C1 - door jamb switch

[James B.]

Hey Gang,

Yesterday, while at Corvette Carlisle, I got to view quite a variety of C1's.. In the midst of all of them, I reviewed different 59's as reference points for the resto I am currently doing on mine. In reviewing quite a few of them, I noticed that in the driver door jamb there was a switch that I figured is for the courtesy light in the dash. The weird part is, some had them in an area above the VIN tag, some had it under the VIN tag in the recessed area, and some simply had none at all.. My questions are:

1. is that switch in fact for the dash courtesy lamp, or something else?
2. is the difference in location simply due to the inconsistencies during the building process?

Thanks,

Jim
1959 Corvette Registry, Webmaster

http://59vette.cjb.net

[David Lyon]

Re: C1 - door jamb switch

Jim,

I have a '58 and have switches on both doors low on the door jamb. The driver side is under the VIN plate and the passenger side is at the same level. Yes, they do activate the courtesy light under the dash above the center console. 1959 may be different, I don't know. I'm sure someone else will chime in. You may want to purchase a 1959 judging guide.

David

[Dennis C.]

Re: C1 - door jamb switch

If we may assume for a moment that the courtesy light was an option, I would suggest that those factory mounted hinge pillar switches would likely be in the same place. Dealer retro fitted switches could have varied considerably in location.