Ford Two Lite Headlamp Surrounds

After numerous attempts with the Mini Headlights, I decided to try some Ford Two Lite Headlamps.
The Mini headlights are quite large and no matter what I tried were always going to end up pointing slightly outwards. This car is actually very small, it is essentially a Super 7 underneath. The Mini lights over-powered and dominated the front too much and for numerous reasons I just wasn’t happy with them.

When a new 1937-39 Ford two lite clear headlamp lens came up for less than £5 including postage I couldn’t help myself. I’ll have to pay full price for it’s twin, but eBay does through up some timely bargains.

It’s a licensed reproduction made by Vintique Inc. Part No: 78-13060-CL for the Ford Standard.

1937 1938 1939 Ford Car Standard CLEAR Glass Headlight Lens

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Ford Two Lite Bespoke Wing

I grabbed a disc cutter and cut a huge hole in my wing. – The Mini Headlamp was gone
🙁
Luckily the blanking plate only needed minimal work on the shrinker and was quick to tack in place. The gas supplier was still on covid lock-down, so I welded it properly later. A large portion of this in-fill panel will be cut out and removed, so completely welding it would just waste gas and create distortion unnecessarily.

The Ford Two Lite lens employs stainless trim rings, however I want to make my light appear much smaller. These rings make the light appear bigger.

The Mini light was completely aerodynamic. However on this set-up, where the trim piece touches the glass, nothing flows and the curves turn against each other. Using this this trim ring would not just grow the bulge by an inch all around, because of the change in angles it would grow considerably.

You can see in the picture above that the Two Lite surround is only half the size of the patch panel. The line flowing backward from the peak of the glass is now straight and parallel with the edge of the wing. I moved the light up and down, then from side to side before deciding on the position.

I started making the surround out of 2 pieces of second-hand steel. By the time I was happy with the shape and position it probably had close to 20 tiny bits tacked together. – So there’s a strong chance I’ll remake it.

Having placed smaller lights I’m now going to change the profile of the bottom edge of the wing too.

The wing has had a very quick pass through the English Wheel to cure a couple ripples from welding. Realistically it still needs a tons of straightening, before I weld in the new headlight surround.

Headlamp Bezel

The front inch of the surround will be made from a separate and removable piece of stainless. Behind them will be some 7″ headlamps on adjuster rings. I want to put indicators behind the lens’s too but I’m not convinced I’ll have the required viewing angles for the BIVA.