I worked as a mechanic and process technician in an automotive headlamp manufacturing facility for twelve years. We made both the old 2E1/2A1 standardized lamps and the "aero" type lamps from 1991 to 2003. Manufacturing those "aero" lamps, with all of their weird compound curves and maintaining decent optometrics was a bitch to say the least. That and getting a good seal around the periphery of the lens/housings to prevent water intrusion. Ever seen one of those things with water sloshing around inside it? Bad weld, bad fit, bad vent or maybe a gap/bubble in the glue. And then after a few years, the hardcoat fogs up. So you "polish" the fog away, which leaves the polycarbonate lens exposed directly to the elements. Six months later, you're replacing the lamps, at $180-$400 .
But, some of them do look really cool.
I hate the high discharge (Xenon) bulbs. They work really good, if you're inside looking out. But they blind any oncoming traffic. I was there when we were testing the first ones
before they hit the market.
Anyhow, the dumbasses that ran the company went on a big exspansion kick. Bought a brake company that had $3 billion in asbestos liabilities. Within a year, they were bankrupt. They sold the business, and our jobs to a Canadian company, who moved the equipment and the contracts to a
union plant in Canada. Why? Because in Canada the company doesn't have to pay for EMPLOYEE HEALTH COVERAGE. It's TOO expensive, they said, to do the work in the U.S. because of the way we do HEALTHCARE.
Regards,
Dave