So I wasn't very happy with the headlights on my '69 Cutlass S. They were usable, but very dim and yellow, and the passenger side low beam lamp had been replaced at some point, so it looked different from the others. The other 3 lamps appeared to be original, or at least they were identical replacements to the originals. While I was cruising Rock Auto last weekend, I saw that they had Wagner Halogens (H5001 & H5006) on sale for $5 each and threw a set in the cart.

I decided to change them out yesterday morning. I started out right-to left, with the driver's side low beam. I went a little (but not full mode) Rob Young on them. Fortunately my MAWPC (Might-As-Well Prevention Circuit) turned on, and although I could have removed the whole assemblies, repainted the black buckets, fully polished the bezels, etc., I just cleaned everything really well, dielectric greased the connectors, spot rust-treated a few areas on the buckets, and reassembled. It still took more than an hour to do each pair.

So I'm down to the last lamp (the passenger low beam that was different from the others (see the first photo).

I pull the lamp out and hear a little clinking noise. Behind the lamp, attached to the headlamp wires with a short length of copper wire, I find a very interesting surprise (see 2nd & 3rd photos).

Joe P. will probably get a little chuckle out of this, since he gave me a lot of help working with my very badly worn original keys, determining the key codes, and making new keys for the car. The copy set I found in the headlamp housing were obviously put there a really long time ago. They were filthy, and had lost any original luster long ago, but otherwise they appeared to be never-used copies.

I would never have seen these or known they were there by looking from the engine compartment. It doesn't seem like the best place (and certainly not an obvious place) to hide a spare set of keys. Definitely, it was a secure place for them.

All-in-all, it kind of made my day.

 

What a bizarre place to hide keys!....never seen that before.
I guess it was not the previous owners getaway set

 

That's exactly what I was thinking... although in hindsight, if you knew they were there, it would really be pretty easy to get to them if necessary.

 

Very cool story.

 

Pretty funny. Just out of curiosity, do these have the codes stamped on them?

 

No, no codes, and they're pretty generic-looking copy blanks... although they do have the 'H' and 'E' stamped on them. I'm guessing that they were copied from the original keys when the originals were still very fresh.

 

You must have bought that from the same guy who I bought my 65 Riviera off of. I found three sets of keys under the hood. One behind the battery, one behind the headlights and the best place of all was behind the voltage regulator. I'm thinking that one cause the wiring to fry at some point when it grounded out the wound resistor type coiled wire that's on the back of those regulators to the firewall. Classic

 

That's your factory Headlamp Keys
Required for adjustments.

Much like a Pore Key for your house
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...79189006,d.aWw

Probably another one near the Blinker Fluid reservoir.

 

That's actually a great place. If you know they're there, you can get them by popping the hood (remember, no hood lock) and picking them out of the back of the headlight bucket, if you don't you'll never find them.

My grandfather used to like the magnetic Hide-A-Key box inside the air cleaner.

- Eric

 

ive seen it many times myself....

i have a 66 skylark survivor, an older couples baby..and SO FAR have found 5 sets of keys...one under the front bumper in a hide a key...same in the rear bumper..one set wired to the hard line for the a/c condenser and one behind the battery wired to the headlamps...and recently a set in a plastic bag wired around the gas filler neck


then theres the 15 or so pounds of rags shoved in every open gap under the hood...and around 15 paper funnels stuck in holes and slots..too

i was surprised the car didnt burn there was so much cloth shoved in gaps...

 

My grandfather used to do that to... and now I do it!

- Eric

 

....But why? Against rattles?

 

No, just to have a rag when you need one, like for checking oil or just wiping things off.
You can leave an oily rag wedged somewhere in the engine compartment and it won't make a mess and will be there next time.

- Eric

 

I thought of that after I posted - we do the same thing with paper in the army.

 

That probably explains why I never seem to have enough rags. They're all under your hood!

 

jeezus.this brings up funny stuff a buddies dad does.he is an old farmer.has a couple old binder(international) pickups.as many know or for those that don't if you look at a binder pickup wrong it will rust out.after changing his oil he would put a nice coat all over the inner fenderwells etc.one day he went to open the hood and the hinges ripped right off.evidently the oil didn't help.he also lived by blackjack tar coating.we had an old 73 toro and were taking target practice with it.we were leaning over the top of the car and the muzzle blasts blew the rotten vinyl off the top,so he ripped it off and blackjacked the top.it looked kinda cool......for about a week then the dust took over.after about a month that car looked like it had an afro.