I think there would be a market for it. There are plenty of reproduction products out there for people who like vintage looking items. The old WWII era fluorescent fixtures would look great in a garage with a vintage car and some old porcelain signs.

I think there would be a market for it. There are plenty of reproduction products out there for people who like vintage looking items. The old WWII era fluorescent fixtures would look great in a garage with a vintage car and some old porcelain signs.

Yeah, I agree.
Being a antique car collector in the past along with a 65 Mustang or two I got to meet a lot of old car nuts and some of their garages look like dealer show rooms or service bays.
 
But in most instances there were usually tacky cheapo Wal Mart type fluorescent fixtures being used that looked out of place with a 48 Ford and everything else in the room.

I also think there could be a market, if it was done right, and the fixture was accurate as possible.
Price is no object for some of these people if they want it.

A few repo RFs hanging from chains would look really cool in anyone's garage.



    

I never thought about having antique fluorescent fixture reproductions. What a great idea. However, I fear that the companies making such reproductions will, in addition to installing HF ballasts, make the fixture out of aluminium foil and pack them in boxes made of tissue paper. OK, I'm exaggerating but in my experience, reproductions are rarely as well built as the original, often disappointingly.

For someone who will pay whatever price they have to, having a metal shop custom make them would be the best option.

I never thought about having antique fluorescent fixture reproductions. What a great idea. However, I fear that the companies making such reproductions will, in addition to installing HF ballasts, make the fixture out of aluminium foil and pack them in boxes made of tissue paper. OK, I'm exaggerating but in my experience, reproductions are rarely as well built as the original, often disappointingly.

For someone who will pay whatever price they have to, having a metal shop custom make them would be the best option.

I agree, there are good reproductions and there is just junk. I seen this with reproduction classic car parts. Some repos were just so good that you would think they were new from Ford. Then with other reproductions the box was worth more than the part.

But the good news is that word spreads fast as to what is good repo parts and what is junk repo parts.
That would be the challenge, but in this case the customer usually knows this from past experience.
Quality costs and they know this.

I have a catalog here of reproduction lighting fixtures for the home and the quality is high, but so are the prices.
Most of these have a nice fancy finish, where a industrial / shop fixture would be more forgiving as to finish as long as it looked good and worked properly.
For a garage setting that rugged look is just what you need.
 
I think the original RF 1941 fixtures that Westinghouse made for the factories during the war were not all that fancy, they just had to work.
They needed a lot of them and in a hurry.

Also there no mistaking the RF fixture for a el cheapo Walmart type fixture that most home garages and work shops  are now using.
The 1941 RF fixture with the end plugs on the bulbs and the slots in the reflector for the wire is one of a kind for sure.
A real stand out anywhere.

If you were going for the pre 1940 look incandescent would be the way to go.
But if you were going for the 1940 or later look, the RF fixture would be the way to go.
I guess if you were going for the 2014 look a Walmart China cheapo fixture would work, unfortunately.

I have been doing some research and have found that these RF fixtures by Westinghouse were made in a attempt to boost the light output inside "blackout" plants.
That is, factories with no windows so production could go on 24/7 in a constant day light condition but could not be seen by enemy aircraft.

Apparently they were the highest output fluorescent fixtures at the time 1941.
17,386 fixtures in just one aircraft factory alone.

One advertisement said there was like 11,260 of these fixtures in just one aircraft assembly room.
That is a lot of light for 1941 in one room.


 
 

I was looking at a 1948 GE bulb catalog online and found that the F85 85 watt T10 rectifying fluorescent RF bulbs were listed.

But was surprised that they were 58 inches long not 60 inches long.
A little short of five foot.

This is a odd length for sure.
Three pins on one end and two pins on the other end so they would only fit in one direction only.
Looked like regular light plugs to me.
Carbon electrodes on one end only.
Really different one of a kind.

Westinghouse stopped making the fixtures in 1942.

But there must have been a few still in use in 1948 if the bulbs were listed in the 1948 GE catalog.
I will try to find a later catalog and see when they were discontinued.
 

I am guessing the fixtures themselves were 60 inches, and the 58 inch tube length were to accommodate the plugs on the ends of the lamps.