MTFCA Forum

I want to put turn signals on my 23coupe . What are you guys using for lights and brackets?

As much as I like the extra "insurance" that turn signals provide, especially after dark, I cannot bring myself to install them on our '21 Touring or our '28 A Coupe. I hate the look of ANY add-on lights. They ruin the looks of the cars, in my eyes. If I find some magnetic or clamp-on lights that could be installed and then removed without damaging the cars I would probably use them. Otherwise I will run without them. just my .02 worth.

I used 2 of these on the front.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-Red-Ambe ... SwuOZeUZgm
You just make a lightwieght L bracket and honestl,I used a very strong 3M double sided tape to put them on the bumper brackets and you can see them,but they are not "out there" to ruin the looks of the T. BUT any LED that you use,you will need to use a electronic flasher instead of a Thermal flasher as the current draw from LED is not enough to prompt the thermal flasher to work.
You can see them below the headlights.

I have a 22 coupe. In the interest of safety, (with today's idiot drivers) I searched ebay and found these two antique arrow directionals to use on the front. They are 4 inches in diameter. I made the stalks out of steel round stock and flat bar, and a bit of welding, to mount them under the same nut that holds the headlight stem to the fender bracket.
They almost look like they should be there, and fool onlookers since they are not modern plastic things.


For the rear, I bought 2 reproduction 37 Ford tail lights, and made the mounting brackets out of steel round stock, that I heated cherry red, and wrapped around a 6 inch piece of steel pipe to get the nice curve. I welded plates to each end to attach them under the body and to the directional housings. I have LEDs in both front and rear lights. And the rear has brake and tail lights. As you can see, the pine trees are having sex in Mississippi, and everything is yellow!

The last photo is a detailed shot of how I made the rear brackets.

I mounted my fronts in the same place. The rears I mounted above and below the cross sill on the back of my Huckster. I am running LED's for tail/brake lights and tungsten for turn signals. Only issue I am having right now, with the tail lights on, I am getting signal feed back when the turn signals are on, both tail/brake lights flicker when on.

For my turn signals I wanted something that looked reasonably period correct. I found my rear lights on Ebay and the fronts at a swap meet. For the fronts I mounted them under the headlights and used the plates from shackles as brackets. For the rears I bent some bar stock and clamped it to the spare tire carrier. I found the switch assembly on Ebay. I think I paid about ten bucks for it.

I neglected to mention that I bought from Restoration supply, a self cancelling turn signal magic box, that I am really pleased with. You can find it here: https://restorationstuff.com/

And, I bought off of Fleabay an old add on directional switch for the steering column and used it after replacing all the original wires on it. I machined down some aluminium on the lathe and parted it off to make a thick disk, and I cut a "V" in the side of it, and finished forming it with a file to fit the steering column, so the mounting clamp for the directional would seat properly on the steering column.

Most of the turn lights I see are ugly IMHO. I think most of the arrow lights you find came off of school buses. My speedster had these cool period turnlights. I've never seen another pair in captivity. Why doesn't someone reproduce these, so we can have safety without ugly?

In today’s motoring world an arm signal for ‘right turn’ (or 'left' in the US) or ‘stop’ is often cheerily replied to with a friendly wave or sometimes another gesture that is not really nice..... The fact is today’s other road user has most likely never seen hand signals before, and probably can’t locate the relevant page in the Road Code either. That becomes a worry when you are actually making that turn across the lanes!

One should move with the reality of the times I guess – at least as far as indicators go.

Herein lies a conflict as I like my cars to be as ‘original’ as I can get them while installing easy to see ‘blinkers’. That means choosing the 'best' of what you can find and installing components where they are clearly seen but also meet your aesthetics. So I guess no two installs will the the same.

On a more technical note here is a wiring diagram I used for my TT truck (apologies to technical folk, this is my shade tree approach) I tried to keep the blinker lights away from (what there is of) the standard T wiring circuit:

One change to this is I deleted the fancy column switch as it fell apart internally when in use so I use a simple "on-off-on" switch with a light built in. The wiring stays much the same.

