I like the underside mount but leaves them open to damage.

 

Beautiful car Klaus, and kudos for driving her daily. FWIW, my opinion is that the rectangular fog lights mounted so far outboard spoil the lines. I wonder if you couldn't find a modern, compact fog light that could fit inside the bumpers, between the upper and lower bumper bars, something like this: PIAA

Detail sheet says they are 2 1/8" H x 4 3/4"W

 

Or these, smaller yet at 2 1/8" H.

PIAA 1400 PIAA

 

Or keep 'em round to be in harmony with the headlamps, like these Hella Micro DEs:

 

Well Klaus, you wanted honesty......those lights couldn't look worse, too rectangular, too far outboard and just too ugggh. If they're functional and needed, OK, but visually, no! BTW, I have always loved the "rally" look of super Oscars above the bumper on just about anything. Had a set on my TR6 and even replaced the auxillary lights on a MK9 Jag sedan with them. Good luck with your quest.

 

......those lights couldn't look worse, too rectangular, too far outboard and just too ugggh. If they're functional and needed, OK, but visually, no!

I couldn't have phrased it any better. The front end of the Duetto is just too clean - any tacked-on geegaws just look horribly out of place - Sergio Pinninfarina would be turning over in his grave.

I wonder if you couldn't find a modern, compact fog light that could fit inside the bumpers, between the upper and lower bumper bars

If you absolutely have to have fog lights, this is a good idea.

 

Thanks guys for all your responses and honest comments. As you may have figured already, I started this thread/quest because I was not so convinced myself about the current fog lights. They are Hellas, by the way.

Originally I wanted them closer towards the center, however (keeping them below the bumper) this would move these fog lights in an even more vulnerable location (actually, the glass would end up in front of the bumper).

I thought about installing lights between the bumper bars as well, but could not find a proper light for this at the time. I have to admit, though, that I did not spend a lot of time investigating this, so I am still educating myself on this issue, generally. I saw some at a regular auto store that would fit well probably, but the lights suck and don't do anything - and then it's really not worth it at all to irritate the classic lines...

I saw some of the lights that you guys proposed - but unfortunately only in a catalogue. I really need to hold the actual lights to the car to decide, particular with the modern looks of the housings. I also prefer yellow fog lights. The other issue is cost: I asked for the price of a PIAA model (in the catalogue) that I sort of could see on the car, but they were almost $200. For that price I could almost go for vintage lights off e-bay - But then I have to deal with vintage light output, I guess...

I'll try to find the picture I saw in one of my books that shows the Spider fully dressed up for rallying in the Alps - pretty cool looking, you'll see.

In the mean time I just keep driving and continue gathering opinions and thoughts - Thanks so much again for all your responses and suggestions so far.

Thanks,
Klaus

 

I'm with the other dudes, spoils the lines.. Perhaps the smallish ones and a little closer in.

One thing I learned many years ago, and you will remember.. Those Alps drivers had the extra lights mounted fairly high. If you are after lights that will assist you in the Pacific Northwest, you'll need to get them up, you're already sitting pretty close to the ground. I experienced switch-back driving on the French/German boarder and very foggy conditions. Drivers in this region ALL had those yellow lens's and the aim point was usually towards the passenger side of the road. Monochromatic light is a little better at piercing fog. So, there's something else to consider.



KKKKFL

 

Low and wide is the preffered method for true fog driving, unless of course you're putting out enough wattage to literally 'melt' the fog as you move through it. Otherwise, all higher stuff does is refract off the vertical fog bank making for less vision yet.

Words from Daniel Stern regarding fog lamps, and there's several other folks infobits scattered through out the forum.

As to the different sizes and shapes, hit up a local Advance Auto, Auto Zone or NAPA as they generally have a fair selection of shapes and sizes on the shelf.
Granted you might not find a specific name brand, but at least you can physically see and mabe even hold different stuff as opposed to guestimating based on no more than a catalog picture.

Might even be possible to supply said counter with a p# for the item you actually want and they can order it if its within thier group of suppliers.

EDIT:
Auto Zone does show a set of PIAA fog lights available in/through thier stores, so presumably if you could supply them with a p# for what you wanted in that make, they could likely get it.
The style shown on thier site is this 3 15/16" round

 

Some later model spiders w/fog lamps:

S3 w/Hellas

S4 w/off the shelf Advance Auto lamps (taken during test fitting)

S3 w/multiple big Cibies

 

I think that I would go a different route. I would get a set of the Euro spec round H4 headlights, and put in a set of HID H4 conversion bulbs (with ballasts, etc.) from ebay.

