Billy Bargain
Earlier this summer we went to a local classic car show. It always has a good mix of different marques of vehicles including a few military examples and some cool motorbikes as well. VW specific shows can be fun, but I often prefer the variety that non-specific classic car shows have to offer, and it just so happened that we came across a bit of a find at this years event!
vintage original Wipac front fog lightsI’ve go a bit of a soft spot for yellow fog lights for some bizarre unbeknown reason, and whilst looking around the various stalls, I happened to notice a cool looking pair of vintage Wipac yellow fog lights. Not only were they both working, but they were also a good price so I bought them waiting for the time to get them fitted to the bus. Well now that winter is coming, it seemed the perfect time to add some spot lights to the bus!
custom stainless steel front fog light mountsYay for yellow
The guys at Resto Classics not only know my bus pretty well, but they also know me pretty well in terms of the look and details I like with the bus. We spent a while trying to work out a good positioning of the lights at the front. Sitting on top of the US spec front bumper ‘towel rail’ was the obvious location, but just looked too high? So Alan at Resto Classics decided to make some small stainless steel fixings so they could be discreetly fixed underneath the towel rail. This avoided having to drill holes into the original bumper.
front fog light testingA quick mock-up and testing – perfect! Being positioned lower they would also be more effective in actual use, see they’re not just a cosmetic extra! 😉 If I’m adding lights to the front, might as well consider the rear as well…
retro inspired rear fog and reverse light in stainless steelLight touch
A really useful and practical upgrade for me was to get a reverse light. So as part of my more pragmatic approach to these updates, I found a neat looking retro inspired reverse light in stainless steel, along with a matching rear red fog light. I’m sure these will soon enough get weathered to blend in with the bus aesthetic!
colour coded illuminated toggle switches and mount plateGetting the reverse light working off the gearbox was going to be way more complicated than I wanted, so the lights were all independently wired up via colour coded illuminated toggle switches at the front. Yellow for the fog lights, white for the rear reversing light and of course, red for the rear fog light. Good to keep things nice and simple! 🙂
at least routing the cables underneath was a clean and simple job now!Running the cabling underneath the bus was a much cleaner and simple job having painted and treated the underside of the bus! It’s still slightly strange seeing the Epoxy-Mastic 121 winterisation protection of the underside of the bus, it still doesn’t quite feel ‘real’ at the moment? It’s the sort of thing I see on other people’s buses, not actually on mine!
rear bumper mounted reverse lightRear lights sorted
Continuing with the low mounted light theme, I think the new lights have the right kind of retro inspired styling and look good in place on the bus. The reverse light should be really useful, just need to remember I have one now!
rear bumper mounted fog lightThe retro styled stainless steel red rear fog light adds safety and symmetry for my OCD peace of mind!
To control these independently, the new colour coded illuminated toggle switches correspond to the different colour of the lights. That way I’ll know what is on, plus have a visual reminder to remember to turn them off as well!
