53 instrument panel query

bob ward

Looking at the back of the instrument panel in my 53 Hornet, I see there are a pair of fittings cast in the back where one would mount indicator bulbs.



The face of the panel is blank, so presumably back in those days you drilled the instrument panel yourself if you were fitting turn signals.



Query is, did all the 53 instrument panels come blank, or could you order a car with factory indicators in the instrument panel?

nick s

until 54 there was a lone indicator on the left end of the dashboard. 54's had actual directional indicators within the cluster.

[Deleted User]

Ken U-Tx wrote:

Those bosses are for the mounting of accessory switches, ie: fog lamps, under seat heater, etc. Its a double D blank that was to be punched out of the casting for the shaft of the switch to pass thru, just as the switches on the lower dash for the headlights, heater, etc are mounted. The switches are held in place by the chromed ribbed nuts on outside, the threaded shanks have a flat on each side to pass thru the double D hole, so the switch assembly doesn't rotate as you tighten the nut from outside.

Bob, The large instrument panel which was used from 51-53 had two "D" bosses below the fuel/temp gauges on the 52-53 models because the wiper and light switch had been moved to the lower sub dash panel. The bosses were no longer used so were filled in on the new castings for 52. The reason was that there had been complaints about having to put your arm through the steering wheel to activate wipers and lights on the 51's , so in 52 it was modified. In 52 also came the advent of the new ignition switch which did away with the starter button,freeing up a hole on the subdash for the relocation of the wiper switch to the right of the steering wheel. On the right subdash ,the light switch was relocated from the instrument panel in a location formerly used as the hole for mounting the optional foglight. You could still punch out those areas on the instrument cluster for fog lights etc, but that was now up to the individual owner.

bob ward

Thanks guys, that explains it all nicely