1941 Cadillac trunk lighting

[Mike Patla #23389]

Hello, I am not the most knowledgeable  car electrician but I try. On a 1941 Cadillac convertible coupe does the trunk light come on automatically when the trunk lid is lifted ?   Mine does not come on and there is no visible hole to mount any type of switch in the trunk lid area. What operates this trunk light ?    Also  my glove box light is giving grief. When I got the car its glove box was newly installed  but that glove box switch seems to hit nothing but air and this light does not come on either. Thank you for any help... Mike Patla #23389

[Chris Cummings]

Hi Mike,

Been a long time since I had my '41s, but here goes.  My understanding was that the trunk light is only on when the headlights are on.  I could be wrong, but there you are.

The glove box light, however, was designed to use a mercury switch that would close the lamp circuit when the hinge arm to which it attaches would tip it (and the mercury would then close a contact gap inside the switch). The stock switch is a metal cylinder at the end of a wire.  Protruding from the end of the cylinder is a shaft about 1/8" in diameter and 1/2 inch long.  The shaft goes into a hole in a tab in the inboard glove box hinge arm (the ground connection for the bulb).  That way, when the door is opened, the hinge arm tips the mercury switch and the light comes on.

I'm not sure that all series had lighted glove boxes.  My Series 75 sedan did.

Hope that helps,

Chris Cummings

[Steve Passmore]

Mike, both the trunk and the glove box are operated by Mercury switches. Follow the wire from the light dome and you will find it hidden between the trunk lid skins and attached to the back of the dash panel beside the glove box.
The originals never work for some reason. I have had many apart and they still have the Mercury in them, have even added more to no avail. Not a metallurgist so I don't know what changed with this stuff over time but there are alternatives on the market to do the same job.  Just put Mercury switch into eBay search box.

[Mike Patla #23389]

Thank you for the responses. The glove box issue was cleared up as soon as I read "mercury switch". Mike