The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1939 Chevy parking light question

Hi, I have a '39 VD 1½ ton and I noticed my headlight buckets have a hole and screw in the top of them. Is that for marker or parking lights? Does anyone know what goes there if not? I seem to have a hard time finding details for the '39 than the later '41 to '46.
Any help is appreciated

Libby007 - None of the trucks pictured in this original 1939 Chevrolet Truck Line dealer handout show any kind of add on or marker light on the top side of the headlight pods. Perhaps a fellow '39 owner can sheds some light on their headlight pods having/not having the same hole and screw as yours?

There are lots of '39's in the Gallery (the old Gallery at the top of the page, not the Gallery forum below). None of the ones I looked at had any kind of parking light on top of the headlights.
I didn't check them all. Maybe take a look over there.

Here is a link to the “Legacy” Gallery for 36-40 Trucks, that Rich is talking about.

Well not much luck on the picture page, may have to chalk this one up to the fact my truck was once a firetruck and might have been a modification a station did. Currently in the process of doing over my earlier "driveway restoration" and will be turning this from a flatbed to a dumptruck. I think i have a set of the fender mount lights in my grandfathers parts boxes somewhere.
Thanks for the help everyone!

Remember, sealed beam headlights did not become universal until 1940. I am not certain but I think from your picture your headlight has been converted to a sealed beam. My '37 had a separate low wattage bulb inside the lens. The reflector had two bulb sockets; one in the middle for the dual filament headlight and one near the top for the parking light. Perhaps the '39 had this same arrangment.

Kent

My 1939 had the same parking light as described above on lightholder's 37. I have since converted to sealed beam and no current parking light.

They are sealed beam so I believe you are correct, in looking for pictures of '37 chevy headlights with the parking light I found an ebay listing for '39-40 headlights with small parking lights attached. That is probably what belongs on mine. Thanks for the information, hopefully I can find some in the parts shed now that I have an idea of what to look for.

Libby007,
I looked in my Chevrolet parts book and the 37-39 truck headlights are all the same. That is good news in that you don't need to find just '39 parts. I am confused as there is an illustration that shows a "sub body" that looks like it goes into the headlight proper and is labelled for only 38 and 39 but not 37. Yet the whole assembly is listed as for 37-39. My truck doesn't have that part. You will need reflectors (which often come with the bulb sockets) reflector and lens seals (I believe material to make these can be obtained from some of the vendors) and proper lenses (called "Tilt-Ray"). Car headlight parts from the same years are different diameter and won't work so be sure if you buy something it is for a truck. Originally the headlight bucket was connected via a unique connector containing the three contacts (for parking light, high beam and low beam). During assembly I am sure this was a quick way to wire the bucket but over time you have 3 connections exposed to the elements resulting in corrosion and poor performance. I opted to hard wire mine as I could not find reproduction connectors. The main bulb is a 2530, if my memory serves me well and you can also use a 2330. Do not use bulbs with an odd number (i.e. 2531) as the bulb will mount 90 degrees off, which screws up the alignment of the bulb with the reflector and lens. Those odd number ones are for Chrysler vehicles and perhaps others.

After completion I found the headlights produced a very nice bright beam straight down the road. But when you go to turn all you see is darkness, as there is very little lateral or horizontal light produced. All part of the "charm" of driving these old trucks.

Kent

Thank you for the invaluable information. I wouldn't have known anything about these without your help. Now I have a chance of sourcing parts for them in the future and know that car and truck parts do not interchange.

‘37-39 are interchangeable (stands are not). ‘40 was the first year for sealed beams with the small diameter. I’m not sure you have original headlight buckets. Could be the angle and not able to see the profile. The rings should be stainless (doesn’t rust) and pulls together at the bottom with a horizontal screw and doesn’t have a visible screw at the top to mount. Regardless, when turn signals came out in ‘40 aftermarket companies went after the business and I’ve seen a lot of pod marker lights added to earlier buckets on all vehicle brands. In my opinion, which doesn’t amount to a lot I don’t like the looks of the sealed beam aftermarket kits that were used on earlier buckets as it loses the profile of the big iconic lenses. I purchased new tilt ray lenses from the filling station and reproduction reflectors with halogen bulbs from Jim Carter…