Haven't made up my mind about the '62 coupe yet, but that gives me the chance to ask a few questions about making a few "safety upgrade" modifications...

1- 3 pt belts in the front - Andover seems to have a good selection... have any of y'all done this upgrade (and could you suggest which kit would be best)?

2- power brake booster - brakes work well on this car but I wondered if a power booster would be a good idea. I worry that a power booster may be a bit too much for 4 wheel drums. I don't want the brakes so touchy that I run the risk of locking the brakes in an emergency stop type situation.

3- tail/brake/running lights - any suggestions on what works (or what should be avoided) when it comes to making the car more visible (brighter bulbs, led's, small glow-in-the-dark elf waving a sign...)?

4- I plan on installing a relay setup for the headlights. Any suggestion on good halogen bulbs to use (or are the conversion kits... i.e. glass housing with a separate/replaceable bulb a good idea)?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Reepicheep

Power booster will only decrease your pedal effort, not increase braking power. Also adding a booster will decrease the space between the master cylinder and the spring tower, this is room you need to upgrade to a dual master cylinder. Even if you stick with drum brakes a dual master cylinder will make the car safer. With a single master cylinder -- if one of your wheel cylinders goes - and the fluid leaks out you are without brakes !!

With the dual master cylinder - if one wheel cylinder goes and the fluid leaks out - you still have brakes on the other end of the car. Make sure that the dual master is designed for 4 wheel drum brakes -- unless you go that next step and go to disk brakes on front - there are articles on this conversion on Woody's old site.

Brighter bulbs in the rear are a plus - just don't exceed the current draw that your fuses / switches / wiring can handle - and don't melt your lenses.
LED's are supposed to be the ticket here, but I have not tried them yet.
I do know that an all LED system doesn't draw enough current to make your turn signal flasher flash. A third brake light is a good upgrade as long as it's not ugly. Add 2 third brake lights and wire them as brake and turn signals -- again avoid ugly, also avoid lights that are not shrouded to the window as they will reflect off the glass and bug you.

Side marker lights are a good upgrade -- again avoid ugly an alternative side marker is those crazy neon things that go under the car.

And the bikers say that loud pipes save lives Just don't go so loud that
you can't hear the other guy coming.
_________________
Mark J. Whitmore, MSgt, USAF (RETIRED)
63 Fairlane 2dr Ht

Car color is a safety thing too.

My primered Studebaker was always getting hit. When I painted it
VW Kadiz Orange it was never hit again.

NTSB or some other org has done a study on car color and accidents

...MJW
_________________
Mark J. Whitmore, MSgt, USAF (RETIRED)
63 Fairlane 2dr Ht