As our classic cars age, their components are antiquated by the ever-forward march of automotive technology. Carburetors first yielded the throne to fuel injection at the throttle body, later swallowed down to port and direct fuel injection. Distributors were retired for coil on plug. Displacement, once the shortcut to horsepower, is itself being displaced for forced induction, offering efficiency or power at a whim.

All these components can be modernized, though cost is often a significant hurdle. Converting from a carburetor to fuel injection on a commonplace American V8, for example, demands a kit that may command a price well into the thousands of dollars. Almost all of us aren't Jay Leno, so spending sums that rival the cost of an organ transplant to keep up with the tech found in the Joneses' new Kia is not feasible for most.

Not all parts of our old cars need be left obsolete, however, as cheaper systems can offer considerable quality-of-life improvements when updated. Rotten rubber bushings can be swapped for durable ball bearings to tighten linkages. An air intake can receive a retrofit to remove restrictions in its ducting, clearing the engine's throat. Headlights can be brightened and beautified. Refinements for these systems tends to cost in the tens or low hundreds of dollars, yet often yield more pleasurable ownership experience, be it with greater reliability or tightened up driving.

Headlights in particular are a good place to start. As mentioned above, aftermarket options can offer improved nighttime visibility, and in equal measure, they can refresh a car's appearance. Every vehicle sold in the United States through 1984 used a sealed beam design for relative ease of service, and some manufacturers continued to design vehicles that used these lights through the 1990s. With so many of our golden oldies rolling around with lighting that one could politely refer to as period correct, the aftermarket has responded with a wealth of modernization options.

The selection is bountiful enough that it's complicated the decision of what to drop your dollars on. You can find halogen, xenon, HID, LED, and in the near future, possibly even laser headlight conversions. To keep things simple, I narrowed this comparison down to the two most available types of upgraded sealed beams: Halogen and LED, at both entry level and premium-price tiers. For the comparison, I solicited the aid of manufacturers of both styles of headlights, who offered demo units for road testing, which I returned after a long-term evaluation. No freebies for meebies. All below are H4 plug compatible, though some can be adapted to fit vehicles that take other styles of bulbs.

Testing methodology included use in environments ranging from well-lit interstates and cities to blacked-out backroads in the Rocky Mountains, where quality headlights can mean the difference between catching a deer in your beams and bagging said buck with your bumper. To prove that the installation of aftermarket lights is doable for even the mechanically hopeless among us (yours truly), I performed the swaps myself, only once enlisting the help of my mechanic friend Zach to get the circuitry for the LED testing to work. Note that to get the most out of any new headlights, they must be re-aimed using the adjustment screws on your vehicle, and installing upgrades without adjusting them will yield poorer lighting than before.

Let us now enlighten ourselves on sealed beams.