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What is this thing?

2383 Views 31 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  ratlee53
Another newbie question. This thing is hanging from the bottom of my dash. It has a wire that goes up into the rats nest, I haven’t traced it. I just don’t have any idea what this thing is.
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  • Haha
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The mustang was designed as a secretaries car. The lights are there so you can check out here legs while she takes you for a ride.

Lol, yep. Back in the old days a guy hops out of the bushes wearing his underwear, she stops and lets him in her car. Oh boy...
Ah yes, underdash light.
Long time ago I disassembled a spare dash, pulled the little blue cups (for dash illumination) and put over the bulb at this socket. Not sure if i will do that with my coupe project. Maybe for old times sake lol
So you're the one that started this trend:

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Lol, yep.
1977. Was way ahead of my time.
But not smart enough to buy Apple stocks 3 years later ;)
I spent my money on the car, I didn’t know I needed to hire a secretary.
They are totally worth the money, though.
So you're the one that started this trend:

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Growing up in very rural Utah in the 60's innovations were usually low tech. One day he shows up in the driveway of my Grandfathers farm with his latest mod to his red, 1960 Chevy, Christmas tree lights strung through the frame openings.....

I swear his car was sitting about this high.
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Highly recommend the bright white led's for the interior lights and the instrument panel.
In 1972 I bought my first Mustang and replaced the under-dash courtesy light fixtures with a similar pair of these blue marker lights (bought from Western Auto):



I liked the dimmer colored lights so much, when that car succumbed to Pa rust they were removed and installed in the 65' stang replacement that I still drive. After 50 years of questionable activity, it's a good thing that those lights can't talk . . . .
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There must have been enough intelligence available to get approval for the plans, and that intelligence might have included some knowledge of what GM was doing. It is pretty difficult to keep secrets for long.
Hmmm… Car guys getting revenge on Ford designing a similar car around the 396 L35 engine. No way that secret gets kept.
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I love footwell lighting...Just enough to see what you need to see in a vehicle without being blinded. No need for a dome light.
And it saved the time in having to run a wire up to the middle of the roof, the length of the wire, and a light fixture.
You know the bean counters loved that! :)
They will also illuminate when you turn the instrument panel dimmer on the headlight knob all the way up and it will click.
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Just make sure to remove the bulbs when working under the dash. Those bulbs get hot when the door is left open. Just in the right spot to get the forearms.
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