I've recently started selling some of the spare parts that I have accumulated in my garage and attic, mostly XJS bits that I've had for up to 20 years, nearly all NLA.

Amongst my parts are a pair of late facelift NOS LHD headlights. the Carello ones with the perspex lenses fitted in cars for the US, Canada and some other LHD countries I believe. The part numbers for the lights are JLM10892 / 3, superseded from DAC7680 / 1. Don't ask me how or why a UK XJS owner ended up with a pair of LHD headlights! I can't even remember why I thought it was a good idea!

The lights come without the mounting frames / cables which would typically be refitted from the original lights. They are in perfect condition with no corrosion or wear, having never been fitted to a vehicle. The only mark seems to be a very fine scratch on the top horizontal surface of one light but would be covered by the bezel anyway when fitted.

I'm going to place them on ebay and offer them for overseas buyers via ebay Global Shipping Programme as I don't want to get involved in export paperwork / shipping etc. So they'll be sent with tracked insurance by ebay from the point they leave the UK.

I know that the lights are incredibly rare to find in this condition, and I THINK I know at what price I'll offer them. But I'm interested in what you LHD owners think? Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to buy them, I'm just interested in what you guys on the ground see as being the market price for these rare items.

Any thoughts really gratefully received.

Thank you so much

Paul

 

Hello Paul,
A bit of a conundrum.....There are several excellent used ones here in the States on eBay for $200.- each, and some poorer-condition ones for $100.-
If you wanted, say, double that price ($400.- each) plus eBay fees (20%) plus shipping and insurance and through overseas packing (300.-) plus tarriffs (recently 45% on the sale price plus the shipping cost plus the value of the shipping materials *ask me how l know* )
You would need to ask around $1600.- for the pair to net the above figure.

 

I have found that it's cheaper to wait for Beaulieu, have a week's holiday, and bring items home in my luggage rather than deal with the import tariff fiasco.

 

Honestly, anyone with a facelift LHD car, US, Europe, wherever, could probably use something in this shape to address yellowing of the plastic. If I had a facelift, I would seriously consider it.

What I'd really like is the similarly shaped, GLASS headlight for the pre-facelifts. I find it interesting that so many "updated" their lozenge shaped lights for the quad style (though not sealed beam) as used in the US. Surely, there are some of those kicking around Europe in boxes someplace?

As it is, my plan is to update to H4/H3 quad styles (I'll give you a call, Mr. Stern) some time in the next twelve months. It's not "high" on the list: Mr. Mobeck and the transmission gurus at Simply Performance have those priorities), but it is certainly on the list. In the interim, I'd really like to have a long conversation with people who understand wiring diagrams and the relay system for XJS lights. I keep getting confused there.

For what it's worth, I know the H4 idea is a good one. When I bought my Land Rover, I had to put LHD lights on it to drive in Europe and the US, and that worked out far better than sealed beams ever could. But now I'm getting far off topic.

 

I called Mr. Stern, and ended up taking his advice a few years ago to upgrade my standard beam headlights. It wasn't inexpensive, but they are worth it. I splurged on the Hella BiFocal low beams, which they no longer make. I wish I had purchased the high beam version at the same time, but that time has passed....

He really knows his stuff.

 

All,

Thanks for the initial thoughts. I know that there will be other selling platforms such as FB Marketplace etc. And naturally pre-facelift headlights will be much cheaper, but the cheapest I could see even worn late facelift examples on ebay.com was $200 for a single light. Then they seem to go up to to $450 - £700 each. And there's 2 NOS single lights at c$1300 each. It seems immoral that a whole car can almost be bought for the price of one headlight! So my NOS LHD pair will hopefully be very attractive to someone. I wonder if they'll end up going to the US or Europe?

Here, in the RHD homeland of the XJS, the situation is even worse. Facelift headlights haven't been available for 20 years, hence the need for owners to go to US-style quad lights when their lights get broken. And with the inevitable ageing deterioration of reflectors, cracked or chipped lenses, and no parts available, the situation gets worse every year. So, my NOS RHD headlight is also getting lots of attention!

Thank you again for your thoughts on pricing.

