TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:37 am

'Show car' purists, please avert your eyes now, and move on...

I've been thinking of putting a third brake light on my Ghia. Has anyone done this? What'd ya use? How does it look? I don't like the idea of spoiling the line of the car, but I dislike the idea of getting rear-ended even more.

Thoughts?

Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:14 pm

This one is my favorite location:

Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:33 pm

Coola! I hadn't thought of that! Any idea what they used?

Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:44 pm

I bought one like that from auto zone, it fit nicely in there and worked even after rain storms.

Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:47 pm

here is a selection you could try:
http://www.globalsources.com/gsol/I/Third-brake-ma.../12799.htm

Thu Jun 12, 2008 1:54 pm

I'm thinking of adding one to my Ghia. I want more of a vintage look, so I'm watching a couple of ebay auctions for the old round lights that have the word "STOP" etched into the lens. I plan to mount it on my back dash on a pedestal. Someone here used an original Hella rear foglight for theirs and it came out looking really nice.

Fri Jun 13, 2008 9:01 pm

Here's my third brake light, I used a 67 bug backup light with the bracket and a red glass lense to keep with the VW theme. No unnecessary holes were needed to be drilled for mounting.

Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:22 am

I thought this was a pretty cool idea from an earlier thread. Small LED's

Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:07 am

Blarneyman, those were mine on that TR6, and worked quite well. They came from a company called HyperLite. You can have them either come on solid or blink rapidly for five seconds.
Here's a link. www.hyperlites.com You can order direct, but what they do is pass that order on to one of their retailers.

Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:30 am

or mine

Sun Jun 15, 2008 10:03 am

I got my LED 3rd brake light from Hot Rod shows and I fed the wire to the brake light spade connection on the back of one of tailights and no inline fuse, direct connection. Had my 3rd brake light since 2001.
The one I have looks like this:

This high tech, ultra-modern design uses LED light, has a swivel pedestal mount and is stylishly designed out of black plastic to achieve its sleek appearance., got mine for about $25.

You can see the 3rd brake light lit up in my rear window (not the two round ones as those are brake lights from the vehicle in front of me):

Then also there is this thread:
3rd Brake Light - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=169480

Sun Jun 15, 2008 7:39 pm

Great idea for some added safety with minimal alteration to the Ghia.
Do you think it would affect cooling in any way? I'll have to keep a look out for a similar looking brake light

Sun Jun 15, 2008 9:48 pm

72Ghia wrote: Great idea for some added safety with minimal alteration to the Ghia.
Do you think it would affect cooling in any way? I'll have to keep a look out for a similar looking brake light
LEDs don't get very hot...

Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:59 am

I was thinking more of engine cooling. I doubt it would affect it much , alot of the earlier beetles didnt even have venting on the deck lids

Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:42 am

http://www.spoilerlights.com/servlet/StoreFront
:P

Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:31 pm

3rd brake light from '39 Ford tail light and a home-made bracket.

Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:35 am

Any 6 volt options??

Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:28 pm

caseydenise wrote: Any 6 volt options??

Any of the options above other than the LEDs will work for 6v (and I'm sure there are 6v LEDs available somewhere). Just buy some 6v bulbs.

Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:40 pm

What I do on my motorcycle is get one of those license plate frames with the tracer lights around the edges...............hook it to my brake light. When the brake light comes on......the tag frame strobes..........a real attention getter.

Would work great on a car too and would not alter the look & you would not even see it unless the brake was applied.

They make many styles for cars & bikes. They even have license frames that don't strobe and have led brake lights built into them available.

Mon Apr 27, 2009 5:52 pm

Here's mine. LEDs in the license plate bolts.

They are brighter than they look in the picture, and obviously no mods to the car.

Plus, they are clear when not on so they blend right in to the chrome bolts. Cost $5 bucks and been workin for over two years.

Want to add a low profile LED to the top of rear window one day.