James responded:
> >> Has anyone else seen a metal dash with a cigar lighter between the
> >>choke knob and the plastic gauge surround? Does anyone know anything about
> >>the limited edition black BGT for '67 and what special features it had? All
> >>enlightenment will be appreciated.
> >>
> >>Denise Thorpe
> >>thorpe@kegs.saic.com
>
> I have owned a 67 BGT, and my current car is a 66 BGT (I recently
> found that it was 66, not a 67).
>
> The 66 has a row of five holes under the radio. Left to right, they
> are filled by the choke, ignition, headlights, windscreen wiper, and
> heater blower. The last three are all black toggle switches.
This describes what I've always thought of as the 3-main, pre-66 dash and
I didn't think there were any 3-main GT's.
> Then,
> above the oil/water gauge, there are two holes. Left is lighter, and
> right is windscreen washer.
Zowie! It all comes back to me. This is where the cigar lighter was in
that black '67 GT, not down at the bottom where the one in everyone else's
dash is.
> My 67 had the headlights and windscreen washer swapped. The headlight
> switch was also the pull variety.
This is the dash (no cigar lighter) in every '66 and '67 roadster I've
seen.
> According to the reprint of the advertisement I have, the Limited
> Edition BGT's have overdrive and wire wheels standard, and they also
> had woodrim steering wheels, Australian Coachwood gearchange knobs,
> the aerodynamic look chrome door mirrors, and the Limited Edition
> plaque. I can't remember if the plaque went on the dash or at the
> rear of the front wings just below the chrome strip, or both. Also, I
> was under the impression that they were all British Racing Green, but
> my memory is faulty here. Anyway, it did not seem like a big deal to
> me.
That's the puppy! I can't remember where the plaque was either, but I'd
guess the dash.
I now have a theory to explain this: In the grand tradition of BMC, they
were using up old parts as they went along, and when they thought they'd
run out of the toggle headlight switches and started using the pull-out
ones, they discovered a stash of the toggle ones in a back room. They
wanted to use these up, but they couldn't go back to using parts they'd
stopped using before _unless_ they made a special car that could be
different. So... they cobbled up some GT's (which were new and therefore
unknown anyway) with all the best parts they had handy, a cheesy little
plaque to make it look like they planned this, a cigar lighter next to the
windshield washer button, and painted them different colors just to confuse
us (like T-type firewalls and A frames). Then, people liked the cigar
lighters so much that BMC put them in all GT's, but had to put them down
below so they wouldn't be next to the headlight switch. Sound plausible?
Denise Thorpe
thorpe@kegs.saic.com
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