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Readers, it must be accepted that a 63 year old car has a greater chance of breaking down than a modern car – not only because of age, but also because modern cars are so much more reliable than those of yore. Since 1991, cars have been required to have emergency flasher or hazard lights. Those old enough to remember will no doubt recall those heady days when hazard lights were a novelty and conferred a great number of benefits, from double-parking to the temporary suspension of many road rules.
With safety in mind, I have, I confess, previously fitted rear seat belts to my Morris 850, and fuel pump safety relay, and now – hazard lights. Of course I searched around the internet and discovered a small number of options, mainly from UK, and they did indeed look the job, but I was hoping to find something local.
I did find a switch on a Morris Minor parts web site, but rather expensive at about $80. Oh well, I thought, probably about the same as a UK import by the time shipping is added, so I purchased it.
Initially I was very happy. It looked exactly what I needed. But, it was just a switch, and a one page instruction sheet. The instructions were dreadful. It became obvious that there were two choices here. If the existing flasher relay was used, then one had to accept that the indicator lights would be functional if the ignition was off (assuming that one wanted hazard lights to be available with the ignition off), or, if a separate flasher was used, then there would be situation where both the vehicle indicator flasher and the hazard light flasher would be trying to flash the same lights at the same time. Obviously they would not be in phase, and there would be quite an interesting display that would cause total confusion to other road users.
Upon realising this, I made an enquiry of the seller expressing my disappointment at the lack of development of this “clever little switch”, and received quite a defensive phone call from the Australian seller in which the supplier (apparently based in UK) was to blame. To be fair, I was offered a refund. I also pointed out that the exact same item was available on Amazon for $40, and elsewhere from Spain (where the switch was made) for as low as $20. Quite a markup for a one-page half-baked instruction sheet.
Upon thinking that night, I decided to persevere and make up my own circuit, using this switch, so that the indicator lights remained operative only with the ignition on, and the hazard lights available with ignition on or off, and using the vehicle’s flasher relay only. I also wanted original looking wiring with proper colours, and to have it fit without cutting or splicing any of the original loom.
It took about a day, but I got something going and it worked very well. The next question was “where to mount it”. The actual switch knob looks period for the car, and the two obvious choices were on a separate bracket under the parcel shelf (much like how the washer pump is mounted), or in the spare heater hole in the switch panel. I tried both, and the results are shown below. I settled for the switch panel since it seemed to be less obtrusive there and the chances of my fitting a heater are remote.
So, I can now motor along knowing that I can have all those benefits that other more modern cars have and in the event of a problem, I will not be such a danger to other road uses who do doubt will kindly move out of the way while I drift to the side of the road in flashing glory.
Tony Cripps
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