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Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt......

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I couldn't stand it.
I had to take my car out for one last ride before the winter repairs begin so I put her back into road condition to take a run to the city. The fog was pea soup. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Top down, rag in hand to clear the windscreen, I was keeping what I thought was safe distance between me and the cars in front. The idiot in front of me was tailgating the truck in front of him, who decided to make a sudden left off the divided 4-lane. By the time I realized what was happening, I jambed my brakes and went into a drift, boxed in on the right by a gal riding in my blind spot while she yakked on her cell phone. The truck behind locked up all 18 wheels on his vehicle when he saw my LED third light come on. The resulting collision in front of me brought us all to a stop. I pulled off the 4-lane to shake out my pants as the trucker walked over to comment on how my high 3rd light really lite up like a laser through the fog. He said he would never had seen me were it not for the bright light. Then the ultimate insult came when he commented, "That sure is a nice MG."

I don't think I want to drive in fog again. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazyeyes.gif
 
Mornin Bill, nice save! And here I thought you were a TR guy :smile:

Tinkerman
 
I have a nice bar third brake light for my TR3 that mounts on the bottom of the rail of an amco (sp?) luggage rack. Problem is, I'm not sure how to route the wiring. I'd love to do it inside the rack's tubing but the way they are constructed won't allow that. Guess I'm going to have to find some shiny tape to route it along the outside of the rack...
 
Gsalt, Don't you have the center brake light on your 3? If you have the later chrome light you could convert it to the brake one. I've rigged my standard lucas tail lights with two bulbs each-separate brake and signal lights, much brighter.
 
I have the center red one (which is happily correct for my Commision number), but I have had so many "I didn't see you" experiences, I want something a little more.
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

Glen, I was not aware that the TR3 had a third light when you are saying that it is correct for your commission number. Can you expand on that?
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

Oh, you are talking about the two inboard lights. My bad.
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

Had a close call the other day myself. I was already stopped, idiot SUV driver approaching rapidly noticed, at almost the point of no return, that myself and the long line of traffic in front of me was not moving. My pumping the brake pedal to 'flash' my brakelights at him might have helped gain his attention to the task at hand, STOPPING!

He slammed on his brakes and two more SUV's appeared from behnd him, one to the left and one to the right which nearly caused another chain reaction moment. Evidently there was some tailgating going on there too. SUV #1 did stop without hitting me, by about 2 feet.

Meanwhile I was having flashbacks to 20 months ago when I was rear ended by a 'distracted' driver who was doing 40mph when he hit me. Except this time I was in my TR8 and not my Bronco II which was totaled in that accident.

Like the accident 20 months ago, I had no where to go. Large cement island to my left, stopped traffic in front and stopped traffic to my right. Extremely helpless feeling situation. Luckily, nothing happened this time. I'm considering staying off the streets during the evening rush hours though.
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

It sounds like a good thing that many of us are taking our TRs off the road for the winter. Safe and sound in the garage.
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

Mine shines right through the rear window. I had the same thing happen to me in the fog. Love those LED's!
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

[ QUOTE ]
Glen, I was not aware that the TR3 had a third light when you are saying that it is correct for your commission number. Can you expand on that?

[/ QUOTE ]

On earlier TR3 (not 3a) the license plate light housing is clear red with a light that illuminates when you brake (I think). Can't remember the commission number they stopped with.
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

went out and took a picture
 

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Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

I ordered and recieved a LED third brake light bar a few months ago when the subject came up on the forum. It not being a priority I haven't installed it yet. I think it just went way up on my priority list. Thanks Bill for the heads up. Glad you came out of it OK. Phil
 
'51, can you explain more what you did? Thanks!
 
The idea of the third brake light (for safety) is also to place the light higher to put it more in line of sight with the driver behind you.

We put a 12 LED on the roll bar in the 3A and the LEDs really do light up brightly even in the daylight. In the fog, they would envelope anyone behind you in a blinding red mist.

It is a cheap thing to add on that could save your rear as well as the car's.

The early rear center brake/license light is pretty cool. I saw them in the Moss catalog (#544-100) listed as fitting TR3 -TS18912 $55.95
 
I was thinking about one of those bicycle poles/flags, low riding in the 3 puts you about center of mass on most SUV wheels. I've invested more money on louder horns for the huge SUV blind spots.
 
I usually have to wave my arm out the door when I turn into my drive to keep from getting run over. The light really helps but I always look out just to be sure.
 
Scary topic. I'm always watching my rear view mirror.

I think I will switch to these type next year(please see attatchment). I first saw these(or something like them) about 2 years ago. All of the busses in our area had them first, but newer vehicles seem to sport these LED bulbs.
I think it's the fast reaction of the bulb that gets my attention.

Adam H.
____________________________________________________________
1973 Triumph Spitfire.
 

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Will an LED bulb work properly in any appropriate fixture, Like the Tr3 3rd brake light? Or just use the high intensity bulbs that are available?
 
Re: Third Brake Light saves the day, and my butt..

I think the key words here are "appropriate fixture". Yes, an LED light bulb will work in any fixture it will fit in, they do pull a minimum of juice, as a rule. The only problem with them is it seems because they pretty much are unidirectional, using them as regular right and left bulbs is not a good idea because you negate the effect of side visibility by anyone trying to see your lights. There are some bulbs that offer multiple lights on one bulb and modern cars have reflectors that will glow to the sides. However, even my wife's 2007 Accord, which has a huge cluster of LED tail lights, isn't that visible from the side, compared to an older Accord with regular bulbs. What anyone should look for in a third brake light is super brightness straight back, which is why I used an LED bar from NAPA that I molded into the top of my roll bar.
 
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