Lucas Square 8

C

ComputerMan

Member
OK, what's the deal with these? Started looking around for a set, and realised that a pair consists of one fog and one spot... So, which is supposed to go on which side?

I've bagged a couple of pairs of the chrome backed ones, so is there any reason why I shouldn't have two fogs, or two spots? Clearly the lenses are different, but are the reflectors also different? And are they interchangeable?

In other words if I pick the best two lamp bodies, can I make them either spots or fogs simply by changing the lenses? Or maybe the reflectors too?

There is a fog switch, so presumably there is wiring somewhere... Is it fairly straightforward?

Lastly, any thoughts on LED conversion on these? I've kept the headlights as halogen, on separate relays so they don't look too 'wrong' but the spogs (see what I did there?) won't be used so often, and might benefit from some extra brightness...
 
Traditionally in a fog/spot combination the fog was meant to go on the nearside to help you see the edge of the road in dense fog, and the spot was to give you a longer range offside forward illumination since old headlamps weren't too powerful. If you've upgraded your headlamps anyway, I think I'd go for two fogs. I can't see any difference in the reflectors and they seem to be interchangeable. Wiring is already in the loom and there are instructions and pictures on the forum ( but I'm not skilled in finding you a link to the thread, sorry). No idea about LEDs but others here will know. I got a set of chrome backs with early covers years ago, queried on the forum why I could find a live feed wire but no earth, and assumed someone had at sometime fiddled with the wiring. I later discovered that in my case to be period-correct the car needed Cibié 90s, which earth through the body. Check in case you need the same when you find the thread. Eventually got a pair of those hen's teeth, never go out in bad weather so never switch them on and with covers in place you can't tell fog from spot anyway. But I think they look good!
 
Thanks - that's cleared that up! I'll get them in the next week or so, and might indeed go with two fogs! Just need to make some brackets!
 
I got my brackets from Wadhams. Just had to ream out the holes from Square 8 size to suit the Cibiés. Info on this forum on fitting brackets too, and pictures. I must get better at locating old threads and using links. (I’m better on theory: as they say, there are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don’t) !
 
I always thought the spot went on the nearside to illuminate the side of the road ahead and the fog went on the offside to spread a beam across the road in front of you? I am not old enough to remember and never had a car with them on though!! Either way it is not really relavant these days as I expect you will never get as far as taking the plastic covers off, let alone actually turn them on!!

Having looked on eBay though they are a ridiculous price! People are asking hundreds of pounds for some quite tatty lights!
 
Do a quick search on this forum and you’ll find that others agree that fog went n/s and spot o/s. I suppose those of us who agree all have bus passes, and maybe are getting TOO old to remember! But as you say, who takes the covers off anyway? I’m hanging on to my Square 8s as an investment in current economic circumstances, and also in case I can ever hide another P6 from the wife.
 
If there was only one fog light, it used to be fitted on the nearside.

Quite often cars would only have one foglight, and it would be fitted on the nearside, for the reasons already mentioned, for example the Rover 90 P4s of the mid-50s had one foglight as standard , fitted on the nearside. Some police forces in the 60s only fitted one foglight to the Jaguars, again on the nearside.

Many cars had a foglight position on the lighting controls and the idea was that the headlamps were extinguished, due to light scatter, and the flat topped-beam of the foglight(s) used instead. That was still the situation with one of my late-70's cars, two Lucas Square-8 foglights.

Combining one fog and one spotlight could be argued to be self-defeating, as the light-scatter from the spotlight could still cause the driver problems. I don't agree that 'back-in-the-day' a pair was considered one of each. The idea of spotlights was to provide a longer-range pencil beam of light to supplement the headlights, hence often being wired to come on with main-beam headlights. Just look at some Ford Granadas from the 70s/80s; headlights, pair of foglights under the bumper, pair of additional 'driving lights' (spots), mounted above the bumper and wired to work in conjunction with main-beam headlights.

Later, cars then tended to have 4-headlights, two dip/main, two main-only (effectively replacing spots) and sometimes (std or optional) a pair of fogs mounted under the bumper.

The reality now is that fog is less-common than it was, headlights have better beam patterns and foglights/spots are less common.

Eta: typo
 
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Interesting points all! I bagged a couple of pairs of the chrome-backed ones, so I could go with two fogs or two spots, and cherry pick the best condition two. One set has arrived, look not bad, just need a bit of a clean.

Has anyone ever had both? Would that look rubbish, or amazing? One of each either side of the over-rider?
 
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