VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1940 ignition lock light

Hello everybody,
Began to work on my "new" 1940.
Let me ask: it is a 1940 special deluxe sport sedan, so it should have a light at ignition lock and one in the glove box. The wiring of my car is old and poor, I have to replace a lot. Under the dash I found some small lamps and sockets.
Ok, some belong to the speedometer cluster, and if I did understand the wiring schematic and the owners manual, two of the sockets I found under the dash should illuminate the glove box and the ignition lock.
But actually I have no idea where should be the place of these lamps and how the ignition lock should be illuminated. Who knows about that? Nor the owners manual neither the repair shop manual offers any information about it.
I did see a small hole at ignition lock just right of the keyhole. Should the lamp be behind that hole just to offer a guide where to stick the key in?

Best regards
Stefan

I can't help specifically with your '40 but if it's the same as my '38 the hole in the ignition switch is where a #51 bulb locates to illuminate the switch. The socket & bulb are a friction fit in the hole. Just push it in and it should fit snug enough to stay in place. The glove box on my '38 doesn't have a light so I can't help at all with that.

Stefan, the dash takes three lights. one for speedometer, two for gauges on each side of speedometer. The glove box takes two lights, one light for clock, one light for inside glove box. my 40' SD doesn't have the light for ignition. Hope that helps some.

The 1940 has a light behind the ignition switch. Almost need to remove the ign. switch to see where it goes.
My '39 has one.
In fact the 1937 and 1938 had one.

The glove box light was new for 1940 and only in the Special Deluxe models.

Good morning!
I guess I did understand. Inside the speedometer cluster I found 3 sockets and bulbs, and there is another loose one on a cut line same like that (same socket). It might be the ignition lock lamp. and I found another one cut off and taped under the dash in another socket, it is a socket in a small case, all very poor and rotten, that might be the glove box light. And of course there is a lamp for the clock. Because I work on old pre war tube radios (repairings, restoration) since I was a kid of 14 it will not be a big deal to restore the rotten glove box light.
The brain teaser was just the ignition lock light, but I am happy about the infos and help I got here, now I may fix it soon.
The next will be the tail lights, especially stop light.
The car has an old aftermarket turn signal switch, as expected out of order, and when analyzing the switch I found out it is combined with the stop lights, means the car brakes for ex. on left side and on right side giving turn signal with stop light at same time, the usual US system, but forbidden in germany since 60 years now and I have to add "normal" (small motobike) turn signals at back side according to german laws and this will be a bit work to find the lines from turn switch to stop lights, because the lines were just cut when the repair shop did install an overhauled steering gear. And there is just a mess of cut cables under the dash. But I hope I will be able to post here "done, am driving now" at least in April...

Looking forward
Stefangermany

There should also be a socket behind the speedometer for the "bright lights"....its wire will go down to the dimmer switch.

My 38 has a piece of sheet metal that mounts with the switch and the hole for the light socket is in that piece.

I have a question about the turn signal laws in Germany. Can your new rear signals be red or do they have to be amber?

Good morning old216,

to answer the question about german laws:
tail lights and stop lights must be red,
turn signals must be yellow, front and rear.

the signal lamp on dash for turn signal should be green, the signal light for hazard (all 4 lights flashing) must be red, the "high beam" indicator for headlights should (must) be blue. I know the old chevy has not a blue lamp for that, but I went to the car inspection engineers to ask about and they said: The law is not as strict as for modern cars for these old cars, so the high beam indicator should be blue but it is not a must. But better you add a blue light anywhere at the dash to be on the safe side of law.
Of course there are some "fox-holes" for these old cars, but in general they drive in todays modern traffic and must follow the laws of today for sure. As long nothing happens nobody will say a word, the problems begin in case of an accident and after the insurances begin to investigate.
It happened about 20 years ago a pal of mine drove out with his very old car. After the late evening party he was drunk and asked a friend to drive back home. The driver was not experienced with old cars and had no idea the high beam indicator could be red. So he drove with beam up all the time and another car coming along could not see the street because of high beam light, lost the path and hit a bush, later the insurance came and said hey, you had a red indicator light and that is forbidden, of course the unexperienced driver could not know he has high beam, he expected a blue signal! We'll not pay for that accident.
Ok, things like that will not happen daily, but, as a speech says: Be prepared, the devil never sleeps...

