Ford Prefect Hot Rod - I have seen the lights.

The lights look fine, the flip front bonnet less so, it's going to take a lot of work to make that right.

Regular readers will know that my hot rod build is a budget one with parts coming from all over the place. The trend these days seems to be towards cheque book builds where various experts are paid vast sums of money to do their specialist thing, it's not unusual for a car to cost 50k plus to build. There is no doubt that some beautiful cars are created that way, some of these  specialists are absolutely incredible but as I said, their work comes at a price, one I simply can't afford. Mine is a whole different kettle of fish, I am trying to do everything myself on a budget, like it was 50 years ago. Back then your mates would come round and a few beers were consumed while Dave did the welding, Del had a go at the wiring and Steve made the brackets that the engine mounted to. They all had their own rods and everybody helped everybody.

My approach takes a lot of time as I wait for things to come up at the right price - the engine complete with carbs was only 150 quid but I had to go to Hemel Hempstead to get it and then I had to strip and rebuild it. The gearbox came from Wales, at just 40 quid it was worth paying a courier to get it, the same guy sold me a prop shaft for just 20 quid - thanks Jeff.

Anyway where this takes me is that I have been searching for a pair of headlights for ages now, I have scoured every auto jumble, searched every on line market place and come up with nothing. Then, last week, I did a search on ebay and spotted a really bad advert for a pair of lights at just 30 quid on an auction. The photos were really bad and the description vague but I felt I could see enough to suggest they were IVA compliant and that they would do the job. A last minute bid secured them for just 31 quid plus the post- a similar pair brand new could cost about 180, they are larger than the average units and came complete with reflectors, bulbs etc.

They took a week to get here but when they did arrive I was surprised at how heavy the box was, much more than I expected. I have to say I am delighted with them, the shells seem to be good thick material and the lenses have the prisms in to give the correct UK light pattern, I tested them and they look fine. An added bonus is that they have the side lights built in, which saves me a good few quid in not having to have separate items. the wiring is already in place up to the front of the car, I will need to build a sub loom inside the flip front to get power from there up to the lights, the indicators and the side repeaters, which I have yet to purchase. Side repeaters are needed as the IVA test requires the indicators to be seen from a 5 degree angle from behind the car, quite why this is required when there are indicators front and rear is beyond me but them's the rules.

While I was at it I thought I would make brackets for the reverse and fog lights and wire them in, the wiring from the front of the car back had long been done, I just had to add connectors and then test everything out. Some of you may recall that the fog light needs a control box due to the way IVA insists they have to work, they must reset automatically when you turn the lights off. Sometimes that's done via mechanical means but in my case it needed a simple control box, it works perfectly, I won't get a fail on that. It is important that both lights are mounted vertically, there are a few rules regarding acceptable positions, this diagram has proved to be most useful: