Improve the Safety of Your Classic Porsche with LED Lights

On one of my first group drives in the “new” Porsche 911 Outlaw a comment came from the driver behind me that I am hard to follow because he can’t see my brake lights. I knew that for safety purposes that this is one of the first things that I needed to address on the car.

It may not add a lot of cosmetic appeal but if it keeps me from being rear-ended in a ‘60’s car lacking modern safety equipment it was clear that this was the number one priority.

SuperBrightLEDs.com Web Site for bulb ordering

Quick research on the Early911S Registry highlighted the source to be SuperBrightLEDs.com who offer a full assortment of LED lights for air-cooled Porsches and other makes. An easy-to-use selector tool only requires you to indicate the year, make and model of air-cooled Porsche and they provide the recommended LED bulbs for your model of Porsche.

Recoomended LED Bulbs for an Early Air-Cooled Porsche

Before placing the order, I happened to be taking the car to a friend that knows 912’s inside and out to have him inspect the car so I thought I would ask him about the conversion. As it turns out he had a handy-dandy chart for early 911’s and 912 with each bulb indicated:

Light Description Part# Qty

Brake/Running Light 1157 Red 1157-R45-Y 2

Rear Turn Signal 1156 Red 1156-R18-T 2

Backup light 1156 Cool White 1156-CW18-T 2

Front Turn Signal 1156 Amber 1156-A18-T 2

Front Parking Light BA9S Cool White BA9S-WHP 2

Turn Signal Relay 3-Pin Red Flasher FL3-Red 1

The site emphasized that it is important to purchase the color LED for the lens that the light will be shining through. For instance, if the lens is red, order a red bulb, white for the back-up bulb, etc. The other caution was that if your change the turn signal bulbs, you need to order and change the Turn Signal Relay to have the light blinking at the right speed.

LED Light Bulb (1156) Flash Relay for LED Turn Signals

Installation was very easy. It only takes five steps to LED installation in your air-cooled Porsche and you are done.

1. Unscrew the lenses from the body

2. Use a flat-head screwdriver to pry up on the edge of the socket.

3. Untwist the incandescent bulb and twist in the LED bulb.

4. Note that the light will not operate until the socket is re-installed in the light fixture as it requires the ground of the fixture.

5. Once all the bulbs are inserted, test that they all light properly before reinstalling the light fixture back into the body of your Porsche.

Sixty-eight will now be leading the Air Brigade with the knowledge of the increased safety provided through improved brightness of the brake lights, tail lights and turn signals.

Incandescent Lighting (left) LED Lighting (right)

Tags: LED Light Installation, Installing LED lighting