Once upon a time ... the halogen light bulb
11/16/2022
We are probably still a little premature, because new passenger cars with halogen bulbs are still being sold. But they are becoming increasingly rare. Halogen light came into fashion in the late sixties. At the IAA 1967, Porsche presented the first German car with halogen dipped and full headlights. In the seventies and eighties, the halogen bulb became widely accepted, then came xenon headlights and finally LED and laser light, which increasingly replaced the conventional light bulb. But a BMW Z1 or a Porsche 993 still came with halogen light as standard in the 1990s.
For classic car or youngtimer owners who are perhaps not often on the road at night, the traditional bulbs also have advantages. For example, an H1 halogen bulb costs a few euros, while the failure of a xenon light unit usually results in larger bills. However, H1 or H4 bulbs fail much earlier than their modern successors, so they have to be replaced more frequently.
Some classic car owners convert their cars to more modern light sources, but this often does not look convincing, at least from the outside, because the color and luminosity of the light are not consistent.
