Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I'm new to Packard and have a dome light question the owners manual doesn't address.
when opening the front doors only the front interior lights come on, should the rear dome light also come on. the rear reading/dome light works with the switch on the B pillar.
I have the shop manual and it shows the wiring, i'm wondering if the special dome light isn't connected to the front door switch.
thanks

For 53 there is no connection between two separate light circuits.

If the car is a 2 door then only the front courtesy lights come on when a door is opened. Nothing happens in the rear and you can only use the manual pillar switch to operate the rear light. If the doors are closed the driver can also turn the front courtesy lights on by twisting the headlight knob all the way to the left.

On a 4 door sedan, opening the rear doors will turn on the rear dome or courtesy light (but no connection to the front courtesy lights) and operating the slide switch on the pillar will also turn on the rear light if the doors are closed.

If for some reason an owner wanted front and rear courtesy lights to come on at the same time it would be a simple matter electrically to interconnect them but physically it would take some careful work to run a wire for the connection.

thanks Howard that answered my question, my car is 4 dr the wiring shows front door switch and what looks like rear door switches but probably only on upper models

Courtesy lights were completely optional on some models and interesting as to how Packard packaged them when they did offer them as standard equipment on some of the models.

We don't have a 53 RPO list but if you look at the 51-52 and 54 lists available in the literature section, the Clippers were very stripped down models. Surprisingly, with a few exceptions, almost everything that was available or standard on a Patrician could also be ordered for the bare bones Clipper.