This is the (simpler) wiring diagram I used on my (horror) non-T (1924 Morris) that shows the 'on-off-on' switch wiring a bit more clearly:

Mark check your grounds very well,the brake and turn are trying to ground thru the tailights.
Here is what is on the rear of my pickup.The red lens was busted out of it,I used the red lens repair tape from Advance auto and it seems to be holding up well.Double layered,stuck to it's self.

My Betsy came with the turn signals available from the vendors. The front ones are on little angle brackets that bolt to the front fender irons and the rear ones are on long stalks that space them down from the rear of the frame so that they can be seen even though they are tucked up below the pickup bed. I have a Signal Stat 700 on the steering column to control them, so my horn button is on the RH side of the steering column. I also have a couple of Auto Zone reflectors attached to the tailgate.

I am thinking grounds also. The main ground to tail/brake lights (turn signals too) comes right off the battery as everything is mounted to wood.

I have the possible advantage with a flatbed TT of being a little more "forgiving"
in terms of aesthetics, for adding turn signals. At least out back. I went with a
similar period fixture. I was not concerned with doing anything up front at first,
but later found some very small period fixtures that I can make almost invisible.

The next step was how to make it not obnoxious in the cab. I started with a
horn button housing and through a lot of trial and error, found a 3-point switch
that could fit inside it AND mount to the horn button housing. But a modern toggle
switch was not going to cut it, so I made a miniature version of a spark/throttle
lever and mated it to the toggle workings.

Not sure if the T cars are as noisy inside as a TT, but driving around with a blinker
on is as useless as having no blinkers at all, so I thought I'd complicate this one step
further and place some micro-tiny diode lights at the bottom edge of the dash that
will blink with each side, since I could never hear a sounder. And for good measure,
picked up a "STOP" light to work in with a switch on the brake pedal.

Next up is wiring harness to link it all together.

I’ve been thinking magnetic attached and wireless.

So far I’ve only found bicycle size, but still looking.

May need to invent something.

Really don’t want to put something permanent and out of place on my restored Fordor.

These are ELights. Only protect the rear. They have a sequential arrow and a 4 way flasher.

My electrical skills are challenged even by the simple system on a Model T so perhaps the answer to this question is obvious but it certainly escapes me! Why can't the e-lights be designed to operate two signal units so you could have one on the front and back using the same controller?

I didn’t see anything requiring pairing to the controller, so they might all be on the same wireless ?

Anyone have 2 ?

They have worked well for me, using the detachable bracket for autos. The lights themselves are much cheaper purchasing the ‘bicycle’ version, and the auto bracket separately.

As posted elsewhere here today i coverted my sidelamps to led in a way that is reversible in about two seconds to petroleum again, and i affixed a white board with two wingnuts and a trailer connector plug, on the board are a couple of reflectors and brake and direction lights, the board can be taken off in seconds and everything is back to original in a jiffy if i am on a car show.
Safety first !

Robert and Paul: 2 comments re the Egypt wireless lamps, from experience.
1. Be careful about their mounting on the rear. The fixture CAN, and WILL, eventually work
its way loose! A friend of mine lost his within a month of useage. As you remove/replace the
fixture, the mounting bracket "tensioner" gets weak, and it vibrates loose. If you've ever
followed a car with these lamps on the rear, you will see how much they "dance"...
You need to use either some wire or plastic cable ties to wrap around the unit and the bracket
so you don't lose it down the road. I've had mine "dangle" from them once arriving back home.

