silly question: directional/hi-beam stalk position

On my left-hand-drive Elan, I have the directionals on the right side and the hi-beam switch on the left.
Surely this is wrong, no?
Will I have any drama swapping them?

That’s the way they are on my stock LHD '69 +2. The light switch on the left turns the headlights on and off.

Hi,

that’s the way they all are, LHD or RHD.
Is is a bit confusing due to modern cars have them the other way around.
I must admit I’ve never considered trying to swap them around. I just got used to it :slight_smile:
What will you do just swap the switches or rotate the whole column & rewire?

Cheers
John

I find that most modern cars designed for RHD originally eg many Japanese cars stil have the column switch gear set up as per the Lotus. Most modern cars designed for LHD originally eg American and European cars have the reverse. No body designs cars in the UK any longer and those that do are mainly kit cars so they use what ever switch gear they can get hold off

cheers
Rohan

My '72 Sprint has the directional stalk on the left, as it was when I bought the car in '78. I’m the third owner. I suppose someone could have switched them between '72 and '78.

Greg Z
'72 Sprint

My 1971 S4 originally had the directional stalk on the LEFT too and it was a LHD US export. I have since changed it to RHD and now have the directional stalk on the RIGHT, as shown in the Workshop Manual.

:arrow_right: Matthew

As I remember, the Elans were all fitted with RHD set-up - as were all British made RHD vehicles until about the mid 80?s when cost-cutting was responsible for making the system common with LHD. This was my experience with Ford Europe, anyway.
Japanese manufacturers remain true to the cause and retain the RHD set-up for RHD countries, but I don?t know what they do for LHD countries.

However, to change the switches around is not that difficult, as I see it. The most difficult operation will be to reposition the indicator cancelling clip 180 degrees on the upper steering shaft.

Brian Clarke
(1972 Sprint)

My 1971 Elan S4 has the turn signal switch on left, the light switch on right.
Cheers,
Greg Tatarian