Evening auto show prep.

JimD

JimD

Waiting for Godot...
Moderator
The local Fiat club wants to attend an evening auto show this weekend. I figured I would have some fun with a set of the $10 Fiat door beams from Amazon. Well... they are worth $10 I guess. It better be pretty dark in the parking lot, lasers they are not. They are also a little large IMHO for attaching to the door card of an X permanently. Also, leaving your doors open at a crowded show isn't always a good idea. I decided to make some brackets to hang over the bumper blocks on the front of the car.
20180815_093539.jpg

I "fabricated" the brackets by shoving 1/2 steel strapping into a 5/8 heater hose, then bending to the necessary shape. Then I used 3M foam tape to affix the lights to the bracket. The hose will keep it from scratching the car... hopefully. The brackets hang nicely over the blocks and can be bent as needed to align the emblems.

Did I get $10 worth of fun from this effort? I will let you know after the show. :)
 
I have contemplated designing a pair of these for the side mirrors with either the vintage round Fiat badge, or the silhouette design that someone has in a sticker on here someone. It has basically the contours outlined like some fat pin striping designs would look. I've seen sites where you could provide a design and the cost is by number of colors and quantity I think.

Has anyone taken apart the side mirrors to see if there is room to fit these? Or maybe under the arm rests would be less work.
 
Although these might be considered one of the typical gadgets a "rice burner" or "boy racer" or whatever other category might have, I admit they are kind of neat in a way. Something of a 'courtesy light' for entering/exiting the vehicle like many newer cars have. But with a custom touch.
 
The lambo I got a ride in a couple weeks ago had these door lights. Much more powerful as I could see it in the garage at noon. I looked around the web some more and found there are led lights that hook into the cars door power. You need to drill a hole to install the light. I will find a link.

Here is a link to a 12v/LED set Amazon. There are options on Ebay as well. These look like a better way to go for a long term feature. The set I bought is good if you just want a temporary installation.
 
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Jimbo, what's different about the ones in your link vs the ones you bought? Surface mount vs hole mount? Or is the light element different also? To be honest I've only seen the hole (through door) mount before, so did not notice that yours are different.
Also, did the Lamo have them with a logo, or a plain light?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Jimbo, what's different about the ones in your link vs the ones you bought? Surface mount vs hole mount? Or is the light element different also? To be honest I've only seen the hole (through door) mount before, so did not notice that yours are different.
Also, did the Lamo have them with a logo, or a plain light?
Click to expand...
The Lambo had a beautiful emblem with nice color. It was, as it should be, a high quality unit.

The units I bought are low powered, battery operated (3 AAA to be exact), but on the plus side, cheap. I bought them on a whim, but I wish I had seen the LED units. Now I am tempted. I know my daughter would love a set on her 500.
 
Got it, I didn't catch those differences on yours before. It made me curious so I just looked on eBay. Wow, the market for these has really expanded since I first saw them (maybe a year ago?). Back then they were all the "in-door / hardwire" type. Now there are lots of mounting options/types.

Custom fit for replacement in vehicles that already have courtesy lights, but want to add a logo:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1x-M-Logo-LED-Step-Door-Courtesy-Welcome-Light-Laser-Shadow-Projector-for-BMW/162769587023?hash=item25e5d2cb4f:g:7fIAAOSwzXxaFcRO&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3

Externally mounted with a aluminum housing - might be good for temporary 'show' use:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcycle-Car-3D-LED-Ghost-Logo-Laser-Projector-Light-Shadow-Door-Spotlight/132494499656?hash=item1ed9499f48:g:eek:t0AAOSwAWlad9x9&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3

You can change the image on yours by swapping the image card - finally you can have your desired Batman logo AND the Fiat one:
EDIT - I posted the wrong link. Here is the right one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-Wirel...467941?hash=item54500fd5e5:g:4xAAAOSwynRZ057n

And the in-door / hardwired ones with either.....
The Abarth logo:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/JAEL-Door-Welcome-Ghost-Light-For-ABARTH-LOGO-Projector-Puddle-Laser-Light/162670718736?hash=item25dfee2f10:g:7AMAAOSw0h9Zt1cZ&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3

Or the Fiat logo:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sale-Car-Door-5thGen-LED-Projector-Welcome-Logo-Ghost-Shadow-Light-for-FIAT-Logo/302470838193?fits=Make:Fiat&hash=item466caab7b1:g:EigAAOSwhvFZGVS0&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3
And:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-Wired-for-FIAT-Auto-Door-Welcome-Light-Car-LED-Logo-Laser-Projector-Lights/173331419977?fits=Make:Fiat&epid=15019780486&hash=item285b5b9349:g:i6IAAOSwc~5bBS5O&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=3
 
Follow up. The weather was really nice for August in STL. It was overcast with a breeze as a storm was rolling in from the west for later that night. However, I didn't get $10 worth of fun out of theses lights. We left the show before it got dark.

The lot was full of youngsters in their hopped up late model rides. After about an hour, they started blaring "music" which to my old ears was nothing but a bass line. It was literally giving me a headache, so my buddy and I made our exit after a couple hours. Most of the "older" cars and owners did likewise.

I wasn't the only Italian car. Someone brought an Alfa 4c, but I never saw a driver get out and never saw anyone near the car again for the 2 hours I was there. There was an Mazda AutoZam AZ1 present which was fun to see up close.

My 85X got a decent amount of attention. The puzzled looks on the youthful faces is always entertaining. I got a couple "Man that is cool, what the hell is it?" comments, which are always a good teaching moment. One young lady was stunned there was no engine in the car, "Is it electric?". She said she had never encountered a car without an engine in the front. ;)

I was parked next to a beautiful 1968 Chevelle that was really well done, not over done. One youngster came up and said how much he liked the owner's Impala. The owner said, its not an Impala, it is a Chevelle. So the youth says, "Oh, so its a Malibu". Which I saw as an innocent bit of "trim level" confusion for the youngster, but the owner was having none of it. A tense moment ensued... on the part of the owner at least... the kid seemed oblivious to the tension and wandered away puffing on his vaping device.

I will say it is nice to have the 85 looking good and driving well. Taking it to shows in primer was getting old quickly.
 
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