My trip to Centre Gravity this week gave me the chance to call in on Raj and Kam at
Genius of the Lamp (
http://www.geniusofthelamp.co.uk/ ) and drop off the headlights I've been acquiring….
…as many on here will know, with their built in spotlights, the preferred choice of headlight for many racers in the early 70's was the Cibié Biode or Marchal Amplilux combined with SWB buckets and clear Hella headlight lenses…..the plan is to have two sets of headlights….I might go with an orange headlight ring with the Amplilx, chrome with Biodes and then decide which I like best….
…as you can see the Biodes need a fair degree of work….this shouldn't pose a problem for Genius of the Lamp who are one of the world's leading specialists in lamp restorations. These guys aren't just platers but full on professional restorers….most of their work is on pre-1940 lamps, they take stuff that looks like this….
….work their magic…..
…and create items that look like this….
….first introduced here when Mike Moore was restoring his RSR, they did a pretty good job of tidying up his headlights

….
So, a quick couple of questions for the headlight specialists here…
..I have two sets of Biode headlights, probably not matching….one headlight is missing the hole at the top which I assume is for a sidelight?…..when would the headlights have included this sidelight…..I need to decide whether to punch a matching hole or close the other up?..…
…also, one of the four lenses (all for RHD, left side traffic) is clear at the bottom left of the lens and is missing the lined pattern just below 'IODE' as shown here….
….would you have one lens each on a matching set or is this for another use?
I appreciate all feedback.
Cheers,