I dunno what it says, but you have to be able to turn off the dash lights when the parking lights/headlights are on.
Like I said every car has them.

well that is good. I've learnt something today & it hasn't been a total dead loss.

I always suspected it was to save the battery when parkers were on. But considering the lowly dash lights wattage, that didn't seem to make much sense.

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1967 Cooper S - new front bearings to do.
1965 Cooper S shell - Slow progress. No time or money!
1966 Deluxe- next rustoration!
Mk 2 & XJ6 Jags. Less said the better.

I think its an ADR calling for an adjustable lighting on the instruments. most cars have a rheostat to adjust the light - It was a noted Aus requirement from the 60's on. My other old cars (French) have rheostat adjuster fitted as an Australian requirement - they have been from '61- '75 - however my '56 Customline didnt have the fitting.

BMC just put in the OFF switch.

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YDO005 1965 stock standard MORRIS MINI DELUXE

Morris 1100 & AEG163job are almost there.

The instrument light switch is there to save the battery when the parkers are on.
The law was one in the UK where any car parked on the street at night was required to have the parklights on.

My 63 Anglia has a small switch on the lower right hand side of the dash that controls the instrument light for the exact same reason. (It even says so in the original handbook).


Cheers,
Ray.

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68 Morris Minimatic - Blue/White


29 Chev tourer
31 A Coupe
63 Anglia
63 VW Beetle
69 VW Beetle convertible
89 Daihatsu Charade
03 Mitsubishi Mirage
07 Nissan Micra

I was gonna say... they dropped the switch on deluxes etc. and didn't have anything till the ADR requirement came in sometime in the '70's...

"gaaaa, the glare is gonna burn my eyes out!"

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

I have a couple of Mk2 dashes and Mini K dashes with the switch. I have also owned a couple of Mini Deluxes with the switches.
I can't think of any car in Australia without the switch.

I can think of one car

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-- Simon // VMCI Member 2674 --

I have a white binnacle but it has a couple of decent cracks at the bottom unfortunately...

Also have those two chrome strips in pretty good condition, if anyone is interested in them.

One question, I can't get defected for having a blower on my car but could i get defected for not having a switch on my speedo?

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Carl
Previous Owner & Driver of 1 Morris "It's not a Cooper!!" 850