[cballweg]

Just wondering if they ever had these as an option on a 59 Pontiac?Ive seen these only on a 59 Cadillac and a 59 Chevy.If anyone doesnt know this was a part that was bolted onto the dash and detected oncoming cars headlights at night and automatically dimmed your headlights from bright to dim.If anyone has one on a 59 where is it mounted on the dash?Thanks

[Dick Boneske]

They were first used on Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles in ABOUT 1953. My uncle had a '56 Olds 98 with one. A friend of mine found a '55 Pontiac 4 door in a junkyard this summer with an Autronic Eye.

Somewhere around '61, GM redesigned the dash-mounted sensor to be about 7/8" in diameter instead of the 2 1/2" units used earlier. I had one of the small ones on my '62 GP. They acutally worked!!

I believe Lincoln and some other present-day cars use an automatic headlight dimming system. Wouldn't it be nice if all cars had this? There are ALWAYS inconsiderate people that don't know enough to dim their lights---this is even more common with motorcycles. And, when snowmobiles follow trails along the road, most snowmobile drivers don't bother to dim their headlights. This was not so much of an issue previous to about 1992 when snowmobile headlights were like flashlights. Now, they are as bright as car headlights.

[Greg Reid]

I had one on a '58 Caddy and later on a '68 Chrysler and I can understand why they did away with them.
Mine were constantly flicking from hi to low, especially in city driving where there were a lot of streetlights and such. It really tee'd the other drivers off when they thought I was flashing the brights on them.
More trouble than they are worth from a functional standpoint. Different if you just like having it on the dash for the 'coolness' factor...which I'll admit, it does have a bit of...

[cballweg]

Thanks for your replies

[Dick Boneske]

They have a handy override switch that allows normal operation of the dimmer switch on the floor.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by Dick Boneske

They have a handy override switch that allows normal operation of the dimmer switch on the floor.

That's what I used on both of mine. Didn't take long to get tired of that constant hi-lo deal.

[CATBIRD]

cballweg…..that accessory was not available from the factory. It was, however, a dealer installed accessory only. Sales code SPA, suggested retail was $49.75. The kit was ordered from the zone warehouse. Flat rate installation was 2.3 hours, at whatever the dealers rate was. I don't know if installation was included in the retail price, but I doubt it, since the dealer net was $37.31. Not a whole lot of profit if you are paying your tech $4.50/hour! The 1959 version had a small black sensitivity knob at the rear of the housing. Not all years did.

Interesting thing about the Autronic-Eye, was that they were all identical between Divisions, but had different serial numbers. The last digit of the serial number (stamped on the underside of the photo-cell housing) went from 1-for Chevrolet to 5-forCadillac and 6-for GMC (yes GMC!). I don't remember whether it was number 7 or 8, but one of them was for sale to Ford for use in Lincolns. In some states the Photo-cell could not be mounted on the traditional far left side of the Instrument panel as it would be blocked by the state inspection sticker. More than you ever needed to know about Autronic-Eyes……John

[cballweg]

Thanks.Very interesting.I guess they were mounted on the left side of the guage panel on a 59 then?

[cballweg]

If anyone has one of these on a 1959 Pontiac or other year Pontiac can you tell me if this took a different headlight switch and floor mounted dimmer switch because Ive seen some on e-bay that have these and some that dont although the ones without these 2 items could be incomplete units and the person that has them doesnt know that these 2 items worked hand in hand with the other parts to make it work.Thanks for any replies.