Highbeam/Lowbeam footswitch

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by maximilian

Anybody get to drive one of those cars? Did the floor switch work well?

I'd still prefer the foot switch. It was over in the top left corner right where you naturally rest you foot anyway, so when you met a car all you had to do was put pressure on your left toe to dim the lights. The first car I ever owned with the hand operated switch was a '78 MG and I was always forgetting to dim the lights.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I prefer the foot switch. Especially when I drove ambulances. Ford was putting floor mounted dimmer switches in ambulances up until 92 or 93. It was great because there was so much to do driving an ambulance. There was the lights, siren, turn signals, 2 way radio... having a foot switch for the dimmer was a godsend.

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

i dont believe the s-10 or blazer ever had a foot horn...

if it did it was someones "fix" for an oh so common broken horn thats supposed to be in the steering wheel.

I remember the steering wheel did not have a horn button on it. It was a Chevy wheel.

I have not seen another one since, but I haven't ridden in too many old Blazers. It may have been older than that, too (When did the S-10 Blazer debut? In 1982, maybe?). I remember that the foot switch looked like a floor-mounted dimmer switch.

If anyone has any more info on this, please let me know. I'm interested.

[Jay2TheRescue]

I don't think an S-10 was ever made that didn't have a wheel mounted horn. I'm sure someone used a floor mounted starter switch (they look just like floor mounted dimmer switches) to wire up the horn.

[VetteOwner]

yea i dont ever remember anyone talking about that or seeing any...

i belive the s-10 was 82 and blazer was 83...(they didnt come out together)

[theholycow]

The "S-10 Blazer" is the smaller Blazer that was built on the S-10 compact pickup platform. The other kind of Blazer is the K5 Blazer, built on the full size platform.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by theholycow

The "S-10 Blazer" is the smaller Blazer that was built on the S-10 compact pickup platform. The other kind of Blazer is the K5 Blazer, built on the full size platform.

Yeah, but they both used the exact same steering column, and I'd really like to see that Wagoneer behind the S-10!

-Jay

[SloSaturn]

I drove an 80 something panel van with a footswitch. It worked fine. Just stab it on and off. Also made it easier to eat on the run.

On a different note, I remember my dad telling me about a car he rented or borrowed once in which the windshield wipers cycled every time he shifted gears. Turns out it had a footswitch located on the floor beside the clutch pedal to give the wipers a swish when you only wanted one. Apparently the idea didn't catch on.

I wonder why? (vroom/shift/swish/what?,vroom/shift/swish/what?...)

[Jay2TheRescue]

Must have been Ford. Chevy vans had the dimmer on the column since the mid to late 70's I believe. Ford didn't move it to the column until about 1992 or 1993.

[SloSaturn]

Yup, it was a Ford. Where I worked we called it the brown van, since it was brown. But don't confuse it with the white van, which as it happens, was exactly the same shade of brown.