SCOORE! Original 40's-50's Doray Yellow Foglights

[Dan in Pasadena]

I stopped by my nephew's house this afternoon and the house across the street was holding an Estate sale. I walked over to take look. The owner had been an 89 year old man that passed away and his sons hired two guys to oversee selling all his stuff.

I found a pair of (best I can tell) 40's-50's vintage Doray Lamp Co. Chicago, IL yellow fog lights complete with bumper bracket cast clamps in VERY nice condition. Got them for $10!!!

I came home and used 0000 steel wool to see how the chrome was and it cleaned right up. Tomorrow I'll try my buffing wheel and some polishing compound. The bumper bracket clamps are rusty but I will wire wheel them and spray them gloss black. The external wiring has/had the waxed cloth type insulation which is partially mouse eaten. I will replace that. Pic's coming tomorrow. I am stoked. Repops of something similar go for $280-320 on Chev's of the 40's.

Found THIS information about Doray. They're now defunct.

http://sites.google.com/site/guideto...e/did-you-know

[Driveway Dreams]

Wow, I am excited to see these! And what a deal too. What else did you buy over there?

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi Gerald, Thanks for responding/asking.

The guys that were holding the estate sale were closing down so I only had about ten minutes to look. I'm going back today.

I got a PERFECT, I think 60's vintage interior rear view mirror....and I was loking for one too! It had very, very light discoloration that cleaned up totally with the 0000 steel wool. I'll take a picture of this too, but it appears I may be able to mount it directly to my windshield center bar in an existing hole. I think its vintage because it has the tilt or night feature but when you press the tab along the bottom but it looks different than a modern one that has the same feature. I'll try to show how this looks.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Okay, here are the pictures. Keep in mind I haven't completely taken them apart & cleaned them yet so the whole mount portion is as-purchased - rusty and dusty. You can clearly see the difference between the one I took the steel wool to, and the other un-touched one. They say, "Doray FOg Breakers" on them. Very old school cool, I think.

I'll post the rear view mirror in a second.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Here is the rear view mirror. I hardly had to do anything to get it this clean as it was in great shape just sitting on the old man's workbench. Rest in Peace Sir, whoever you were. At least a few of your treasures are very appreciated by another man.

The mirror says, "Made in the U.S.A." and "Glare Proof" on the back and on the tilt/night vision tab it says "Glare Proof" and "Guide". I THINK "Guide" is the company name based on the info in the link above.
You can't really see it, but the shape is very square and when the mirror itself is tilted you see a space between the mirror and the frame unlike modern ones. These two things makes me feel it is 60's (or possibly 70's) vintage. I'm thinking this may have been an aftermarket item from a NAPA or Pep Boys kind of place.

[63 & 64 Bowties]

Okay, what's you address? Since I'm a civil minded law abiding citizen, I'm calling the cops, because you stole them.

[tnblazerk5]

wow thats killer deal on those !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Ha...ha...yeah, the guys running this estate sale for the two adult sons had no clue what these were. Even if the chrome had been positively CRAPPY, they'd be worth way more than $10 painted/powder coated silver or black. I already felt good about this deal, you guys make me feel better! :>)

[special-K]

You sure did ake a couple great finds.I think that mirror was an accessory mirror.Like it was sold to"add" day/night when few had it,like Cadillacs and such.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Funny you should mention Cadillacs because I went over again today. Didn't buy anything but found numerous old keys to Cadillacs on his work bench. Yeah, maybe it was for that.

[Dan in Pasadena]

First, forgive the CRAPPY cell phone pictures. It was getting dark and I couldn't find my regular camera - doh!

Fully disassembled them today, wire wheels all the mounting brackets and painted them semi-gloss black. polished the chrome, the glass and reassembled. Didn't wire them up because of the mouse eaten wiring I will have to solder/heat shrink new wire in. Mounted them just to see if I liked them. They're definitely old school looking. There's nothing new out there that looks like these. I'm not sure how I feel about them. Opinions?

[Driveway Dreams]

Those look perfect on your truck! Nice find Dan.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Gerald. I've already had the comment from some guys that they look good but are too far apart. Since this era truck has two brackets for the bumper on each side, and the fog light mounting brackets are offset, I'll move them to the inboard brackets and play with the adjustment to see how they look closer together. I may post the new position pictures just to get some input.

[mr48chev]

The look proper on that truck. I have a feeling that the gent who had them would be happy that they are getting put to use and not being traded around to the high bidder on auction sites or drug to swap meets with a high ticket price tag on them.

[Myself]

You can find wire that looks the same as original under the stovetop of older electric ranges. Or you can buy it by the foot from an appliance repair place that fixes and sells used appliances.

[Dan in Pasadena]

The truck already had a 350/350 and Jag rear end when I bought it so originality is not a big concern.

Myself - I'd like to say I didn't, but I DID consider listing them on eBay to see what they'd bring. $200-300 would be helpful funding smaller needs on the project...like a headliner and kick panels! But at least for now I'll keep them because they fell in my lap and its unlikely I'd ever find any again, regardless of price.

[Tom E]

The more I look at them, the better they get.

[Driveway Dreams]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

...I may post the new position pictures just to get some input.

Please do. I don't know that they will look much better than now. But they might. I just think they look pretty danged perfect right where they are.

[olblue60@aol.com]

By now I'm sure they have grown on you. You HAVE to leave them on! But you have already decided to.!!! (right) !!!

John

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi guys,
I went to the Pomona Auto Swap meet this past Sunday (you guys know about Pomona, right?). I was looking at the low riders parked along the back row; mostly 39, 40 Chevy sednas with ALL the sh!t they EVER made for these cars inside and out. I went specifically looking at their fog lights and all of them were "Guide" brand lights but none of them had the "Doray" in the lense like mine do. I asked acouple guys and they knew what they were. I walked through the parts ection and found a lot of fog lights in various conditions, most wanted $250 a set up to $400 a set.

Yeah, it's safe to say I'm keeping them for now...just for the look of them. Eventually, I'll get around to rewiring them and powering them, but I don't intend to drive the truck much at night (with the tiny tail lights!) and especially not in fog (what's fog? - in SoCal?)

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oh, P.S. - The Guide rear view mirror? I found exactly ONE mirror just like it. But it had a bit of "patina", not bad just a bit dull and pitted. They wanted $55 for it. Mine was a throw in. Yeah, I pretty much stole this stuff.

We need a status thread. Another "pre-'47 only" What Did You Do To Your Truck Today? thread. Going to start it now.