I'll bet this is a newbie question, but here goes. After I bought my 1980 242 and drove it home away from the city lights, the headlights seem really really dim. I didn't have a problem when I was driving around street lights but on my back roads oncoming headlight completely cancel my lights out. Forget taking curves as speed if there's a car coming at me. Especially at twilight I can't tell my lights are even on! The dash and console lights are pretty dim too; the dimmer switch doesn't go higher just lower. My mechanic said that's as good as it gets and the car is too old to expect any better. I say it's just a machine and it's as good as I want it to be. Who's right? How can I get brighter lights (I have state inspections so I have to be careful to stay street legal.) thank you.

oh by the way, I also have lots of trouble with shorts in the lights and turn signals.