high-output 12V LED tail/brake bulbs. To mount these bulbs, I fabricated a round aluminum plate which attached to the original housings via two 8-32 holes I drilled and tapped. On the aluminum plate is mounted a modern removable bulb housing, and in the housing is mounted the LED bulb. When installed, these bulbs provide exceptional brightness during the day under braking and at night. And the bulbs can now be removed or replace quite easily from inside the trunk. And all the original 6V wiring and bulb housing are still intact.

I also added an aftermarket turn signal stalk, and wired that to the these tail lights. So the tail lights work with the original headlight switch, brake lights come on when you brake, and turn signal flash when you're signaling a turn. Modern day convenience.

So now I have very bright LED headlights, bright LED tail and brake lights, and turn signals. I still intend to add a set of two third-brake-lights inside the rear window, but that if for another day.

Hello Friends!

I've just completed my lighting project on Geneva. My goals were to outfit Geneva with modern lighting (LED headlights, tail lights, brake lights, and turn signals) while keeping virtually everything original. The original lighting was just too poor for me in the modern world. This first post will detail what I did with my headlights; the next will deal with my tail lights.

To note, Geneva is still a 6V positive ground car with generator (not alternator) and original headlights and tail lights. I wanted to move to LED all around to minimize the current draw on the generator. My first attempt at improving my night time driving experience was to find 6V positive ground LED bulbs to replace the original bulbs (not sealed beams). I found a Chinese supplier and ordered two such bulbs. Unfortunately, the electrical contacts on the back of the bulbs are indexed with respect to the mounting flange about 30 degrees off where they need to be. This means that only the "low" setting works when installed in the car. That said, even the low setting was a slight improvement over the original headlights. I still haven't worked out the best way to rotate the mounting flange and make it correct, but I will. I'll post pics of these LED bulbs at night over the weekend.

Since I wasn't thrilled with the LED bulbs in the original housings, I decided to add non-original driving light housings and modern 7" LED sealed beams to the car. I found some nice 7" chromed bulb housings at Speedway Motors, some very highly rated 7" sealed beam LED bulbs on Amazon, and some vintage driving light housing mounts on ebay. I assembled these all together and installed on the car. While they are not original, they do look the part. Pictures below.

To operate these bulbs, I installed a 6V to 12V step up converter and used that as a power source for new LED headlights (and tail lights), controlled by routing the 12V power through a set of 6V relays. This way, I am able to control both the original 6V headlights and the new 12V headlights with the original dashboard light switch. And the Hi/Lo beam foot switch controls both sets correctly as well. It would be about a 20 minute job to get all the modern stuff out if you wanted to go fully original again - I didn't modify any of the original equipment or wiring. The 6/12V converter and relays are mounted to a plate under the dashboard. In fact, the front headlights can be completely removed from the car in about 2 minutes for when I want the original look in the daytime.

Attached are some pics of the not-original (but excellent night driving visibility) housings with the LED bulbs on the front of Geneva, and my hand-drawn wiring diagram. I'll post my tail / stop / turn solution in a few minutes.