[MightGetDirty]

Ok, I think I need the veterans brains trust on this one.. This my first attempt posting with pics also so if things turn out too big or not right be easy on me.

So a couple months back while trawling Yahoo Japan auctions I came across these beauties - Suzuki branded IPF spotties! The pictures didn't have the greatest angles to tell condition and the description (plus my translation to english) was a bit lacking but I just had to get them, and after more money than sense I became the owner of them.

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Sellers description only says that they pulled them off of "an old Suzuki". They also mention that the reflectors were replaced.. or needs replacing. Whatever it is, the current reflectors in them are shot - heat affected and bubbling all over so I do need to put new ones in, but I'd need to know what model they are to restore properly with the "right" ones.

They are definitely IPF spot lights by the "Super Offroader" covers but I can't for the life of me determine which model or their approximate age (and what car they would've been originally fitted to). The shape of the back doesn't match what I can find online and. There are no markings anywhere on the body or lens except for "8H06" on the rear side of the reflector assembly, of which Google doesn't come up with anything useful for me.

The spotties also came with mounting brackets from the car they pulled them off. It might give someone a clue on what car it was originally fitted and from that a vintage, at least. What's interesting is that the bracket has a round bend as if to goes around a pipe, and the bolting hole to the car is not a full 90degs from the mounting of the spotties' base.

If I have no luck finding out the IPF model here I can probably get some old IPF 900s and attempt to make some Frankenspots to keep the branded covers (the lens size is the same as 900s at 8" dia), but to me it'd be a bit of a shame not to have a go at properly restoring them with correct parts.

[30ONA]

Can't find anything either. Possibly someone just painted 'Suzuki' onto an ipf light. Still look cool though and would look period on the right car.

[Jezzer]

They look to me like they would have been a dealer fitted accessory on a Escudo. And Suzuki would have had some stickers put on them.

I have found an old brochure which looks to be from around 1988.

They show the yellow lens ones but I would say you could pick clear or yellow as an option.

As for the extra bracket those could have been fitted to the likes of a Helly Hansen nudge bar.

Sorry I can’t help with information on spare parts




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[Gwagensteve]

They’re much shallower than 900 series bodies

[MightGetDirty]

Jezzer wrote:

They look to me like they would have been a dealer fitted accessory on a Escudo. And Suzuki would have had some stickers put on them.

I have found an old brochure which looks to be from around 1988.

They show the yellow lens ones but I would say you could pick clear or yellow as an option.

As for the extra bracket those could have been fitted to the likes of a Helly Hansen nudge bar.

Sorry I can’t help with information on spare parts

That's the one! I didn't think of looking for old JDM catalogues - It's easily recognizable there with the rectangular mounting base compared to the smaller round ones IPFs usually have. Thanks a lot!

Now that I've got a lead to track, I've searched for other 1st Gen Escudo catalogues and can confirm it's an OEM/dealer fitted accessory. I don't think it was on the HH Edition though as all the photos I've found for them include different spotlights without covers (and more conventional-looking nudge bar mounting points. More on that below).

My bet is that is was previously on a "late Goldwin" Edition with Nomade trim ('95 onward, 5000 made) as the brackets seem to match the unique recess and bends in the nudge bar for this version:


From what I can tell, the later Nomade's should have IPF Super Rally's with a deep rear housing that fills to the front of the grill. There's many photo's floating around with those fitted so I'm not sure what's happened here. My best guess is that in the beginning of the "late Goldwin" run they used leftovers from the prior, "early Goldwin" accessories (started '91, 1800 made), or.. the original spots failed and the previous owner put these from an older Escudo on? Either way, this was a great hunt for finding the history of these little things!

Gwagensteve wrote:

They’re much shallower than 900 series bodies

Yes they are. I think this particular light model must've been made by IPF specially for the 1st gen Escudo's production. The shallower rear housing is not the only major difference - the square mounting base is fused to the front housing (the part the lens sits in) instead of the rear housing like their typical designs. I guess this allows these spots to fit directly on the bumper of the 1st gen without sitting proud. The cover also has four indents at the bottom that align to rivets in the front housing, allowing them to align and snap in place better than if it was with only the moulded edges (I don't think the standard covers do this..).

The few real-life photo examples I've now been able to find online also all seem to have lost their Suzuki logo, logo and the white "super offroader" text, or don't have covers entirely. I think the paint/ink and the covers are not that durable and mine, despite showing some wear, are somehow in a good and rare condition? Covers I mean - the reflectors are hot garbage

All these differences and the (I presume) low production numbers makes me worried whether I can find a compatible replacement for the lens. Since the ones currently in them are stuffed and maybe not original anyways, I've decided to roll the dice and get a set of old IPF 900 Xtremes off marketplace tomorrow at a decent price for breaking apart. If those lenses fit, I'll deem it as good enough and move onto wiring them in.

[MightGetDirty]

Ok folks, I picked up the 900 Xtremes on the way back home this arvo and couldn't wait to disassemble them and try swapping the lenses around..

..aand they don't fit.

Alright they sort of fit. The IPF 900XS lens is the exact same diameter to what was originally in the Suzuki spots and inserts without issue, but the reflector is deeper and two housings of the Suzuki spots wont close up when there's a bulb inserted. So I can either have some nice looking eye candy which is ultimately useless OR..

.. I use the rear housing of the 900 Xtremes.

The rear body of the 900XS fits the Suzuki fronts exactly, right down to the screw points to keep the 2 parts together. The front housing of the 900XS is thinner (as the base mount is fused to the rear one) so the Suzuki cover won't just fit the whole 900XS body directly.

This is more frankenstein than I wanted as there's now 2 base mounts on the thing, and who knows how it could affect adjustment being so back-heavy.. BUT it would function and with the new internal space I have the ability to convert to HID, making them competitive with modern LED lights.

I'll need some time to think I suppose. Part of me is yelling to preserve and restore properly while the more practical/lazy side is telling to just get them working, have HIDs and proper, safer lighting during the long drives up to north QLD to see family. I'll touch base on this in a week or two but happy to hear people's 2c on what they'd do!