500E HEADLAMPS

[r44raven]

Had a discussion with a friend today, who claimed that the 500E headlamps were "standard" W124 units - which would mean they housed a headlamp and fog lamp, rather than headlamp and main beam. He thought the headlamp/main beam arrangement was only introduced with the facelifted E500.

My understanding is that all E500E headlamp units contained headlamp/main beam, with the fog lamp under the bumper?

Whilst a "standard" W124 unit will fit a 500E, this would not be as per factory?

 

[sheward]

You are correct. Your friend is mistaken.

 

[gsxr]

Had a discussion with a friend today, who claimed that the 500E headlamps were "standard" W124 units - which would mean they housed a headlamp and fog lamp, rather than headlamp and main beam. He thought the headlamp/main beam arrangement was only introduced with the facelifted E500.

As Drew said, you are correct, your friend is (very) mistaken. Lighting function was identical across all years of 036 production. The only change with the facelift E500 was the *shape* of the lens, not the lighting pattern.

My understanding is that all E500E headlamp units contained headlamp/main beam, with the fog lamp under the bumper?

Whilst a "standard" W124 unit will fit a 500E, this would not be as per factory?

Also correct - you can install a standard 124 headlamp, but then you have 4 fogs and high beams, instead of 4 high beams and 2 fogs. (And, the "wrong" fogs from standard 124 lamps would always turn on with high beams, which is useless.)

 

[gerryvz]

The 1992 and 1993 model year, US-market headlamps did use a 500E-specific variant of the two-piece "pedestrian" US market headlight as used with the W124s, with separate "square" main headlight and plastic "headlight door" with the lens covering the inboard lamp.

However even this 500E variant on the pre-facelift 500Es had a pencil beam driving light in the in-board position, and the fog-lights in the bumper/spoiler up front. The "Euro" (ROW) 500E pre-facelift lamps used a single piece of glass to cover everything, which is much more visually attractive (and better illuminating, in practice) than the square-ish US-spec 500E headlamp portion, which is quite weak.

The "facelift" E500 lamps used in the 1994 E500s used a single-piece of glass for the lens, which covered everything and was much more akin / equivalent to the "Euro" (rest of world) lamp used on the facelift cars. It is also much improved over the US 500E headlamps.

This is why the pre-facelift "Euro" headlamp buckets, which are as rare as rocking-horse poop, are such a popular upgrade for early US cars, and quite desired. Facelift US E500 folks have it better with their "stock" late US lamps, though some of us have even then, upgraded to the slightly better "Euro" facelift headlamps.