How To: Restoration of Ford M8 armoured car US Ordnance number 7373

[Big D]

Hi all,
In between waiting on news on the hull and getting my scout car parts sandblasted and painted, I did some work on the instrument panel.

I think with the likely manufacture date of this M8, it should have the early instrument panel which is what I have.

I had two pretty rough instrument panels and their switches and gauges to work with along with some new gauges that came with the package.

I am not set on the paint shade that I have used for the panel colour but it will do until I narrow that down later on. I worked off some NOS parts that I had which I gave to the paint supplier but I am not totally convinced after seeing it on the instrument panel.

A question on the circuit breakers. I know nothing about these. Are they lit when operating at all? What is the original colour? These ones had several coats of paint on them which I have cleaned up so am wondering whether I can touch them up with some original coloured paint to freshen them up.

I still need an ammeter and a headlight switch. Neither was recoverable from the instrument panels I had. Is the headlight switch the same as the jeep one? It looks very similar.

I’ll also need to find some sort of cover for the instrument lights.