Typically for a car of that age there is a thermal auto-resetting circuit breaker for the headlights and one for the wipers. That's because those are safety systems that would be rendered inoperative if the fuse blew, even from an intermittent problem such as a rubbing wire. If the problem goes away at times, the circuit breaker will cool down very quickly and reset so you can see. There is also a similar circuit breaker built into the headlight switch.