The SEV Marchal Amplilux were 7″ assemblies that fit into the Hella sealed beam housings with no modification. Used to replace the poor performing sealed beam headlight, the dual bulb, dual reflector Ampliluxes dramatically increased the performance over sealed beams and are, second only to the Cibie Bi-Iodes, the rarest and most desirable of headlights for early Porsches equipped with Hella sealed beam housings. Like the Bosch H1 and Cibie Bi-Iodes, they were a work around designed to enable the newly introduced halogen bulbs to b used in automotive headlights. Halogen bulbs at that time had only one filament so in order to use them in cars where two beams were required it was necessary to have two bulbs – and hence two reflectors.

A beautiful set of SEV Marchal Amplilux units that clearly shows the double reflectors.

Bulb Arrangement & Performance

The top reflector (upper half) was fitted with an H1 bulb and used for the low beam. The bottom reflector was fitted with an H3 bulb and used for the high beam. Ampliluxes, like the Bosch H1 headlight and the Cibie Bi-Iode headlight were complex and expensive to manufacture but they were the only way to use the advanced halogen bulb in automotive headlights until the two filament H4 halogen bulb was introduced in 1972.

The Ampliluxes had a sharp low beam cut-off and a far reaching high beam that could be adjusted separately from the low beam, creating an almost laser like far reaching beam. These and the Bosch H1 were the only headlights that had the capability of adjusting the high and low beams separately.

The back of a SEV Marchal Amplilux showing mounting in the Hella housing used for sealed beams. You can also see a decal with instructions for installing the H1 and H3 bulbs.

An Amplilux headlamp installed on an early longhood. They fit into the Hella sealed beam housing with no modifications required.