For what it's worth, I checked Wikipedia for details of the white vs. amber parking lights. Good grief, they have details for sure! It goes on and on with the hows and whys of every lamp on every car in every country! But basically, a lot of other countries decided long ago to make all turn signals amber, because supposedly they are easier to see, and easier to distinguish between the standard white-or-red lights and the turn signals themselves (as if you can't see them flashing). In the US, rear signals can be either red or amber, but starting in 1968, all front turn signals must be amber. Some US cars began using amber parking lamps beginning in 1963. It didn't say, but I heard elsewhere, that some states (don't know which ones) starting asking for them for 1964. So I guess technically, you can still make a car with white parking lamps, but the turn signals must be amber. Then again, there are so many other lamps with other names and uses pasted all over new cars, just one of the reasons why a $2.000 car now costs $30.000.
One other item of interest, the REASON for these lights is to make the car visible when parked on a dark street -- I guess assuming you get back to the car before the battery's dead. I can only imagine parking your car downtown somewhere and leaving them on; some idiot meter maid might give you a ticket for it . . . Oh, and in Germany, many cars have a side marker light that glows white in front and red in back. You can turn on the left or right lamps individually. I guess the single lamp uses less battery when you park it. So if you have a car with upgrade trim and it has "side marker lights", their original purpose is the same as the parking lights, to make your car easier to see on a dark street. Nobody uses any of these lights for the original purpose anymore, but cars still must have front parking lights. Go figure. Oh -- and a couple other legal sticky things, I've heard of some older Lincolns having side marker lights that burn out and you can't buy replacements. Not an issue, except in places (New Jersey in one) that will fail inspection if the lights don't come on. They're an OPTION, ugh -- don't ask. And I guess technically there's now a federal law that states all turn signal lamps must flash on and off simultaneously, making sequentials illegal. But, but, but -- don't new Mustangs have them? I can't wait till someone ends up in the Supreme Court over a traffic ticket!
And one more thing: a lot of antique car owners post messages on forums complaining that the parking lights go off when the headlights are turned on. Uh, yeah, that's the point. But somewhere around the late 60's, this was changed such that the parking lights stay on with the headlights, making it easier to see the car if one of the headlights is burned out. I suppose if a single light is on, the car could be mistaken for a motorcycle.
