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

For many years I have not had dash lights. My tech has repaired the switch and now all the lights are working. However, even in total darkness they are barely visitable. Is there a reostat or something similar that can make them a little brighter I know they are at best a soft glow.

Not sure about '48. But on my 54 light switch, in addition to being a push-pull type, the knob also turns, which is the rheostat for the dash lights.

Is there anything in your owner's manual?

That being said, even on "full" the dash lights are dim by today's standards.

48-50 dash lights did not work like those in years before or after. The 22-23 series had what Packard dubbed "Flite-Glo" instruments. This was in response to the fad of the time to make everything appear futuristic or to mimic something in an airplane. Other mfgs did the same thing on various features of their own cars. Cadillac's taillight fins, Tucker's third headlight and Studebakers center grille spinner styling come to mind as other examples of airplane influence.

With Flite-Glo the numerals and hands were painted with a luminescent paint and bulbs were covered by a UV filter. The UV or black light filters energized the luminescent paint and made only the numerals and hands glow a fairly bright green with the overall background illumination being a dim purple as provided by the light passing thru the purple UV filters. There was no adjustable brightness setting because the dash light options were on or off as controlled by the instrument switch.

Options today are to try and restore the luminescence by buying the special paint and repainting the numerals and hands. That is an extremely tedious undertaking. The other option if it has not already been tried is take the cluster apart and remove the UV filters from bulb openings. That will make the instruments look more like other years but the bulb number and placement may not be ideal so there could be some dim spots. You still have no adjustable brightness control though most run the dash lights fairly bright anyway so that might not be a big deal.

If you can still see the dim purple background light I expect the paint over time lost its power and no longer luminesces very brightly. If the car sat in direct sunlight for a lot of years this is very possible. If you have the more usual yellowish background light then someone has already tried to repair the problem by removing the filters and apparently without much success.

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Hi, regarding dash lights. I found that some of mine were not working any more. There are eight light bulbs for the instrument cluster. Plus two, one for the High beam indicator, and one for the directional lights. They are GE Mazda # 55. There are also replacement socket wiring available if the problem is there. If it is just the gauges, then Howard's description of the glow in the dark paint is the answer. You can get the paint, I did last year. I did not attempt to paint the numerals, but I did the gauge needles. The glowing needles alone made the numerals 10 times brighter.

Dave O

Actually there is an illumination level control in the 22-23 series but it's just hi/lo with a pushbutton, labeled 'Instr'. Off-Parking-Headlights is controlled by the three position headlight switch.

With the fading of the radium paint over the years low becomes barely visible, exacerbated by all the light pollution nowadays.

The 22-23 series dashboard is a most awesome companion on a moonless night on a vacant country road in the open desert west.