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Fog light and Parking Light Questions

Started by D. Mailan, March 21, 2021, 10:24:30 PM

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D. Mailan

Hi everyone,

I have a 1956 Cadillac that has Parking lights. I purchased a clean, functional pair of Fog light buckets and planing on installing them soon. I have a few questions:

-Has anyone converted their Cadillac from Park to Fog lights before (any year)?

-Since I do not plan on changing the light switch, is it possible to connect the fog lights to the park light feed instead?

-If the fog light draws more amperage, would connecting the Fog light wire to the park light wire be safe? Has anyone done that before?

-How important is adjusting the fog lights? 

-Are the fog light covers necessary?

Thank you!
Derick

Cadillac Fleetwood

#1
Converting to fog lamps will require that the switch be changed, to the switch which has what is known as the "fog box", which contains the switch and the wiring to power the fog lights.  On a '56, and other years, the fog lamps are operated by a chrome toggle on the light switch, which is concentric with the pull knob and shaft that operates the parking lamps and headlamps.  Thus, DO PLAN ON CHANGING THE SWITCH.

The fog lamp system contains two bulbs:  a normal bulb that acts as the parking light and directional signal indicator. The much larger bulb is the fog lamp bulb, which is retained in the fixture by a disk which engages lugs in the lamp assembly.  If memory serves, this was a GE 1044 bulb.  There are reproductions which are available, but they are shaped somewhat differently, and may not retain the lamp covers properly. The covers are not absolutely necessary, but are an authentic touch.

Fog lamps  on these cars were not designed to be adjusted in any way; there is no provision to "aim" or adjust them.  Yes, you will need the chrome bezels, fog lamp lenses, and gaskets, which are necessary, and are specific to 1956. They are not optional, but mandatory.

You will not have properly functioning fog lamps if you attempt to connect the fog lamp wires to the parking lamp wires, because when properly wired, each lamp system functions independently of the other.

There are a number of 1956 experts here whose knowledge is top-notch (lexi, cadman-iac, james landi immediately come to mind, and others as well), who will likely contribute to this post, and clear up anything that I've left out.

Charles Fares
Forty-Five Years of Continuous Cadillac Ownership
1970 Fleetwood Brougham
1969 DeVille Convertible
1989 Fleetwood

"The splendor of the most special occasion is rivaled only by the pleasure of journeying there in a Cadillac"

Roger Zimmermann

Quote from: Cadillac Fleetwood on March 22, 2021, 01:00:52 AM

Fog lamps  on these cars were not designed to be adjusted in any way; there is no provision to "aim" or adjust them.  Yes, you will need the chrome bezels, fog lamp lenses, and gaskets, which are necessary, and are specific to 1956. They are not optional, but mandatory.

The fog lamps can be adjusted by loosing the bolt at the back of the assembly; there is a provision to move the reflector up or down. They are nice to have, but absolutely useless. I still have 2 cars with them; as I wrote, nice decor.
From the headlamp switch design, if you are connecting the fog  bulb to the wiring for the parking light, you will have a brighter parking light which will go off when the headlamps are used. I would myself not do that "easy" change, but install the complete set-up with the correct headlamp switch.
1956 Sedan de Ville (sold)
1956 Eldorado Biarritz
1957 Eldorado Brougham (sold)
1972 Coupe de Ville
2011 DTS
CLCMRC benefactor #101

D. Mailan

Quote from: Cadillac Fleetwood on March 22, 2021, 01:00:52 AM

The fog lamp system contains two bulbs:  a normal bulb that acts as the parking light and directional signal indicator. The much larger bulb is the fog lamp bulb, which is retained in the fixture by a disk which engages lugs in the lamp assembly. 

Thank you Charles and Roger,

As I recall from disassembling my Fog units to clean them, the Fog light bulb is a dual element. It acts as the Fog and Directional light. The lower one is the park light. My Fog Bulbs are the GE 1044, and my park bulbs are GE 67. I believe that this is how it came from the factory, not a single element fog bulb with a dual element park light. I am not sure. Does anyone know if this is incorrect?   

J. Gomez

#4
Derick,

That would be correct the 1044 has two filaments one is the fog and the second is for the turn signal.

Just to add to Roger and Charles feedback, the fog light was an add-on/option and the wiring for those was separately from the main headlight/turn signal hardness, so they had a separate switch.

There is a draw back on adding these to the same parking lights wire one the additional draw on the single 18AWG wire will be stretching the limits with all parking and fog bulbs.

The small brass caps on the 1044 are more as a decoration they do not provide much of refraction for the light as the 1044 bulbs are pre-focus.

