What is this light on driver side dash? I think it's a 56 Cadillac Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The name GM gave it was Autotronic headlight dimmer, and yes it dimmed your brights automatically when another car approached.
We had 'em back in the 50s [I had one on my 56 Olds 98 convertible] and the car makers advertise them on the new luxury cars like they were just invented! To be fair...the control box was big! Was full of relays, points and electro-mechanical parts. The new ones are super tiny solid state affairs and work much better.
Had one on a 1953 Olds Super 88 convertible. There was one traffic light at a roundabout in "Manchester-by-the-sea" that made it go crazy, flashing the lights from bright to dim several times until I got past it.
I had the misfortune of testing one on my 62 Cadillac when the approaching car was a cop car. that was when I discovered it did not work right and blinked the hi beams off and on continuously. when I told him I was testing my autotronic eye, he asked me how much I had to drink that night.
The Jalopy Journal
