This past week I went back and replaced the Unity S6 Spotlight that I had installed in the Spring with a new one I purchased directly from Unity Spotlights located and manufactured right here in Chicago Il.
I never hooked up the used one I bought, because it turned out that it was too short to fully engage, so I installed it only for looks. Then I noticed a couple of things that didn’t work on the car, so I was leery of adding anything that I couldn’t vouch for to the electrical system.
The quality is great, and you would be hard pressed to notice the difference between the one built in 2017 vs. one built 20-30 years ago.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures since it was remove the old and add the new. As for wiring it into the system, I chose not to splice it into any wiring. I simply added an inline 20A fuse that terminates to a fuse tapper on a 20A fuse under the dash. I chose the horns 20A fuse to tap since load is minimal and there is always power.
For the time being I will be focused on general maintenance and giving her a tune-up and complete fluid changes. Everything looks really good, but I have no idea when the last time any of this work was done, so for my piece of mind I would rather do it now. But I noticed a couple of things that got me thinking about…
PHASE TWO!!!
Two things are really bothering me, the factory radio and the A/C-heater switch that doesn’t work.
I can’t get any heat or a/c to turn on in the car. Not even an indication of movement. No vacuum noises as I select different settings, or different blower speeds.
No blower speeds work, not even high, which tells me it isn’t a resistor. I tested the fuses and they are clean and have continuity. My guess at this point it is the AC heater switch, which means I get to pull the dash apart to get to it!
Second is the radio. It’s 41 years old. I have a single 4×10 paper speaker in the dash, and a single 4×10 in the right rear package shelf. How the hell did people listen to anything back in the 70’s!
The problem with replacing the radio with a modern unit is that you lose the vintage look of the interior. They do make vintage “looking” radios but they are extremely expensive. So I have been silently trying to figure out how rectify this.
THEN THE LIGHT BULB WENT OFF!!! The CHP cars would have a radio block plate in real life and while I never really paid attention to the Bluesmobiles radio in the movie beyond the Craig S-601 being hacked into the center vents, so I went back to the DVD to get some captures of the dash and sure enough I think I found my answer.
The below screen shots are from two different scenes where the Illinois Nazi’s (I hate Illinois Nazi’s!) are in pursuit of our hero’s.
While I am convinced these are two different cars based on the screws at the four corners of the plate on the bottom screenshot vs. the cleaner looking plate in the first screenshot.
It looks like there a few holes where switches were installed. I am planning on devising a plate that will be attach via a piano hinge that will look like a combination of the plates in the screenshots, but allow me to flip it up to access a modern radio.
So while I have the dash open to do a radio upgrade (and speakers) and to fix the A/C heater controls and it would be a really good idea to replace some burnt out dash bulbs, I might as well do a few upgrades that I have been saving…
As luck would have it, I recently acquired a ’74 control unit. I’ll test the control switch in the back to make it works, or replace it, but the bezel itself is much cleaner than the one I have in the car.
Then I thought it would be nice to replace the crappy clock that probably hasn’t worked since Reagan was President with something a little more useful.
A factory Oil Pressure and Temp Gauge.
Since I have to pull the speedometer cluster to access the bulbs, I figure it would be a good time to ditch the ’76’s 100MPH speedo with something a little more screen accurate…
You’re eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. That cluster has never been installed in a car. That is as brand new as you can get.
The bad thing with these upgrades is that I can’t pull off the former cop car vibe with my cushy Royal Monaco appointments, so now would be as good as time as any to replace the door panels with Police units.
And the more appropriate steering wheel.
I see a lot of vinyl dying in my future! Better start testing colors!!! What I am not planning on doing is redoing the whole interior in camel. I have seen other Bluesmobiles done in this color and I really like how it looks, but I want to try to keep it look slightly factory. Right now I am leaning towards Palamino. Thoughts???
