Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

When I purchased my 1940 it had a modern push button switch for the rear passenger dome light.

Can someone direct me to a picture of a proper dome light switch for this car so I know what I am looking for.

Thanks.

They look like this and were common on all cars of the era. I have a '60s replacement somewhere but don't see it in my Classified Ads at the moment so found this eBay listing instead.

This is presumably the group, but I don't see a model 1382 listing. Is the switch right on the light itself?packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/parts ... &SearchValue=30.626&ButtonLookup=Go

packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/par ... 41_PartsList_Group30_BodyGroups.pdf

They were on the B-pillar in a 1940 110 sedan.

I don't know what a 40 switch looked like but Packard also used rectangular shaped pillar light switches such as these.




Before buying your switch also verify how power is being supplied to your light. Powering of courtesy lights in the immediate prewar years seems to have been in somewhat of a transition with some courtesy light bulbs getting power thru the switch as was done in the 30s while others started using what became the postwar method of power going to the bulb first and then getting ground thru the switch when the switch was turned on and grounded the wire.

If there are two wires at the switch chances are one of them comes from a fuse or other power source and the other goes to the light bulb and then gets grounded at the light housing. That setup needs an isolated two terminal switch.

If you only have one wire at the switch then it is probably handled like later years where power would go directly to the bulb and a single wire runs to a single terminal on the switch and gets grounded via a direct metal connection between the switch and one of the mounting screws on the switch. Both of the switches in the ebay photo are of the later style single terminal switch

Power is coming through the switch.

Two wires at the B-pillar switch and one at the dome light.

Quote:

The one in the link I send is identical to that in all three of my 1940 110s but possibly not the color which may have been darker. I don't recall seeing the rectangular switches in any of them but it has been decades and memory fades. It was decades pre-Internet too so I bought the replacement as a teenager from my friends at Vintage Auto Parts in Woodinville, WA where I used to go frequently even if to just look at the sea of Packards in their yard.