Stefangermany

Thanks, that is very interesting. There is debate here from time to time about making the turn signals in the rear amber. For years we have had some cars that had the amber lights and some that are red. It seems that the color difference seems to give the message quicker as to whether it is a brake light or turn signal going on.

Does anybody have a picture of the ignition lock so I can see what is illuminated? I've looked though shop manuals and parts books to which none of them have any pictures of the lock assembly. Thanks guys

See if this helps:






Brian

Thanks Brian,
Evidently I do not have this style of key lock. It may have been replaced before I bought this car. I 'll have to check. Is this just illuminating under the dash area? I do not see how it can be seen from seating area. no holes or slits that I can see to show the light through like the one you show. Hmmm?

The light is behind the dash and the only light the driver sees is a faint light around the lock cylinder. If dash lights are dimmed the switch light gets dimmed also. Go out at night in total darkness and turn on the lights. You should see a faint ring of light coming from around the lock cylinder.

This is what an ignition lock looks like on a 41. The space around the chrome lock is where the light shines through. Nothing shines through where the key fits, only the circular edge is luminated. Hope this is helpful, Mike

Thanks Guys, I will check it out at night. Seeing that I do not drive at night much, I've never noticed it. Maybe the bulb is burnt out. I have noticed that the dash, clock lights aren't very bright. Is there a better brighter bulb that can be used as a replacement?

It's a #51, one candle power bulb. A #55 is 3 cp but I don't know if it'll fit the hole. I bought two halogen bulbs from Bill Hirsch for my dash lights & they make quite a difference.

I assume you have turned the headlight switch knob to achieve maximum brightness.

When you replace a bulb with a halogen type, observe the operation and give it a feel for excess heat. The bulb may also cause the wires to get warm if they are subjected to too much current draw.

thanks guys,
Yes it's on maximum brightness. I'm sure they are #51's. I'll check them when the weather warms up (when?) so I can stand on my head and get to them... Later!

I had a substantial brightness improvement when I put in a new wire harness, also check to see if the lights bulbs are clean. Mike

Hello everybody,
Yes indeed I found a loose socket under the dash which fits into the place at the ignition lock. And I found another thing, a rotten switch and a more rotten bulb socket, as well just taped under the dash. I found out that must have been switch and light for the glove box. Will work on both today.

As well I had a look at the main light switch, and it came out in broken parts. So yesterday I did try to repair the light switch, got it, but without the dimmer for the speedometer lights. That part was too damaged and could not be repaired.

Will see what to do. Maybe I re-install the repaired light switch without dimming the dash lights or I buy a new one anywhere. This is nothing what I must do now, that can be done anytime. First I'll do all what is a MUST to get the car ready for registration and driving.
Hope I can get the horns out today to overhaul them without unexpected complications.
Have a day off today and will spend it at my car.

Regards
Stefangermany

I'd recommend buying a used or NOS switch (if you can find one) off of ebay. Most all of the reproduction switches I've seen for sale by the vendors are "universal" switches and are cheaply made.

Hi Stefen, The dimmer switch to my light switch does also not work so the lights on the dash are wired directly to the head light switch. I like that the dash lights are real bright and things are easy to see (I'm 63 and need all the help I can get to help drive my car and make quick decisions). I would be real careful about buying any NOS or used switch since the dimmer wiring is very fragile and subject to breaking from 60 plus years of metal fatigue and corrosion. If I wanted the dimmer function to work I might consider a good German rheostat that you could hide some where under the dash and have it set to the light level you like? Good luck, Mike

Just attach the instrument light wire to the same terminal as the tail light wire. The instruments will be full bright all the time but on a 1940 still will not be too bright.