Morris Minor Owners Club

As I have had some new rear wings fitted to my 1960 2 door, both being new old stock original BL items, I was reluctant to have holes cut in them for indicators, which the old wings had, so looked for a way of fitting one inside the original Lucas 549 rear light unit. I originally tried fitting an extra bulb holder for an indicator bulb, but most bulbs either were too big or did not give enough light through the red lens. None would give an orange light through the red lens. I then managed to fit a Harley Davidson LED orange indicator unit in each one, which worked well, but the lights still flashed red rather than orange. I have finally gone for the LED upgrade kit from www.bettercarlighting.co.uk. It works better if you change the bulb holder although you can also get a rear light LED kit from them which retains the original bulb holder. The red rear/brake light sits at the top, with the amber indicator LED at the bottom. However, I used a twin pole lamp holder, easily and cheaply obtained on EBay and elsewhere online, and used Meccano brackets to fit it at the right angle at the top of the unit, having removed the original bulb holder, which is held by 2 rivets. I used an LED bulb from www.classiccarleds.co.uk for the red lights. I now have two bright rear lights and brake lights and bright amber indicators, all within the original light unit. I can thoroughly recommend both Better Car Lighting and Classic Car LEDs who give great service and helpful advice for upgrading your lights.

I wouldn’t expect much light from an amber bulb to get through a lens designed to filter out the whole spectrum except Red!
I suspect that many “red” LEDs generate a wavelength that does not align with the lens’s “pass band”. And so look dim.
Even a “white” LED is not full spectrum, like an incandescent bulb is; but generates a series of narrow red, green and blue peaks. Again these may not get past the red lens.