FL headlights in Toyota's 2004 brochure

Started by bobbe, September 30, 2022, 17:21

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bobbe

I was looking through Toyota's 2004 brochure for the fl MR2 (as you do when the weekend is rapidly approaching late on a Friday afternoon) and I noticed something - what looks like a black FL car with de-chromed FL headlights:





Does anyone know what this is about? Was this something Toyota offered as an option at the time? Was it something they'd maybe considered doing at an earlier stage of designing the fl headlights before settling on chrome for the final finish?

I have always thought that pfl headlights looked better than the chrome fl ones, and this confirms my suspicion that de-chroming fl lights would be an improvement. So far I've been hesitatant to risk putting mine in the oven to open up and spray them, but I might have to now...

bobbe

Oddly, the aerial on that car also seems to be on the wrong side

MikeBoo

And yet in that same brochure (well in my Aug 2004 version) the Silver variant not only has the chrome headlights but the aerial is on the correct side.
2001 Toyota Liquid Silver (1D0) with hard top & original soft top.
Yokohama AD08RS all round.
Replacement manifold, BC coil overs,
Whiteline anti roll bars front & rear.
Location = East Hampshire, UK

Ardent

@bobbe

I agree with you. I know the FL headlight is better performing, but I prefer the none chrome aesthetic of the PFL.

It looks de chromed but not 100% it is or at least not all of it. The top right of the right hand headlight surround looks chrome to me. But the body might be.

Who knows, because there has been some jiggery pokery on the pics. Flipped.

Ardent

#4
Hey presto aerial back in the correct place.



bobbe

Yes I suspected they had probably just flipped the photo, but then the badging on the rear of the car was all right so I did wonder

fawtytoo

And the windscreen wipers are correct for a RHD.
"My name is not important" - Slartibartfast

Ardent

#7
In the flip, are they not correct for an LHD?

bobbe

Here's another photo from the same brochure of presumably the same(?) car - where the aerial is on the wrong side, but the fuel cap and exhaust are on the correct side:



So it mustn't be just a flipped photo

There is also a picture in the same brochure of a black car with a fl front bumper and side indicators, the aerial on the wrong side, the fuel cap on the correct side, and clearly pfl headlights

All very strange

Ardent

not sure if its the scan. But not seeing the fuel cap. Very odd or just poor photoshoppery.

@steveash as a car photo pro. What is at play here?

bobbe

The fuel cap is clear on my screen with its backlight turned up, but here's a brightened enlargement:


Ardent


MikeBoo

2001 Toyota Liquid Silver (1D0) with hard top & original soft top.
Yokohama AD08RS all round.
Replacement manifold, BC coil overs,
Whiteline anti roll bars front & rear.
Location = East Hampshire, UK

MikeBoo

I have just taken a photo from a different brochure, all is now clear:

2001 Toyota Liquid Silver (1D0) with hard top & original soft top.
Yokohama AD08RS all round.
Replacement manifold, BC coil overs,
Whiteline anti roll bars front & rear.
Location = East Hampshire, UK

bobbe

Quote from: MikeBoo on September 30, 2022, 23:09I have just taken a photo from a different brochure, all is now clear:



Interesting. If anything that raises more questions. Obviously that picture was edited for later brochures to show the facelift revisions - so are the other photos also edits of photos of pfl cars? I assume they are, not least because I've just googled and this is clearly the same top-down photo I screenshotted above (oddly, that image seems to show body colour pfl side inlets and a different rear bumper? I don't read German so I don't know if it explains why that is, but I note the TTE logo on the number plate).

If so, why did they put the aerial in the wrong place in all the fl edits? And why did they not get the headlights right when they got the bumpers, side inlets, and rear lights correct?

Very odd

steveash

This sort of thing happens quite a lot. If they can't get the new car to a photographer and get the production done in time for the release date then a post-production house will do the photoshop work on the old model. It was obviously a bit of a rush job here and they got the aerial position wrong. This suggests they hadn't seen the car yet, only factory drawings.

These days this kind of thing is usually done with a 3D model and the rendering is so good you never know.

Going back to the original question. I actually painted my PFL headlamps black.




fawtytoo

Quote from: Ardent on September 30, 2022, 22:03In the flip, are they not correct for an LHD?
Er, yeah. Didn't think of that.

Even if it's an edited photo, wouldn't the aerial already be visible on the correct side? There would be no need to add it nor move it.
"My name is not important" - Slartibartfast

bobbe

Quote from: steveash on October  1, 2022, 09:17This sort of thing happens quite a lot. If they can't get the new car to a photographer and get the production done in time for the release date then a post-production house will do the photoshop work on the old model. It was obviously a bit of a rush job here and they got the aerial position wrong. This suggests they hadn't seen the car yet, only factory drawings.

These days this kind of thing is usually done with a 3D model and the rendering is so good you never know.

That sounds about right, though it doesn't quite explain the headlights - I wonder what drawings or images Toyota sent them to work with

QuoteGoing back to the original question. I actually painted my PFL headlamps black.





Yewah I've seen a few people have done that and I've considered doing it myself. Part of my hesitation is that the main reflector on the fl headlights is smaller than on the pfl lights (even accounting for the projector), so they end up looking kind of like the pfl headlights but with less chrome? So when fully painted they're a bit darker overall and less well balanced looking or something (in my view, anyway). So I want to leave some of it unpainted, but I haven't decided which bits

steveash

Quote from: bobbe on October  1, 2022, 15:30That sounds about right, though it doesn't quite explain the headlights - I wonder what drawings or images Toyota sent them to work with

Yewah I've seen a few people have done that and I've considered doing it myself. Part of my hesitation is that the main reflector on the fl headlights is smaller than on the pfl lights (even accounting for the projector), so they end up looking kind of like the pfl headlights but with less chrome? So when fully painted they're a bit darker overall and less well balanced looking or something (in my view, anyway). So I want to leave some of it unpainted, but I haven't decided which bits

You could always try body colour? I thought silver would look too similar to chrome so probably not worth all the effort! I also took out the orange indicator filter and put in silver coated orange bulbs.

bobbe

Quote from: steveash on October  1, 2022, 18:53You could always try body colour? I thought silver would look too similar to chrome so probably not worth all the effort! I also took out the orange indicator filter and put in silver coated orange bulbs.

Ah well, my car is black! So body colour wouldn't help things. Though I definitely plan to do what you've done with the indicators, whether I end up painting the lights or not. I have struggled though to find the right bulbs - I know of the Philips ones, but I've read people say they're the wrong fit for the MR2



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