The Euro lights have a sharp, cutoff with a low pattern that slants up on the right side. IME, this works well in fog and gives much better lighting all around. The HIDs run at 35W, but give the light of a much higher wattage halogen, so it is easy on the electrical system (except for the inrush current at startup).

FWIW, you can find "bixenon HIDs" with a solenoid that shifts the bulb in the housing to work as high and low beams. These are simple and seem to work pretty well. You can find the whole setup for less than $100. I would stay with 4300K color temperature or 6000K at the most. Higher than that gets too purple and actually lessens the "usable" light given off.

Just something to consider...

 

Hid's are fine but do not forget they need (for most models) at least 13 Vdc to start up. So take care, if there's not enough voltage, you will have to increase the thickness of the wiring. For me 4300 K give the best results.
I installed similar fog lights mounted on my old 911, and I had to attach an adjustable long screw between the spoiler and the rear of the lights to avoid the unpleasant vibrations and adjust easily the best position.
The lights you installed seem to me a little too large and not enough simple.

 

Be sure to use a relay when installing the lights. The lights I have are period correct, but I would like to replace them with some LED lights in the grille area. Less heat and power draw.

 

Conclusion....

If the weatherman is right I will be able to take out the AR under sunny/dry sky tomorrow or sometime in the next few days which allows me to take and share a picture of the fog lights I ended up installing. Don't worry: The large Hellas are gone!

Since your comments and thoughts overwhelmingly confirmed my wife's opinion ("They are butt-ugly - I told you so!"), I was able to free myself of any financial contraints [=Wife (with a very, very complaining undertone in her voice): "How much did this cost?!!"] and went out to correct the face of my Spider - to make her happy, of course. No questions asked! And for this, my friends, I wanna thank you!

For now, I still owe you the picture that actually inspired me to consider and install fog lights (besides having been a Stealth-Alfa on mornings in Fall and Winter here in the beautiful Northwest too many times):

 

It looks like the old Porsche 911 !

 

I like the looks of these lights (the car has alot to do with it!). The pre-67 Citroen DS had similar lights as well. Wonder how they would look on a Boattail Spider...

 

Conclusion Part 2

Here we go. Pictures of my Spider after installing the new foglights. As you can see, I accounted for a lot of your suggestions and advice. They are PIAA Series 2000 (yellow) lights and fit perfectly between the bumper brows. Thanks again for all your comments.

 

That looks much more betterer.
Have you had oppertunity to aim them, or even try them out?

 

For now I aimed them "over the thumb", so to say. I tried them on my way to work this morning, and so far they appear to be phantastic lights. Probably the aim is a bit on the high side right now, but: The grarge where it is currently parked is a perfect location to correctly aim them, so this will happen today.

 

They look great! My Hella 500 fogs I believe say to adjust them 25 feet from a wall. In the past, I usually have taped masking tape at the correct height and gone from there.

 

I found these several years ago. They have 160 W H1 bulbs (hard to find today) and put out a lot of light, and are connected with relays to a new switch in the dash. I even added a yellow indicator light (from an XKE) next to the blue hi-beam indicator in the dash itself.

Today I might choose a driving light in stead of the wide beam of the fog set.

Robert

 

Today I might choose a driving light in stead of the wide beam of the fog set.

Robert

I would like a set of 1 each. That would be a big help out here in the sticks...

 

My regular headlights are Hella Euro Halogene Headlights and provide very good light output, in general, low and high beam work very well. I think I bought them through IAP. So driving lights - under normal conditions - have not been a problem form me, fortunately.
BTW: Here is a link to the specs of the fog lights I ended up installing: PIAA
They are also wired through a relay and a new switch on the dash. In order to avoid drilling a new hole into the dash, I moved the dash light toggle switch (lower toggle switch on the left side of the instrument pod) underneath the dash and installed the fog light switch instead (I used a GTV fog light toggle switch for this - looks very original). No control light yet...

 

Very nice indeed. Good work!

 

Right-left is easy for fogs, since the beams are as much as 120 degrees wide. Up-down just needs to be 'down'. That is the top of the sharp (?) cut-off line needs to be lower than the installed height of the light. How much lower is a bit subjective.

Robert

 

My 70 spider ( I know there werent any) had Cibie driving lights mounted under the front bumper. worked out fine and looked good too.