need help on old commander lightbar?

[dalehollowrescue]

Hey I have an older commander? lightbar from whelen, I think that is what it is anyway. Can somebody give me some info on the bar, like what is it worth, about when was this bar built and used, and if you know of any departments that used the bar? It has the steady burn cruise lights and the strobes are bright the speaker works as well. Any information would be great I am lookng at building a 1973 LTD car but thought this bar probably came out later than that. Thanks

 

[dustymedic]

I'm thinking it came out more like between 78-80. I remember the PD ran earlier model Whelen strobe bars in 77 & 78 and switched over a few years later..

 

[MIKET2]

Ford Dealer has a bar just like that with can lights. Their AWESSSSSOME! Nice find there.

 

[JohnMarcson]

I'd pay $300

 

[dalehollowrescue]

thanks for the info, it's a cool bar and I only paid a little over $300 so maybe i didn't get burnt, but if you really want something it don't matter right? would love to add can lights to this one, that would really be cool, now I just need the right car to put it on, gosh even as I type it I can hear how bad that sounds LOL! If anyone has more info i'd love to know more about it and nail down the year it might have came out.

 

[stansdds]

That is a Whelen Model 5800 bar. I do not think the speaker is by Whelen. I think they were made from 1978 to the middle 1980's. Those are not the type of bar that you see very often. The 8000 series are far more commonly encountered on the collectible market.

 

[cmb56]

That is a Whelen Model 5800 bar. I do not think the speaker is by Whelen. I think they were made from 1978 to the middle 1980's.

Correct.


The 5200 Commander came in 1978 and the speaker seems to be a Federal CP-25 or CP-100 with VisiBar mount.

 

[dalehollowrescue]

The speaker is a federal don't remember which model. Does anyone know what kind of directionial lights would have came with these? Also i am re-building a 1974 K-9 wagon and a 1977 fire chief truck. Would Tiwnsonics be around the right era for those? Thanks for the info if someone knows.

 

[cmb56]

The most common directional strobe lamp was the Whelen A-46. It was single ended. The double ended version is not so common but the single ended version would be much easier to find.


The TwinSonic came on the market about 1967-69 depending what scource giving the facts but it was garanteed on the market in 1969.


So there is no problem to use it on your projects except that you must have the early mounting kits.


The AeroDynic came out in 1977 for your information.

 

[dalehollowrescue]

Oh thanks so much, I have some Twins in the attic and had been saving them for special projects and had been threating to put one on my 1976 superior type 2 ambulance, it has a federal 184 on it now and a light from mars with 2 chrome speakers but I am building a 1971 national raised roof suburban and i'd like to move the two federal cp100's and the light from mars over to it. So I may pull the 184 off the van and put up a twin so i'll have speaker space up top. I will put one of the tiwnsonics on my fire chief truck that i'm rebuilding I am pretty sure that is what it had when it was new best I remember it was. Thanks again and anyone else who has any info or if you know where I could snag acouple of those whelen directional strobes i'd be interested in a pair, red/blue or blue/blue or red/red !

 

[cmb56]

What model of Mars do you call "The Light From Mars"?


All Mars lights use that trade name.

 

[crescentstar69]

Dayton, Ohio PD used those things for years, until about 1995

 

[dalehollowrescue]

crescentstar69 you don't know where I could find some pictures of the bar in use do you?

 

[03crownvic]

Hey dalehollow, member J. Duke has some of those A-46 alloy housings, and maybe some bulbs too. They also pop up on eBay from time to time.


I have a used red par 46 strobe bulb that would fit in one of the housings I would sell for $20. I also have a NOS par 56 red strobe bulb for $25. Let me know if you might be interested in either or both.

 

[crescentstar69]

No sorry, I don't. They have been gone a long time.

 

[dalehollowrescue]

Thanks i've been looking through different sites trying to find photo's of the bar in use and they are just not any out there, I guess nobody was proud of these lights when they had them LOL! I would like to get 2 of those directional strobes a red/blue pair would be great if someone does have them and don't want an arm and leg for them.