2. Out of 4 units on 4 cars overall, I've only had a 50% success rate. My only car now that
has one is my '13 Touring, and half of the time I don't even turn it on, as it will eventually
just start to act crazy. Like not turn on when you push the button, or when it does, it
won't turn OFF! I've returned to Egypt Garage, they couldn't find anything wrong. I've given up.
My '25/26 Fordor has "real turn signals", I modified the rear lamp for tail/stop/turn, and added
one on the right side. Also put on the nice rectangular 6V amber front lamps from Snyders
in their Model A section. They fit on the bumper nicely, just had to make sure I got a good
bare spot for the grounding.

Just my two cents!!

I used the Model A style rear lamps. Mounted on the rear spare tire carrier completely removable. These lamps come with 2 sockets per lamp. Believe I converted one socket to dual filament giving me stop/turn /tail capabilities. Kind of "old timey" looking turn signal switch pretty sure came from Lang's. Stop light switch was from Fun Projects which I HIGHLY recommend. The kit is worth the price for the excellent mounting bracket alone. Used the acorn lensed lamps for the front. Don't remember if they were dual filament or I converted them. One word of advice: DO NOT rely on them to alert the driver behind you, (or in front for that matter), because they won't. In fact the worst incident I ever had driving the T outside my development happened 2 days after I installed mine. Stopped at a red light in a left turning lane with the left signal on, The traffic light turn arrow comes on and the stupid **** behind me cuts out on my left side and makes the turn. It's just dumb luck that he didn't cut me in half. Would have hit me square in the driver's door. We're all just chimps that talk.

Goes back to how vintage and functional you want to be. After a lot of thought, this is the route I took and the brake switch was from FP. OK, so putting cloth covered wire inside of asphalt loom is a little OC...but like the T...it’s therapy!

but like the T...it’s therapy!

Ah George, a man after my own thought...

Pleasing to the eye is important. I put turn signals and brake lights on out of courtesy for the guy behind and in front of me. Large LED truck oval ones. When I hit the brakes, the guy behind me knows exactly what my intentions are. Same with the turn signals. And if I want the car to look correct, I take the lights off for correctness and put them back on to drive. I appreciate it when I get comments about our lights when on tour. Super Bright LED supplies the lights, Hidden turn signal builder Casey Miller supplies the turn/brake unit.

I used harbor freight dual face red/amber trailer lights. Bob Doris fabricated the brackets which attach to the top tie down post on each side of the touring. The set of lights on the rear has good visibility of the amber lights from the front of the car as well as red Tail,stop,turn. from the rear. Brackets with lights can be quickly removed for show and stowed under seat. Flasher switch is a double pole double throw center off switch mounted in a existing dash hole with LED ready flasher with built in sounder.

Pictures of dual face amber/Red saddle post mount lights.

Color of lights is washed out in photos. tail lights are Bright red with brake lights on. forward facing lights are amber in running light mode.

Just posted this pic in the thread about licence plates and thought it was fitting for here also.The switch is like the one Vech posted except I shortened the stem and knob on mine to make it a little more compact. Jim

On our 1915 touring car, I put LED boards in each light, and added a second oil light to the rear, and have directionals front and rear, and obviously brake lights on the rear. In order to keep from butchering or changing the oil lights in any way, I took the carriage bolt that mounts the lights, out of each one, and put it in the lathe, and drilled a hole, though the center of each one. Since LED's don't require any heavy gauge wire, I used 22 gauge, and pulled it through woven tar impregnated sheath that I bought from Rhode Island wiring. DISCLAIMER: No oil light housings or wick assembles were damaged in any way, in the making if this documentary.. They are still in place in each lamp.
To "sorta" hide the switch, I used a rocker switch for an electric winch for an ATV and mounded it on a bracket, just in front of the left arm rest. The rocker of the switch had "in" and "out" labels which looked like crap, so I made a small brass plate, and stamped it with "L" and "R" and glued it on the rocker of the switch to cover the in & out.

If You don't want to install turn signals or additional lighting. But would still like to improve the visibility of the back of Your black car You can use the rechargeable hockey puck magnetic lights with a programmable flash pattern to get the most visibility attention from tailgaters.