Good luck.
J. Gomez
CLC #23082

Lexi

#5
Yes, Fog Lights were a dealer add on at a suggested retail price of $36.75 in 1956, as per the October 24th, 1955, notice; "1956 Cadillac Dealers Packaged Accessories Price List" (for all models of Cadillac). I also found a schematic that shows the 2 styles of parking lamp assemblies offered that year, (with and without Fog Lights). See attached especially the bottom picture for what the 1956 Fog Light unit consisted of.

The light switch was different as Charles has noted, it has a "fog box" attached, which is the switch that controls the Fog lights. This effectively extended the "length" of the head light switch, so a longer pull switch (rod) was required to operate. See attached image & note the gold box closest to the pull knob. Exploded, the entire switch is pictured in the next photo.

I think Jose is referring to the violet wire (looks purple) that is the dealer ad on for the Fog Lights, and runs outside the main wiring harness, and not crossed nor connected to such (see attached diagram). He actually pointed this out to me years ago, (all I had to do was read the wiring diagram!). For what its worth I believe Jose also warned about any upgrade with LEDs as the turn signal system would be disrupted due to the nature of the ground and how LEDs worked, as well as the flasher unit. Probably easier to stay with incandescent bulbs as originally used. Last image attached shows what I believe are a pair of 1956 headlight switches, one with and one without the "fog box". Clay/Lexi

Note: After several edit attempts, this post was truncated, an issue noted by the webmaster earlier. So hope what is here helps.

Cadman-iac

Derek,
  I would have to echo what the others have said here. You definitely want to use the original switch, as the system was designed to be able to operate one or the other, fog lights or park lights,  not both at once.  The gage of wire in the original harness is not sufficient enough to carry the load from both systems at once. And if memory serves, the fuse for the park lights is not large enough either.
Without the fog light option, the park lights are connected directly to the park, or "P" terminal on your headlight switch.
With the option, the fog and park lights use the same fuse and power feed, and when you have the original switch, it comes with a short jumper wire that goes from the headlight switch park terminal to the fog light switch center terminal, (or fog box as it's been referred to here). Then the wire that normally connects to the park terminal is rerouted to the fog switch. The fog switch has 3 terminals, 2 are connected in each position, on and off.
  With the fog light switch in the off position, your park lights will operate normally when the headlight switch is pulled out to the first position. If you turn on the fog switch, it redirects the power flow to the fog lights and breaks contact with the park lights. Once the headlight switch is pulled out completely, the park/fog lights are disconnected inside the headlight switch and only the headlights operate.
Hope this helps explain things a bit. Good luck with your fog lights, I think they are a nice option to have, even if they are not all that effective.

   Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

D. Mailan

#7
Thank you to everyone who has replied,

The thoughts, pictures and input have helped out a lot. For now, I've decided to install the Fog Light buckets and only connect the park lights and directional signals. Getting the Fog light bulbs operational will have to wait till I get a Fog light switch and run the violet wire. As many of you have said, the Fog lights are more decoration then functionality. On my other '56, an all original Seville, the Fog Lights do not do much other than giving you a good picture.

Thank you again.

D. Mailan

Thank you again for everyones response,

I finnaly got a chance to install the fog lights and they look great!

Thank you again,

Derick

Lexi


Cadman-iac

Those look great! Good job. Now you just need to get a switch for them. 
Beautiful car too, I like that color.

Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"

D. Mailan

My Dad and Grandfather did a near frame off on our '56 about 15 years ago. Everything worked on it and it was better than showroom. (The only thing they forgot was to add was fog lights). It originally Duchess green over Princess green. My mom chose a 2001 VW Lemon yellow with a 1977 Ford poly green metallic top! The color is very stunning.

The fog switch will have to wait for the dash to come out.

Thanks,
Derick

Lexi

Nice color and snappy two tone. Gold grille really sets it off. It reminds me of my old 1956 Cadillac CDV which was factory "cape Ivory". That was yellow, but a canary-pastel like yellow. Probably best to just remove the top dash pad to gain adequate access to the headlight switch area. No need to remove the entire dash unless you have other things to do there. Clay/Lexi

Hillbillycat

Hi, I second Lexi´s suggestion. Had the top dash off this winter on my ´56 to get access to the fuel gauge.

And hey, my ´56 SdV is the exact same two tone color like yours was originally :)

D. Mailan

Thank you,

The car originally came with the gold grille. Duchess and princess green is a very beautiful color, especially for a '56! When we painted this car we wanted to paint it cape ivory with a duchess green top. It was too pastel and flat and we decided on the colors now.   
The shop manual for these cars are sometimes deceptive in the extent of difficulty certain things can get. Especially since these cars are over 60 years old and many times you can break something else while trying to fix another. It is much easier to work behind the dash with all that extra space. 

Derick