So, the old truck is on the road. Legally. In fact, it's my daily driver - the Prizm is unregistered and uninspected (and has been so for months). The truck gets me around just fine, and is generally fun to drive. However, there are some challenges to driving a 42-year-old vehicle as one's daily transportation...
The instrument panel lighting does not work. The really important things work; the turn signal indicators and the alternator warning light. The little bulbs that are supposed to illuminate the speedometer? They're there, but they don't show up for work. I've had the cluster out on the bench and cleaned up the electrical circuits and fiddled with the bulbs, but they just don't want to glow much at all.
With the morning commute being performed in total darkness, and the evening commute happening in (you guessed it) near total darkness, it's hard to see the numbers on the speedometer when you have no dash lights. Now, one might suppose that a speedo isn't necessary when driving an old, old truck. There's not much chance of getting a speeding ticket when you have low gears and a wheezy six-cylinder. True that is, but the main concern I have is making sure I'm actually going fast enough. Some times, I'm trundling down the road at a comfortable clip, totally enjoying the trip, when I realize that there is a fairly long line of cars stacking up behind me. Oops...got caught driving ten mph below the speed limit again.(People don't particularly like that.) (Especially when they're in one of those fancy modern cars with heaters and electronic suspension and projector-beam headlights.)
So, in order to see the speedometer (and keep other drivers happy), I've come up with a temporary solution to get by until I can fix those little light bulbs: a $2 LED flashlight.
This little flashlight has a clip that hooks onto the tachometer mount, and a goose-neck that allows the light to be bent and aimed to just the proper spot. It works great, and might just help me keep revved up to the speed limit!
