[DeTomaso] - Frog Eyes - was a very long thread that I don'twant to continue

[David & Marilyn Bell]

I installed a set of Kirk Evans cats eye headlights a year ago or so.  The
materials (Hella light assemblies), workmanship and fit/finish are typical
Kirk Evans, which means excellent.  The lights went in cleanly though there
is some cutting on the headlight buckets involved.

Personally, I think the cats eye lights look spectacularly good on a Pantera
and instantly but subtlety modernize it.  I'll have to admit that I'm not
one of the crowd who likes the frog eye stock look (seriously dated to me).
As far as performance goes, there are four high-output halogen bulbs sitting
behind nicely focused projector lenses.  The light coverage at night is
outstanding, MUCH better than the stock pop-ups with halogen bulbs.

I highly recommend Kirk's light kit.


Dave Bell (don't call me froggy any more)

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com
[mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com]On Behalf Of MikeLDrew at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 11:41 AM
To: wkooiman at earthlink.net; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] - Frog Eyes - was a very long thread that I
don'twant to continue



In a message dated 8/25/10 19 46 9, wkooiman at earthlink.net writes:


> I think Tom did an outstanding job designing the Pantera.  It isn't just
> another wedge shaped sports car.  It has several unique features that make
> it stand out.  One of those is the frog eye headlights.
>

>>>Although now it's not that popular, it's important to remember that when
the Pantera came out, pop-up headlights were considered really, REALLY
cool.   I recently was reading a retrospective on a number of different
sports
cars, written in the mid 1980s, and they still waxed euphoric about how neat
the whole pop-up headlight thing was.

Only 'special' cars of the day had them--Ferrari Daytona, Saab Sonnet III,
Corvette, Maserati Ghibli, Bora, Merak, etc. etc. etc.   It was a singular
design element that seemed to be reserved by the industry for cars of that
nature.   It set them apart from more pedestrian fare such as the Pinto,
Vega
etc.

It's interesting to note that a handful of cars retain that design today,
most notably the Miata--another 'special' car.

The original sealed beam lamps are pretty awful though.   I've got
super-duper whippy dippy Euro Cibie Z-beam round halogen replacements
(appropriately
powered), and I swear I can burn the bark off trees with my high beams.
The latest generation HID lights like Chris Difani has cooked up, are
awesome
too.   The first-gen low-profile rectangular headlights, which used a GM
low-beam lamp from a Camaro or something, are a little less inspiring.
They
throw considerably less light than a big round halogen or HID setup.   I am
still a bit unsure about the current low-profile round lights that Kirk
Evans etc. are using now; they are only halogen (not HID), and while they
certainly look cool, my highly unscientific impression is that they don't
throw as
much light as my stock-size halogens.   But unquestionably they're superior
to the original stock sealed beams.

Regardless of which style you use, I find it's kind of fun to drive the car
at night and use the headlight buckets themselves as aiming devices--it
adds to the driving experience and feels really cool.   That's a highly
subjective thing of course.

There are a few Panteras out there whose pop-up systems have been replaced
by fixed lights with plexiglass covers.   I guess they work?   I'm not wild
about them though....

Mike
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