Did the 1976 duster come stock with interior lights

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Sirsmiley9

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Did the duster come with interior gauge lights to see at night recently got the car and can’t seem to turn them on if they even exist
 
Of course they did LOL. These might be "A bodies" but they aren't "Ford model A" and they weren't built in the 1920's

There are several things, as that circuit is a bit of a trick

The headlight switch receives power from TWO sources---one only runs the headlights, and the other one supplies the tail and park lights----and the instrument lamps So, to start with, the park/ tail lamps MUST work

That power goes through the instrument dimmer control in the headlamp switch SO YOU MUST have the light switch knob turned to the left to brighten the dash lamps. Twist and wiggle the switch because they get dirty

That power then comes out of the instrument dimmer, goes TO the fuse panel to the INSTRUMENT fuse which is usually on one end of the fuse box. That fuse must be good. All dimmer controlled instrument power then feeds out to the various lamps in the instrument panel.
 
Actually, LOL Model A Fords---at least some of them, DID HAVE instrument cluster lamps. That big thing right in the center........

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Well damn seems I underestimated them thought that may be what that far left click was for but hard to tell if it’s broken or was never there to begin with so thank you
 
LOL.
Rotating the light switch adjusts the intensity of the instrument lamps when the parking or headlights are on.
Rotating the light switch until it clicks turns on the dome light (and any others if so equiped) regardless of whether the headlights and parking lights are on or off.

The clicked position is essentially a switch grounding the interior lights.
Its seperate from the other circuits in the headlight switch.
 
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Hamtramck Historical has just a bit of lit for '76 including this
The 1970 Hamtramck Registry - 1976 Plymouth Dealership Data Book - Valiant/Duster

1976 A-bodies have a somewhat different wiring strategy than earlier years. But all of the instrument controls worked the same from the driver's perspective.

The wire routing for the instrument and dome lamps remained essentially the same.
DOME light is connected to a fuse that is always hot. The ground side of the lamp (or lamps) is wired to several switches. One in each door jamb and one in the headlight switch. Any one of those switches completes the circuit.

INSTRUMENT Lamps are wired as 67Dart273 described. There's the first fuse which is shared with other things, the parking light switch, then a smaller 3 amp fuse, and the rheostat in the headlight switch before the instrument lamps themselves.
 
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hahaha, you gotta be kidding. However I do remember in the mid 60''s used car advertisments in the paper, regularly touted "R&H", meaning radio and heater equipped. Yes, that was a real thing back then. But by the late 60's, early 70''s it was a rarity to not have those "options ".
I remember commuting to the U of W with a HS buddy of mine in his '62 Falcon which had neither a heater nor a defroster, but I believe it did have dimmable dash lighting, hahaha.
 
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