Florcent # Lights???

I have been given some original Sylvania Fluorescent Number Lights that seem to have been made for J6 at Le Mans. (#2)

Does anyone have any idea if these were fitted at night during the race??????????????????????

Jim,

The only right hand side photo I could find of J6 with the lights on is attached. It is very small but I do not see anything out of the ordinary for the number lights on the door.

Regretfully,

Gramps

Grandpa said:

Jim,

The only right hand side photo I could find of J6 with the lights on is attached. It is very small but I do not see anything out of the ordinary for the number lights on the door.

Regretfully,

Gramps

Click to expand...

Thanks. These are definitely original as they would fit J6 on the sides with the cut line between the door and the sill and have the number 2 but may have never been fitted. I do have a photo of #20 as fitted to the P 3/4 Ferrari so maybe they were made for all the cars and fitted to some??

I'll ask Lee Holman and report.

I can't see what Lee Holman would know about these, however the parts you may be referring to were used on some of the number roundels. They had a special transformer to light the white roundel panels which were electroluminescent panels. They were similar to what the military used for parachute jump spotting. It was a redundancy in case the number lights failed, since the rules required the numbers be visible. I have some photos of the panels being used on a MKIIB and also an original door with the rivets still in place that were used to hold the panels to the door. I may be able to furnish you with additional information if you are interested.

Are these roundels on the 1967 MKIIB of Foyt and Ruby at Sebring the type of lighted roundel we are talking about?

Grandpa said:

Are these roundels on the 1967 MKIIB of Foyt and Ruby at Sebring the type of lighted roundel we are talking about?

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Hi

Yes those are the exact lights I now have. I guess they were never mounted on J6 so they'll go up on the wall. I would Love to be able to light them up so if anyone has info.
on the "transformer" please let me know.

I'd also Love to see photos of them or the original door with rivet holes.

My lights are labled Sebring.

Best

Exoto.com is a website for car models. They have MKIV models which i am sure you are aware. But posted on their website are photos of the cars that they are making. So if you were to click on any MKIV model, they might have a photo of one with the lights.
Evan
This link will bring you to a picture of a MKIV at Sebring with i believe lights on the door.
Exoto Collectibles

Hi Jim,

Are the roundels electroluminescent panels? Only thing is I didn't know EL polymer panels like we have today existed in that form in the 60s. Military secrets and so on aside, our modern EL polymers as we know them now are a lot different from anything previously made or that was possible to make 40 years ago.

Anyhow, if they are EL panels driven by an inverter that takes DC in and puts out a AC frequency that is proper for the panel itself. Now I don't now the specifics of these but I've messed around with various EL panels and have a couple of inverters about you could try if you wished. One is a small unit that runs on four double AAs (could be modified to run on 12V) and I think I have a couple of inverters that run on 12V too.

If interested PM me and I can send one up.

Ron