28/29 instument light what the!

T

tim54889

Senior Member
What are you suppose to see with the instrument light? Mostly it shines down on the speedo. The rest of the gauges are in the dark.
Like a friend of mine always says ( I'am not complaining, I'am just pointing out the bad stuff!)
 
most of the time you are only looking at the speedo and you don`t have the glair of the light in your eyes. if you need to look at the gas gauge you can turn the shade around.
 
One of the first Model A's that I owned had a dash light cover that solved that problem. Unfortunately I no longer own that Model A, but i do still have the dash light cover.
As you can see, someone cut a V on the top side of the cover. It lights up the gas gauge, the ammeter and the ignition switch.

The first picture shows the normal bottom side. The next 3 pictures show the cut out portion on the top side
 

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I have driven my friend's Early '30 that has the oval spedo, and his instrument light has this same opening in the top that illuminates the upper portion of the dash panel.
 
tim54889 said:
What are you suppose to see with the instrument light? Mostly it shines down on the speedo. The rest of the gauges are in the dark.
Like a friend of mine always says ( I'am not complaining, I'am just pointing out the bad stuff!)
Click to expand...

The 'bad stuff' is only that we are spoiled. If you go back 1 year prior to 1928, you did not get any dash lamp unless it was a closed car. Didn't get a visible gas gauge either, -no matter what the bodystyle was. It is ironic in my view of how the Model-A survived all these years as daily transportation just as they were from the factory, yet folks now feel they must be modified to be reliable when driven! :rolleyes:
 
If you check your gas level before starting out, you should be fine. If the generator is not charging, you will notice that in the dimness of the headlamps. If you cant find the key switch in the dark, you are in trouble.
 
We have a whole nuther slant on lighting issues here in Alaska. During the "driving season" there is not much need for lights of any kind except to be seen by others. If it's dark enough to require lights to see with, it's time to put things away for the winter anyway.
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
The 'bad stuff' is only that we are spoiled. If you go back 1 year prior to 1928, you did not get any dash lamp unless it was a closed car. Didn't get a visible gas gauge either, -no matter what the bodystyle was. It is ironic in my view of how the Model-A survived all these years as daily transportation just as they were from the factory, yet folks now feel they must be modified to be reliable when driven! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

We see that all the time don't we? You would have thought that if the A was such an unreliable car to be driven every day they all would have been turned into scrap during the scrap drives of WWII.
 
Mike V. Florida said:
We see that all the time don't we? You would have thought that if the A was such an unreliable car to be driven every day they all would have been turned into scrap during the scrap drives of WWII.
Click to expand...

I agree with Brent & Mike. If a Model A is unreliable today, it's because it hasn't been restored properly. But so many people seem to think they need to be improved to be reliable transportation. I have a hard time understanding their line of thinking.
 
Yep, my neighbor is a street rod guy and tell me I can't drive an old car anywhere reliably unless I have a modern engine and ******. Our car show/swap meet was a few weeks ago, and I wish my neighbor was there to see the street rod come in being pulled by a pickup with a tow rope. Modern cars with problems usually can't be fixed on the side of the road like our older cars can.
 
just to add fool, er fuel to this discussion it seems to me that the A is somewhat predictable as to how it will (in Rolls Royce speak) "fail to proceed", and that the necessary adjustments to allow it to proceed are fairly simple and can be accomplished easily with hand tools and spares (the other half the trunk) kept on hand.

Therefore is not the Model A reliably unreliable?
 
I led 14 stock Model A's on a 125 mile tour today, without a single breakdown. We do something like this every month. I would say they are reliable, and repeatedly prove that on every tour. The caveat is, you have to properly maintain them.
 
Ray, I quite agree. Plus, they are an antique car you can't drive them like you would a new Fusion or Camry!! They need to be tweaked, fussed with, and generally have better care given them. No power shifting, no asphalt burn outs, etc.:)
 
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