Check the voltages at the lamp bases and the ohmage to ground. Especially, if it's a 6V. It can be a loose/corroded base, bad bulb, or something more serious. Sounds like the brake switch is not making contact, but a guess. Rare if both terminus circuits are faulty at same time but share common feed, look there first.
Yes, there's a alot of knowledge and willing to share on this site and I've certainly benefitted. Thanks to all.

I don't see how these window escutcheons can be made from prepainted steel. They only have graining on the face and its' consistent to the edge. The paint tool would have to match the trim contours exactly, prebending, and that's not a '40s skill.
All mine have at least one brazed joint that was sanded flat under the paint. So do to the heat of brazing, the paint had to come after the stamping and brazing.
It's true that tin lithography was used for toys, graining, etc. which was a silk screen process followed by pressing but this primer was spray painted or dipped and then grained.
I have to start over as I'm now not convinced I got the right info from Grainit, 2 years ago. Of course, I didn't buy from them so they owe me nothing. I recall they said it was done by hand off line and have an article to same.
I'm going to seek an area woodgrainer to do the stain so I'll let them figure it out. If I have to reshoot a color coat, no biggie. If I try to grain, I'll spend more time and material than it's worth to me. But it sure looks like the primer was the undercoat on these. What's left of the the grain is the same reddish hue, not the new sepia. Which leads me to think it's supposed to emulate mahogany not walnut. I think walnut would match the brown broadcloths better, which is a common interior in the 23 series.
But as you say, there's no known source of info on these parts. They list only as part numbers to trim code with no reference to what finish those numbers refer to. The roster people weren't knowledgeable either. The sales lit I've seen was mostly artist renderings. The good photos are mostly restos and they overgloss the dash in my mind. But it looks nice and shiny.
I ordered some books on faux so that should help.
Thanks for any help anyone can or did render.

Your dash looks good. If you wanted to accent the grain, you could've air brushed in some contrast.
What you're saying is the red oxide was probably just primer.
One would need alot of special equipment to test the remaining grain for paint layers. I have one patch left that's untouched.

When you're trying to match something, it comes down to degrees of closeness. My office was nearby the color matchers when we made paint. They always had a sample to start from. When you're not sure what your match is though, it's a complete crap shoot. You can match the color(absorption) and still blow it on surface appearance so it's a complex art.
Plus we're using modern materials for a what was just a lacquer and probably ink job and different pigments today. From what I've researched, the gloss was spray out and not as shiny as these parts weren't rubbed out. I was planning to use a semigloss clear.
I'm most worried about it clashing with the interiors colors; ivory, grey, and blue. One thing I considered but rejected was maybe a neutral matching single color like a blue grey but that won't have that art deco look the chrome trim imparts to wood grain.
ps: it's supposed to look like dark walnut.

I thought I had this all figured out two years ago, but the base color("dk walnut") the grainit guy said matched my '49 23 series trim code(65) does not appear to be the original.
I had some time to get back on the Pack while I wait on my Cad motor*. I got a deal on a new blast cabinet and tried it out on the window trim. Since it was fresh surface and thin sheet metal it needed to be painted right away. I bought the $245 quart of DuPont base paint they called for and sprayed it this weekend. It dried an ochre/sepia brown compared to the factory which looks alot like plain old red oxide primer. The paint guy found the paint formula code I was given, so unless he mixed it wrong, it should be what they recommended. Couldn't tell much looking at the computer color chip other than it looked brown.
I can't tell if the factory maybe just repaints the face for graining or used the same color as the back, which is what it looks like. The trim color matches the red primer on the back of the rear seat supports, so that's what got me thinking.
Anyone have any more info/experience on matching Pack woodgraining?
This can get real expensive if I have to do it over several times...I was going to just wing it and air brush it, but I try to stay original on the interior.
* - if this spare tripower motor proves out, I might use it for the Pack.

As I've mentioned before, tapering is usually done/required for centering parts along an axis.
A straight pin can also act as a shaft to attach moveable parts like a lever or act as a shear pin to limit torque. This is not the usual role of a tapered pin.
Role pins are a later invention, circa '48, and are meant to be self retaining. The spring force holds it in place. But as I mentioned, if there's movement due to wear, etc, that places the pin in a condition for fatigue of the spring steel.

According to the reliability experts, things more often fail in the beginning or near the end of life. This is plotted in a Weibull aka bath tub diagram.
One can only speculate as to causes without post mortem analysis, but when things are rebuilt they sometimes don't get back to full specification for tolerance either thru wear or interchange of parts for availability. One of the key indicators in troubleshooting failures is, was anything changed? It appears there possibly was more than acceptable slop in the pin connection which led to fatigue cracking. Substituting a harder pin might have made things worse in that regard. You don't re-engineer a issue when it's out of specification as cause. We should recognize that the early parts may not have a long service life time as designed as the state of the art was still improving. People tend to associate Packard with fine engineering but I'd say they probably blew a few and used other company's parts/designs as well.
"Idiot" light can better be described as "cheap" indication. I personally think it a misapplication where gauges are more appropriate. If you don't test warning lights occasionally, it might fail on demand, and you'll have the same outcome. Especially true for the old filament type. Some newer cars light up all the dash on ignition for this reason. For this reason, it's actually better to have a light on (green) in run condition, then change to red/yellow, than to only come on(red) to indicate fault.
A gauge sends information all the time, even when off, so is more useful and fails safe. If the gauge goes out, it won't respond when it should, so you know somethings wrong when its wrong too. It may not indicate what the failure is or where it is occurring, however.

Do you mean it won't go in 2nd or 3rd gear? Did U check linkage after install?

If it is original, the "anniversary aura" sure isn't helping the selling price. Collectors search for the elusive and what they want to believe. Sellers leverage that. So caveat emptor.
I don't think that gold paint lasted very well, so it would have to be stored out of the light.
Anyone know why they didn't fill in those "VIN" plates? Mine's the same way, no evidence of paint or trim codes.

I didn't find any info on pricing/value but only checked a few sources. Rare isn't necessarily a good thing. I'd be really scrutinizing any money going into it.
You obtained it for some reason, so trust your instincts. This is one of those have to find the right buyer for it vehicles that are as easy to sell as finding the right buyer is difficult.

Over on the left in the menu list is a parts X-ref. Alot of info is in there.