Anybody know what this is? Pic isn't great, bar is on a mid to late 70's truck. Pic was taken in New Jersey at a vintage EV show.scan0041.jpg[/attachment:3ewmi7j5]
Oddball Lightbar
- Thread starter crescentstar69
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That's a Whelen model 6000 bar and it is ultra rare to find. It is to a Whelen collector what an Aurora Borealis is to a Mars collector.
I had the nicer model 6029 all strobe bar back in the late 80s that I obtained from a wrecker owner in a swap I initially hesitated to make for an Edge lightbar. At the time, I didn't really want it because it was not widely used because not many of them were ever made and Edge bars were very popular and all the rage. The 6000 was considered very ugly and bulky and it was hard to access the innards because of the long single piece dome, which was very thin and flexible. The model 8000/80/90 series bars with a better dome setup came along soon after it was introduced in the mid 70s and made it obsolete. The one I got had a clear dome, which was unusual to see on any type of lightbar at the time, and I liked the fact the inner colors could be easily changed and that's the biggest reason I made the swap for it. I had no idea it would ever be collectable or I would have taken much better care of it, as it fell off a rickety shelving rack in my garage shortly after I got it. The single piece clear dome literally shattered into several pieces, and I still kick myself for not having it secured on a more stable surface better. I still have one of the power supplies from it, and the metal speaker grille that fit on the front of the dome is around here somewhere. I've only seen one other model 6000, which was several years ago while on a trip, and it was on an abandoned fire truck in a pasture and almost half of it's red dome was cracked/broken/missing.
I had the nicer model 6029 all strobe bar back in the late 80s that I obtained from a wrecker owner in a swap I initially hesitated to make for an Edge lightbar. At the time, I didn't really want it because it was not widely used because not many of them were ever made and Edge bars were very popular and all the rage. The 6000 was considered very ugly and bulky and it was hard to access the innards because of the long single piece dome, which was very thin and flexible. The model 8000/80/90 series bars with a better dome setup came along soon after it was introduced in the mid 70s and made it obsolete. The one I got had a clear dome, which was unusual to see on any type of lightbar at the time, and I liked the fact the inner colors could be easily changed and that's the biggest reason I made the swap for it. I had no idea it would ever be collectable or I would have taken much better care of it, as it fell off a rickety shelving rack in my garage shortly after I got it. The single piece clear dome literally shattered into several pieces, and I still kick myself for not having it secured on a more stable surface better. I still have one of the power supplies from it, and the metal speaker grille that fit on the front of the dome is around here somewhere. I've only seen one other model 6000, which was several years ago while on a trip, and it was on an abandoned fire truck in a pasture and almost half of it's red dome was cracked/broken/missing.
Is it me or was this series of lightbars a total sales flop? It was clearly a VERY innovative concept, but I never saw one in use. I've never even seen one in possession of any collectors (here or otherwise). I didn't even know this line existed until seeing the literature posted several months ago on the archived ELB site. What's the story on these things?
Check my post above for some of it's history as I have researched it and know a little about it. Obviously, since they are never seen in use, or for sale, or in collector's hands, there were not very many of them ever made.
Back in the 70s, the city of Worcester, Massachusetts Police Dept's entire fleet of patrol cruisers had these bars. (Long gone).
They had clear domes, blue 360 degree strobes on each end, blue directional strobes inboard to the front, and red inboard directional strobes to the rear. Very nice, and very innovative at the time.
Dan
They had clear domes, blue 360 degree strobes on each end, blue directional strobes inboard to the front, and red inboard directional strobes to the rear. Very nice, and very innovative at the time.
Dan
I just realized that what I thought was a rotating light bar, is actually oscillating lights. Yes, I've never seen these anywhere but the catalogs.
Yea, that one would really be the holy grail for a collector. Wonder why Whelen didn't try to do more beacon or lightbar variations with those oscillating lights?
From what I heard..and this is strictly hear say...was that they were prone to self destruction, both the oscillator and strobe types. The strobe heads were piss poor as far as being anything close to bright, and the power supply’s would always burn out. The incandescent osc type, the linkages would snap and wear down too quickly. That is why you do not see any of them.
The 8000 was the upgrade/replacement to fix the issues.
The 8000 was the upgrade/replacement to fix the issues.
The end strobes were nothing more than an 8 pin octal strobe bulb in a basic holder that was screwed down to the frame with a colored dome over it. And jdh, you are right, they were not very bright at all. The par 46 strobe bulbs were much better but they were on those old metal Strobe II power supplies and lacked the punch that the later used higher wattage power supplies provided.
BTW, I found one of the strobe bulb holders from my 6029 bar yesterday while going through some boxes in my old storage building. The remnants of the bar are in a ditch we used as a landfill over the years at my folk's place out in the country. If I can get my brother to dig around in it with the tractor blade, I might can recover the frame or parts of the dome, just for grins and giggles. if I can find the frame, wonder if Whelen might have a dome handy for it?
BTW, I found one of the strobe bulb holders from my 6029 bar yesterday while going through some boxes in my old storage building. The remnants of the bar are in a ditch we used as a landfill over the years at my folk's place out in the country. If I can get my brother to dig around in it with the tractor blade, I might can recover the frame or parts of the dome, just for grins and giggles. if I can find the frame, wonder if Whelen might have a dome handy for it?
These bars were really early strobe technology. it wasn't anywhere close to being perfected. They weren't that popular either. Both those factors make them very rare.
Because it's actually more of a large washed out place than a ditch and it's behind an old barn at my folk's place out in the country. They have over 25 acres and there is a creek running through one corner just beyond that washed out area. It's on a back crest of a hill that has a slope that gradually goes downhill, and the drainage over the years had steadily washed out a large area. When they moved there in 1970, Dad was concerned that it might eventually affect the barn's foundation, so they wanted to fill it in but hauling loads of dirt to put in it was too expensive and useless because it would wash right out. They have lived there for 40 years now, and over the years, that's where our many of the worn out appliances, furniture, and any other things that could be thrown in it have usually gone. It's well out of sight of the main road and in the back of the acreage on the edge of a heavily wooded area so it's never been an issue to do it.
It might be interested to dig around in that junkpile sometime and see if I can get lucky enough to find that model 6000 frame. It was just another piece of scrap metal as far as I was concerned 20 years ago when it was junked. If I only knew then what I know now about it.......along with my boxes of baseball cards that were also thrown in that ditch when I moved out.....and that Schwinn bicycle I had that is also in it which I saw an identical one go for around $1000 on eBay....
Damn, I really need to go digging around in there!
It might be interested to dig around in that junkpile sometime and see if I can get lucky enough to find that model 6000 frame. It was just another piece of scrap metal as far as I was concerned 20 years ago when it was junked. If I only knew then what I know now about it.......along with my boxes of baseball cards that were also thrown in that ditch when I moved out.....and that Schwinn bicycle I had that is also in it which I saw an identical one go for around $1000 on eBay....
Damn, I really need to go digging around in there!