Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

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JohnLiles
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Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#1 Post by JohnLiles »

I'm trying to work out what the ( mainly green/grey) knobs are , see pictures below

Image

In the first picture , the ignition switch is way over to the right , almost behind rim of steering wheel ...as you come away to the left , the top knob is for lighting , the smaller knob directly below it is for wipers.

Then there is a small chrome knob ,bottom right of rev counter , what is that ?

Continue left , directly below speedo, push button starter , and to left of that another knob , looks like might have a cable attached , is that a choke ?

Image

In the second picture , we see the Telefunken radio ( it works ! ) , then below the ashtray , the knob on the left is cigar lighter , but what is knob to the right of it ?

Thanks in advance for any light that can be shed , I have Charlie White's booklet about a LHD 1953 coupe but I think the 55 dash may be different in location and relative sizes of the knobs
1957 'A' and 1955 'Continental Outlaw'

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James Davies
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#2 Post by James Davies »

JohnLiles wrote: Then there is a small chrome knob ,bottom right of rev counter , what is that ?
That's the pump for the Beck fuel gauge. Give it a couple pumps, and it will register the fuel level, assuming it is in working order.
Continue left , directly below speedo, push button starter , and to left of that another knob , looks like might have a cable attached , is that a choke?
Yes, choke. It attaches to the choke pull on the driver-side carb. Probably not hooked up to anything on your outlaw motor, unless it has original 32 PBI carbs with the choke intact.
In the second picture , we see the Telefunken radio ( it works ! ) , then below the ashtray , the knob on the left is cigar lighter , but what is knob to the right of it ?
That knob operates the heater flaps and muffler cans for heat in the car. Cool that the radio works!

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JohnLiles
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#3 Post by JohnLiles »

Hi James , that is a quick reply !

I have not been able to drive the car on UK roads yet as it is awaiting registration from our DVLA . but I did try the radio ! Fuel gauge works , previous owner was very proud of his work to get it going . Agree that choke unlikely to be connected to anything . I did check the knob at floor level by the gear lever which moves the cables connecting to heater flaps on the engine exhaust when the car was up on a ramp. Not tested whether instrument lights come on yet , are these separate to the headlight control ?
1957 'A' and 1955 'Continental Outlaw'

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James Davies
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#4 Post by James Davies »

JohnLiles wrote:Hi James , that is a quick reply !

I have not been able to drive the car on UK roads yet as it is awaiting registration from our DVLA . but I did try the radio ! Fuel gauge works , previous owner was very proud of his work to get it going . Agree that choke unlikely to be connected to anything . I did check the knob at floor level by the gear lever which moves the cables connecting to heater flaps on the engine exhaust when the car was up on a ramp. Not tested whether instrument lights come on yet , are these separate to the headlight control ?
If your car has the floor-mounted heater flap adjustments, then that's probably not the original dash for your car. It's probably from 1954? You can verify, as the last two digits of the chassis number are stamped on the inside bottom of the dash, right below the radio.

Floor-mounted heater control started fairly early in '55. The first '55 cars retained the heater control knob next to the cigar lighter, just like the '54 cars. Once they moved the heater control to the floor, then there was just the cigar lighter below the ashtray, nothing else. Though your car is RHD, so perhaps there was an exception.

Instrument lights should come on with the headlights I believe, and a twist of the headlight knob should allow you to dim them. The mid-'54 and earlier cars had a separate knob for the instrument lights and no dimming.

Hendrik Moulds
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#5 Post by Hendrik Moulds »

James, a RHD dash from this time is a LHD dash with each side cut out, swapped over and welded back in so there won't be an exception because it's RHD.
If you look on the back of the dash there will be the fine weld lines. Porsche did this until the start of production of the B!
'53 Cabriolet
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James Davies
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#6 Post by James Davies »

Wow! Fascinating Hendrik. Quite the project at Reutter to make the car RHD then!

Where did they do the cutting? I'm trying to imagine the cut lines on the dash.

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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#7 Post by Norm Miller »

I've studied the dash panel and can't see how a LHD dash could be converted to RHD.
They might have kept the center and made new "wings" left & right.

Hendrick please explain.
 

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steven mclean
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#8 Post by steven mclean »

I have 54137,1955 rhd coupe,81st car sold by AFN in Sept 1955 if you look at the back of the dash Hendrick is correct.My heat knob Is on the floor.

Vincent Gillespie
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#9 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello, attached are photos of our dash, Chassis no 54122 which is off to the paint shop Tuesday yippee, and I hope you can see the welds; look around the ashtray hole, left & below this small round hole closed up and look closely around the holes for the dials. My heater knob is also on the floor.
I hope this is of some use.
V&S
Attachments
KCT Pet cock, seat hinge & Dash 016.JPG
KCT Pet cock, seat hinge & Dash 015.JPG
KCT Pet cock, seat hinge & Dash 014.JPG
KCT Pet cock, seat hinge & Dash 013.JPG
V. Gillespie

Hendrik Moulds
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#10 Post by Hendrik Moulds »

As Vincent has shown, it was the flat pieces that were cut out and rewelded on the PreaA dash. I guess labour was cheaper than making a new stamp for the RHD cars. I know it's not PreA but you can see the welds around the glovebox in the photo below on the very original May 59 produced A I used to own.

Image

I suppose when the B was introduced it made sense to stamp them as everything was pretty much new.
'53 Cabriolet
'61 Notchback

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James Davies
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#11 Post by James Davies »

Very cool! Thanks for sharing the photos Vincent.

One can see that they had to fill in the LHD choke hole, and drill a new hole for the choke on the right side. Perhaps on John's car, they just never filled in that hole?

Also, it looks like the RHD cars got cool, fabbed metal gloveboxes. Was this the case for all the cars? Since the LHD glove box was fiber board and definitely sided, I can see why they did it this way. Originally all the cars during the 1950 and 1951 model years had metal glove boxes.

Hendrik Moulds
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Re: Dashboard of 1955 RHD Coupe

#12 Post by Hendrik Moulds »

Hi James, yes my cab has a metal glove box.
'53 Cabriolet
'61 Notchback

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