WWII Searchlight Info

[59Ford]

This might be little off topic but hopefully some people here can provide some insight.
I'm helping some friends sell some odd stuff they inherited when their dad died. One of those things is this World War II 60" searchlight. I actually do know a fair amount about these things but have never actually worked on one. The man who owned it used it for business promotion. It has been converted from the original carbon arc to an 18kw HID bulb. It was done by a company in Hollywood. I'll have to check the paperwork again to find out the exact specs of the conversion. The generator is an old 35KW Onan with a 292 y-block Ford engine. I believe the engine might be bad but I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on it yet so I don't know for sure.
Just wondering if anyone has any more info on these things or has seen one of these conversions before? Any idea what it's worth? I'm not sure if the conversion adds or subtracts from the value. I'm just trying to find as much info on this thing as possible before they try to sell it.

Thanks,
-Colin

 

[BVH]

Not off-topic at all. I owned a non-converted G.E. 1942A so all my experience is with burning rods and the Hercules flathead. I always heard that the conversions were super simple to operate. Start the genny and flip a couple of switches and that's it. What information are you seeking?

Although his expertise is in non-converted units, you might shoot Bob Meza of Victory Searchlights an email. He's pretty much the Guru of the OEM units but he probably knows of other light operators who have and operate the HMI's. I think he still has a "classifieds" area on his site. Here's his web site: http://www.victorysearchlights.com/

 

[59Ford]

Mostly trying to figure out what to ask for it. I'm just not sure if the conversions are more or less desirable than the originals. Also, is there anything I can do to determine the condition of the light without a working generator? The engine is seized up but as far as I can tell everything else seems to be in fairly good shape. I had someone try to tell me to ask $30k for it but that seems really high. I was guessing somewhere around 5-$10,000.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Welcome to CPF. If you are trying to find the value of this light, it's called a feeler sales thread, which is not appropriate in this discussion forum. Go to a WTS thread and post there.

Bill