Technical Flip the hidden switch...

Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post:

Flip the hidden switch...

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Lucky you got. It would have been a disaster.
I got one from the PO too, it alllows for you to flash your headlights with the horn ring (sounds a bit dumb to me). Also didnt know what it was for until I accidentally switched it on and lost the horn. I tryed to honk alright but since it was daylight I didnt notice the high beams going on and off. Had to trace it...

 

reminds me of the old bootlegger's trick of having a dash-mounted switch for the brake lights. keep them off and that fed behind you goes into the turn too fast and crashes. or, use them to flash at the tailgater behind you!

 

Studebaker, Chevrolet, etc...........offered the "Hill Holder" option for years. Chevrolet brought it back in 2012.

 

My car has a secret hidden switch, but I ain't telling what it's for.

 

Years ago I had a microswitch mounted inside the driver's door armrest. You had to know exactly where to put pressure on the armrest to start the engine.

 

I had two halogen lights pointing backwards to help me see when I was backing up on a trail in my 4x4.They also worked great for high beam users and tailgaters

 

I've got a hidden fuel pump switch. They may hot wire the engine, but they ain't getting very far.

 

Cool story!

 

Nice. I like cigarette lighters. Don't smoke either.

 

With the majority of the vehicles driven today being automatics, there's lots of drivers out there with no expeience with a manual trans. and they don't realize the possible conmsequences of pulling up too close behind other vehicles at stop signs and traffic lights. And I can sympathize with the old man in San Fran. with all the hills out there! Both my hot rods are manual trans, and I hadn't driven a manual in about 15 years when I got BGII, my first build on getting back into hot rodding, running. It isn't quite as hilly here as in SF, but there were anxious moments till I got re-aqainted. with cordination of a clutch, brake pedal, and accelerator! With no bumpers on a '30 Hiboy, I knew what would result from even a minor bump from a rollback!
Next thing comng up for BGII is a line loc for use both as a hillholder and for the drags, and I may do the same to my '40 coupe later on, but on the '40 it will be only for hill holder as I don't race it. It's my cruiser.

 

I use my line loc in traffc all the time!

 

Who says they have to be hidden? How about 5 double-pole single-throw switches wired in series as a 'lock'? There's over thirty combinations of 'on-off' switch positions that will allow power through these, only you need to know which combination is the 'right' one. Do some creative mis-labeling, and a thief will never figure it out...

 

This was also used by some of the better Trans-AM racers to keep people from learning the turns off their lights.

 

That's a sophisticated idea, but in a not so distant future the best "anti theft device" would be a three on the tree, a clutch, a d a carbureted engine!

There will almost only be HAMBers and really old people that can steel em. So you could ones again leave it with the keys in the ignition and feel safe!

Or a crash box or a multi carb engine that needs a little "feel" to start without drowning it.

Or a starter pedal, like an old Chevy.

This might sound like a joke now, but in a very near future it will be very possible.

 

Check the ads in just about any car mag from the early '50s and you'll see "6 speeds forward !" "Automatic hill holder !" "installs in minutes !" ... it's a pretty simple switch that installs on the shift lever of any B-W OD equipped car or truck.

 

I had a ride where the ignition switch made the coil hot but did not engage the starter. That was a push button located elsewhere....

 

I've installed hidden KILL switches in all my cars..... (some do more than just .......)

 

Both my hot rods are fully insured, and I have some ideas I'd like to incorporate in a new build of same car. So what I need to do is set them both up with a big bomb that only I can detonate from satelite control.
Somebody steals my car, I get revenge plus the money to build again!

 

Every car I build, I interrupt the starter solenoid wire with a switch, key turns to start position, but until the hidden, but still obvious switch is activated, nobody is going anywhere. I install the switch somewhere it can be seen, but mistaken for another use, saved one of my cars a few years ago, most thieves won't take the time to figure it out, BUT, there's always the guy with a tow truck or rollback. Switches don't stop those s.o.b.'s.

 

something from bill sinclair's "thunder road flathead guide"...

 

Cool thread.

 

Got my ignition switch to blow the horn in the start position and have a remote starter button. Someone tries to steal it and they just blow the horn!

 

and speaking of the hill-holder, just bought a stick-shift car. hadn't driven a stick in 10 or 12 years. the hill holder made it a breeze to relearn!

 

When I bought my current daily a few years ago, there was an unlabeled chrome toggle switch on the dash , so I stuck my head under there and traced the wiring back. It was a dead short (when the switch was closed) from the ignition circuit. Good thing I didn't try to see what it did when driving along.The previous owner must have kept a mess of 10A fuses in the glovebox.
In another car I owned, I mounted a reed switch (magnetic) behind a hole in the dash, which had a bit of plastic trim over it (original optional tacho mount). That was connected via a relay to the solenoid circuit . I had a "dashboard magnetic saint" (The Pope), which I would move to the right spot, the reed pulled in, and you could start the car.

 

Use a switch in conjunction with the door jam switches to fire the horn relay. Very simple to wire. Open the door with the switch in the "arm" position and the damn horn goes off.

 

My OT GTX had one of those switches for the taillights/brake lights. It seemed to take forever to determine what the hell the switch was for. The original owner was apparently a heavy duty drug dealer. The cops knew the car well and harassed me the whole time I owned it. Never had to use the switch, though....

 

I have used a floor mount GM high beam switch as a kill switch a few times. Hide it under the carpet, hit with your foot. Even if people are watching you start the car they'll never know (and its really cheap).

 

Did this on my F100 when we moved here. Every time my brace of Cad/Riviera horns went off, my wife knew I forgot to 'disarm' the switch under the running board!
Great alarm, though.
When I was a young 'yay-hoo', I had the toggle switch to shut off tail and stop lights...hung the same corner running from the 'fuzz' 3 different times...shut off the lights, come to a stop at the end of the street.
Dead end, I would have been trapped if they ever came back checking side streets...

 

Speaking of MAD MAX...the original had my favorite switch of all time. The one on the dash that activated the roots style blower sticking out of the hood! Now THAT is a switch.