Does anyone remember these lights?

[Reggaemon]

My families 1962 Pontiac Bonneville had a trunk light that was removable with a long retractable
power cord. This seemed to be a great idea. It was long enough to reach to the front of the car , great for changing a flat tire at night.
I've never seen one since.

 

[4wd]

My families 1962 Pontiac Bonneville had a trunk light that was removable with a long retractable
power cord. This seemed to be a great idea. It was long enough to reach to the front of the car , great for changing a flat tire at night.
I've never seen one since. View attachment 340765

Wow - that’s waaaayyyy back in time …
Maybe Pablo ?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Pontiac was famous for "firsts".

 

[Zee09]

I do ..

 

[nickaluch]

I remember it was a option very few ordered also dealership didn't either.

 

[BHopkins]

Not that particular one, but a similar design. This is the one I remember.

 

[hemitom]

My dads 1989 ram came with a retractable light under the hood.

 

[Oillover]

Not that particular one, but a similar design. This is the one I remember.

View attachment 340768

I recall seeing those mounted under the hood.
Very handy, especially for the time in auto history.

 

[dishdude]

Not that particular one, but a similar design. This is the one I remember.

View attachment 340768

They were putting these on XJs and GM pickups well into the 90's. No wheel to retract by that time, just pull it out a little further and it would suck it back in. Wire was long enough to pull it all the way to the back of the vehicle if you needed to change a rear tire at night.

 

[DCDG]

Just like Liquid tire chains

 

[Reggaemon]

My 1990 Ford Taurus had a light under the hood. Haven't seen that in anything since.

 

[Dinoburner]

The 95 in my sig has one, never used it though.

 

[grisby]

Just like Liquid tire chains View attachment 340770

My cousin who was a painter had a 69 chevelle with that option and jerry rigged a prevail bottle on his chevelle. He put chlorox in the bottle and was able to do bleach burnouts with it


As for the lights, my 88 and 90 Suburbans had that option under the hood.

 

[repairman54]

Yep I remember them. A throwback to the bias ply tire bumper jack days when you where always getting flats doing roadside tire changes. Lets not forget fender skirts either.

 

[Wylie6G72]

Funny to think that my '93 Shadow had an under-hood light, 2026 Mazda....nada. Not progress in my eyes, but I'm a minority in my family and circle of friends.. I actually open my hood.

 

[f355spider]

I had a 1978 Ferrari 308GTS that came with a trouble light in a black vinyl pouch. There was a special plug under the dash, and the electrical plug was this odd type that BMW also used on their motorcycles. The cord wasn't more than 6 ft long, so not much use. Never understood why Ferrari wouldn't use a normal 12vt cigarette lighter plug. The actual cigaratte lighter on a 308 was fixed, in the center console and you pushed it in to activate, and there was a hole in the center that would glow and get hot, and you stuck your cigarette in there to light it. It would shutoff automatically after several seconds.

A couple years later, I traded up to an 1987 Ferrari 328GTS and sure enough, same trouble light, but now with a traditional cigarette lighter plug. The console had a normal cigarette lighter like any other car. Push it in, it popped up and you removed it to light your cigarette.

Here is the odd BMW plug. I think it was for electric vests when riding.

 

[John R]

I had a 1978 Ferrari 308GTS that came with a trouble light in a black vinyl pouch. There was a special plug under the dash, and the electrical plug was this odd type that BMW also used on their motorcycles. The cord wasn't more than 6 ft long, so not much use. Never understood why Ferrari wouldn't use a normal 12vt cigarette lighter plug. The actual cigaratte lighter on a 308 was fixed, in the center console and you pushed it in to activate, and there was a hole in the center that would glow and get hot, and you stuck your cigarette in there to light it. It would shutoff automatically after several seconds.

A couple years later, I traded up to an 1987 Ferrari 328GTS and sure enough, same trouble light, but now with a traditional cigarette lighter plug. The console had a normal cigarette lighter like any other car. Push it in, it popped up and you removed it to light your cigarette.

Here is the odd BMW plug. I think it was for electric vests when riding.

View attachment 340969

This is a ISO 4165 Connector. Common on BMW motorcycles. It is an auxiliary DC plug originally designed for German military vehicles during WWII.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_4165