The Doubtful Looking GE M400A2 CobraHeads
![]() GE M400A2 Power Doors, the Doubtful CobraHeadsOde to the doubtful looking GE M400A2 power door cobraheads, a street light model that took New York City by storm starting in the late 1960s. The M400A2 was the only mercury vapor era luminaire in New York City to transition successfully into the more competitive sodium vapor era of the 1970s. |
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![]() The inimicable expression on their visages led me to dub the M-400A2s The Doubtfuls. In these last salad days for mercury vapor lamps in NYC, the Doubtfuls and Cheerful IIs fought a pitched battle for the heart and soul of the city's highways and byways. The Westinghouse Silverliners cheerfully continued to grab new assignments on the highways, usually attached to the outrageous, mutant, braced Biggest-loop lighting standards designed by Donald Deskey. The Doubtfuls deviously bided their time. Around 1970 , Sodium Vapor lamps began to pop up in the more crime ridden neighborhoods. The handwriting was on the wall for the white-lighted mercuries. |
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Many of these new fixtures were probably more energy efficient. Indeed, time waits for no lamp, around here. Many of the small fry from the early 80's are now disappearing themselves. Meanwhile, I still can't get away from the Disgusteds and Doubtfuls. My present block, in Fresh Meadows, Queens, is still full of venerable, bird-dropping stained Doubters and the streets around me are a virtual Disgusted Museum. One street two blocks from me, is probably the only block left in the city, that is still all Disgusted. |
Originally written in 1996.