Flip the hidden switch…

Flip the hidden switch…

I finally got around to seeing ‘Mad Max- Fury Road’ a few weeks and there is a moment when heroine Furiosa revels the hidden kill/ start switches under the dash of  her War Rig to a clueless Max. She slowly leans forward and caresses the toggles individually and then sight-unseen begins switching them in some hidden order that allows the truck to get fuel and run again. This cinematic moment reminded me of the mystery switch under the dash of my ’49 Lincoln Cosmo. The previous owner had my Linc since the early 50s, and had modified little things here and there in an interesting, if not utilitarian, way. One day I was looking way under the dash and discovered a small chrome toggle with ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ lettering crudely scratched into the paint around it. Obviously I wanted to know what this mysterious switch actually did, and began flipping it back and forth with the ignition turned on and off, still with no result. I followed the wires into the firewall, but the trail went cold.

A few weeks went by and I decided to call the original owner who was in his eighties but still sharp as a tack. As soon as I inquired about the switch, he started laughing and said it was a good thing I hadn’t flipped it while driving. He went onto explain that the idea for an “Automatic Hill Holder” came from a 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics after his frustration with potentially rolling into tailgaters on the steep hills of San Francisco. The Lincoln was a 3 speed with solenoid activated overdrive in 2nd and 3rd gear, and the switch was wired to throw the overdrive into a ‘lockout position’ on the hill, essentially sticking the transmission in two gears at once to prevent it from rolling backwards. Yeah, doesn’t sound like a real good idea, does it? Indeed, good thing I didn’t hit that switch while driving!

Pop Mechanics54

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