[PDC]

Lots of threads on this topic - but many are several years old now and product quality and availability has advanced quite a bit over the years. A while back, I traced down several wiring gremlins in my tail light harness and at the fuse box and got all my lights swapped for fresh incandescent bulbs.

I did a pretty good job, but found out the hard way that the gasket between the lens and housing of my driver’s side tail lights had shifted, allowing water to drip into the housing - and into the light sockets - the last time I washed the car. After a couple of frustrating hours of diagnosis, I was almost relieved to pull the first lamp socket on that side and see about a shot-glass of water drip out of the housing. At least I had a diagnosis.

At that point, I decided that my rear light harness had definitely seen better days (it was original and now 49 years old) so I got a new harness from American Autowire. Quality is off the charts for the replacement harness and it was in place in less than 15 min.

At that point, I decided to swap out ALL the bulbs - front and rear - with LEDs and e ‘no load’ grounded LED flashers. Having found at least a dozen (or more) manufacturers of LED bulbs online - all with questionable to bad reviews - I decided order all my bulbs from Holley, including a pair of their relatively new Retrobright Headlights.

The headlights are exactly what I expected with the Holley name and price tag. Heavy, high quality, durable, and bright as hell.

The 1157 / 1156 Retrobright LEDs for the tail lights and front turn signals were another story. So, so disappointed. 3 of the bulbs (not sure if they are glass or plastic) literally ‘shattered’ between my thumb and finger while pressing and twisting them into the sockets. I was so surprised at how fragile they were that I immediately grabbed a couple of the Old School incandescent bulbs off the ground and easily pressed and twisted them into place and back out with no issues.

Also, the Holley 1157 ‘dual stage’ bulbs are polarity specific - so it is inevitable that you will need to pull a couple out to re-orient them in the socket. In doing so, I saw that the locator pins got rubbed / smashed smooth from only 1-2 installs. The pins were smashed down enough that the bulbs would not even stay in the sockets.

The entire collection of Holley 1156 / 1157 LEDS are at the bottom of my trash barrel and I replaced them with Sylvania Zevo LEDs. The Sylvanias are exceptional quality - exceptional brightness - have no clear ‘bulb’ to disintegrate in your fingers, and the bases / locator pins are sturdy and durable. I also swapped both flashers for ‘no load’ versions with dedicated ground wires and the entire system works beautifully and is a bright as any modern car on the road.

I am disappointed in Holley. The headlights are expensive - but worth every penny if you want a super bright, modern headlight. I had Holley 4150 HP carbs on both of my traditional powered cars and they ran like fuel injection out of the box. I hate bitching about a company that is going the extra mile to develop new products for a market of now 50+ year old cars. We literally need current manufacturers to invest in our passion. But Holley’s Retrobright tail lights and signal lights should be avoided until they are completely re-tooled.