Glass to plastic

[kartjockey]

I found this glass lens on Ebay while searching for vintage camper parts.  It was fitted on a car size license plate bracket.  I have heard Cushman used it at sometime.  And I think Reese has one on one of his rides.  But what year do we think Simplex switched?  Glass lens has a p/n 2080 and plastic one has P-189.  Both Nu-Ray. And Tiger-Ey.   Anyway, I had to own it and it is now under my roof!

[pd]

The Tiger-ey seems a bit shorter than the Nu-Ray . Might just be camera angle .

Anyway , nice to have spares on hand .

Pete .

[rldebuse]

Cushman changed to plastic in 1959 when they changed to 12 volt ignition and lighting, although they continued to use existing stocks until exhausted.  Cushman-made Allstate scooters continued using 6 volt magnetos and lighting.  In 1960 the glass lenses were no longer available from Cushman.  Most of the Simplex Automatics I've seen had the plastic lens.

[pd]

Nice bit of information . Thanks .

Pete .

[oil-lamp]

Kart, If you are going to use the glass, that I think looks better anyways, you need to use a original light bracket. The new reproductions ones don't fit just right and will cause cracking. 

[Doodle Bugger]

There is more than one glass "Nu-Ray" lens out there, just as an FYI item. The one pictured here in this thread is the Tiger Eye version that has more of a cylindrical shape to it. The other version is the Nu-Ray Junior lens that was used on Cushmans and a handful of other motorbikes and scooters. The Nu-Ray Junior lens is a glass dome shape but not pointed or bee-hive. The Nu-Ray lenses were made by the Do-Ray Lamp Company so they can be referred to as such or as Nu-Ray.

I like the glass lens look much better than plastic, though I personally go for correctness over style. Unfortunately I have no information on glass/plastic transition at Simplex.

[kartjockey]

Thanks for all of your input.