Morris Minor Owners Club

I spent some time round the Perth, Freemantle area of Australia in the 1960s and can remember cars having an external switch on the back of the car or rear wing to switch on the parking lights if the cars were parked up in towns with no lights on. I dont remember it in NSW, Victoria , South or Queensland. Is this true or is my memory playing tricks?

It was certainly the case in Victoria in the 50's.But the switch was for the tail light Nobody knew why, some said it was to prevent crooks switching off the tail light when being chased by police! Commonsense eventually prevailed and my MM which has been in the family since new in 1960 was never fitted with such a switch. Cheers JohnG

Oh no crimms

It was a requirement in a few states but there's a couple of variations of reasons why they were fitted.

One was so that the Police could turn on the tail lights if the car was parked near the side of the road at night, the other was that the owner could check that the lights were working when they were turned on.

Thanks folks, I was beginning to think my memory was drifting. I can remember now the bit about the police turning the lights on. I returned to Newcastle NSW in Jan 81 for the commissioning of HMAS Torbruk and didn't notice any cars with Light switches on the back that visit although I did see a few morris minors!!

For some reason, NSW never had that rule but I'm sure Victoria had it.

I came across an Australian Series MM in a lock up in Slough years ago which had the switch fitted. The car is now owned by Sandy Hamilton