Paul

 

Thank you. Yes, I'm sure he knows his stuff! Did he at all mention upgrading the wire size? Did you go with standard wattages?

 

Other place to look is www.car-part.com for an indication of prices. It's a junkyard (sorry, Automotive Recycling Center) listing site, where business can list the parts they have. All used, so not comparable to your NOS headlights.

 

The original glass-lensed lozenge headlamps were made by Cibié and were excellent, we fitted a number of them to US -spec cars in the Seventies and Eighties...
Threw away the quad light setup, who knew people would prefer them, someday?

 

The facelift ones I'm discussing in this thread are made by Carello. Since production finished, Carello were very protective of patent infringement and wouldn't even let Jaguar compile headlights from a batch of separate reflectors and lenses which they found. In the UK, at least, the move to quad headlamps has been out of necessity through unavailability of the correct lights, not usually because of preference. Of course, it may be different in North America because owners relate to XJ-Ss having those quad lights.

Cheers

Paul

 

Tks, I had a have a look at that, and again even used ones that are worn seem to start from $200 up to $500 for a single unit.

Paul

 

I recall using small harnesses he provided, but I didn't not upgrade the wattages, so I don't believe there was a need to upsize wires either.

I can check my ancient email history file if you're interested in this. I think I just followed his recommendations, for the facelifts, I recall that he thought the wiring and wattages were adequate for the job. Upsizing the wattage would lead to blinding other drivers and he was confident that the right setup would not require that.

 

Thanks. Yes, I should probably email him directly.

Understood on the higher wattage/other driver thing. I'm specifically concerned about main beams. I live in a very rural area, and wildlife out at night range from the small (cougar/coyote) to medium sized (whitetail deer), to large (elk/black bear/brown bear)) to oh my gosh he's huge (moose). I'm running 90W on the Land Rover, and that seems about right. I did note he now has main beams that concentrate light forward, or separate lamps that can send light wide. That may be the better choice for me. A moose far ahead gives plenty of reaction time, one running from the side much less so.

 

Absolutely! The facelift lights were Carello, and had plastic lenses. It's funny about the patent infringement thing, as it seems obvious that a licensing fee would be a high margin return. Unfortunately, all plastic lenses haze due to UV exposure over time, and of course reflector corrosion is always a thing.

The original Cibie lights were non US/Canada, and had glass lenses. I'd like to find a nice set of those, but my understanding is the mounting system is also slightly different, so it's not just a case of finding the lamps, but a bit of hardware as well. Arden has a nice quad light setup, but using H3/H4 bulbs, not sealed beam (and like most things Arden, very expensive). A quad light setup (but perhaps not Arden cost) does seem a good replacement for perished Carellos, but not quite as elegant.

Also important to note that there are slight differences between the openings on the facelifts and pre-facelifts, so it's not really possible to use facelift lamps on a pre-facelift. I have one of the last pre-facelifts, made in November of 1990. While I like the look of the front of the car on the facelift, I really prefer the look of the rear end/tailights on the earlier cars. I guess it all comes down to personal preference.

 

canadian cars were equipped with E Code headlights through 1986, i have them on my car.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but l believe that most non north American facelift cars had glass lenses and used H4 bulbs. I can imagine that the plastic lenses and the different bulb system was a US thing.

 

Yes Malc,

Obviously the LHD ones that I we are discussing in this thread are the "3-pimple" perspex lenses, but I suspect Germany LHD lights have glass Carello lenses. And the RHD ones we have here have glass Carello lenses also.

Paul

 

The glass lenses are *so* much better, no plastic crazing and the fluting pattern is much more open, 90w is a good compromise between visibility and legality

 

The ones you want(quad or oval) say E Code on the lens and not DOT.

e code headlights are much brighter and have a defined (lhd or rhd) beam pattern.

 

Tks again for the input.

Just bringing it back on track as regards the value and therefore marketing approach for my late facelift LHD lights, does anyone know definitively which countries had the perspex "3-pimple" lenses fitted, so that I understand how best to sell the units? I understand that the US & Canada had them, but not sure exactly what other markets had the perspex lenses.

Tks as always for any responses

PAul