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I recently bought a 1940 110 Club Coupe and have discovered that the brake lights do not work. There seems to be an electrical switch mounted to the brake pedal lever on the engine compartment side of the firewall (see photo) This switch is getting juice and seems to be working. Then there is a pressure switch on the master cylinder. Notice the discontected original wire in this photo I don't understand why the redundancy. The ordiginal equipment seems to be a pressure switch, but it also looks like the bracket that holds the eletrical switch is original. I want to bypass the pressure switch. Is this advised?

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Some prior owner's misplaced idea of an improvement? Correct new pressure switch still available from NAPA as SL-134 for about $12 and is all you need."

G'day Blackpack,
to PackardInfo and, I invite you to include your '40 110 Club Coupe in the Packard Owner's Registry here.

Apparently some folks consider the original equipment pressure switches unreliable and are replacing them with the lever switches.

studebaker-info.org/tech/manualblsw.html

"Apparently some folks consider the original equipment pressure switches unreliable"

Yes, when silicone brake fluid is used it considerably shortens the life of the pressure switches. I run silicone in my '41 120 and replace switches about every 18 months or so.

It's a bit of a curious thing. There seems no doubt that silicone brake fluid is really aggressive on the 3-post hydraulic switches used in 55/56 though I don't have that issue, I use DOT 4. Yet I know of quite a few earlier cars with silicone brake fluid that haven't needed a replacement brake light switch for decades, and I have no doubt that others have failed more quickly. One wonders if it's the brand of fluid, or perhaps the maker of the switch, that makes the difference.

Thanks everyone for your insight. What I don't understand is why they have two switches in line. I did notice that one of the leads was didconnected from the electrical switch and so I re-connected it with no new result. I have a new preassure switch from Max Merrit that I will try and install and see if that works

Oh, and here is my car

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Lking good!

Okay, I probably shouldn't admit this, but three weeks ago when this problem was discovered, my wife asked the dumbest question. "Have you checked the fuse?" I rolled my eyes and brushed off her comment as I walked to the garage and started tracing the electrical system, dismantling the tail lights, etc, etc. then I downloaded the owners manual from this site. Page 35 location of fuses. Hmm...it couldn't be. Yep, it sure was. A blown fuse! I think I'll keep this from my wife.