backup lights- better backup lights

You could go with a couple of small, LED (white) lights, mounted under the bumper, or maybe a single Hella backup light kit, like the one from GoWesty:

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view...;category_parent_id=

John Leader's teal wide body used a Ghia backup light that looked slick. His pics were on here at one time.  Some folks use a high voltage bulb in the standard up/down housing, but the drawback is that, if left on for any significant length of time, the plastic lenses can melt, since the increased light also includes increased heat. 

I did a quick search for backup light license plate frame and found this.  It is a brand new product although it is the second generation of it.  The first generation received some pretty bad reviews so this new design may be the result of those complaints.  They are pricey but they might be what you need.

http://www.vleds.com/new-lpf.html

 I would use a 67 vw bug type reverse light. Or 67 bus.

Well, Bill, if your lenses are glass, you're getting close to unobtanium, maybe a little short, but close.  Your license/back-up light are from an original 356.  All of the repops I know of are pretty cheesy: thin metal, very thin chrome, and ill-fitting plastic lenses, held in place by flimsy metal tabs or ill-fitting machine screws.  

The originals were Hella chrome over copper over brass, with solid rivets holding the glass in place. Except for the very early units (1952 & 1953), the Hella logo appeared along with the number 1431.  The center glass lens also had the Hella logo.

The pre-A original taillight configuration had a shine-down housing above the license plate, but the current reverse light lens was for the brake light, not reverse.  This is pre-beehive taillights.  There ya go, Jimbo.  Another factoid! 

Sweet! I never paid much attention until recently (needs new base gasket) noticing it was glass.

I'll throught it on ebay and ask  $1,000,000.00

All of the shine up/down lights I've ever touched from CMC (maybe four or five) had glass lenses.  I was surprised about this, considering that everything else was plastic, and the metal chroming was mediocre at best, but there you go.

I'm pretty sure that Autozone has LED single-function bulbs that would replace those in the backup portion and provide a bit more light (and no heat).  I also think that MUSBJIM has used them and talked about them on here.

Hi to all, thanks for all the suggestions, I think I will first look at replacing the bulb with an LED, then I might look into other LED solutions, I was trying to remain as stock as possible but backing up with the top up on my roadster at night is not a pleasant trip. Ray

Put a back up camera in.

When I had my car hauler trailer, I had two Hella 550 fog lights as backup lights on it, mounted down low in a line with the tail lights.  

Pretty bright, but then I found an unused pair of halogen projector driving lights I had never used, so those both went onto the trailer as backup lights, too.

Put the truck in "Reverse" when pulling the trailer and half of the East Coast lit up.  

It was great!

Wild Bill sent me a single halogen/projector driving light he had laying around. I mounted it back under my frame and sent an ignition switched power lead back there. A relay to the backup switch on the trans and I now have really bright backup light for almost no money. You can only see the light if you lay on the ground.

I did that!  Had a 7 inch monitor that I could swing down from under the dash.   I did it because I couldn't see a thing from my rear view mirror when I had the rack and suitcase installed.  It was a good idea, but it didn't work that well.  There were two problems.  In the daytime, with the top down, the monitor wasn't bright enough to really see anything.  At night the monitor was fine, but any headlights behind me washed out the picture.