headlamp main beam warning lamp colour

[Philk]

Hi All

I've been with a colleague today (who has a Jaguar 240)…. we were discussing the headlamp main beam warning light colour. On my S1 3.8 E-Type, whilst the main beam warning light "jewel" in the speedometer looks blue, it turns red when main beam is selected. I'm aware that this happens on some other 3.8 E-Types whose owners I've spoken to over the past year or so.

Was this the case all the time the instrument backlighting was blue and, when they changed the backlighting to green, the headlamp main beam warning light went to Blue? Was this the same for all Jaguars with blue instrument backlighting?

I've looked in the normal sources and cannot find a definitive answer.

Many thanks!

Phil

[cactusman]

Not sure when the pilot went from red....more violet to me and different from the ignition lamp red....to blue. My may 62 fhc is red.

[chrisfell]

1967, still red....

[Philk]

Not sure when the pilot went from red....more violet to me and different from the ignition lamp red....to blue. My may 62 fhc is red.

1967, still red....

…. just to check with you both, when the lamp is not lit, does the speedometer look like this (i.e. the main beam "jewel" looks blue when unlit but shows as red when main beam is switched on)?




Picture copied from Factory Fit

[cactusman]

Not really. Mine looks maroon.....

[chrisfell]

Red. Not a hint of blueishness.

[Philk]

Red. Not a hint of blueishness.

That is really interesting. Every S1 3.8 I have seen (and looking in the various reference books) appear to show a blue main beam "jewel" in the speedometer (the speedometers for the 3.8s are distinguishable by having a narrower digit spacing in the trip meter whereas for 4.2s and onwards, each trip meter digit has its own "window"). However, most 3.8s appear to light up as red. I'm wondering if these have a filter behind them to turn them red.

For later cars S1 cars some seemed to have a red jewel present rather than blue. Some pictures below to illustrate things:

S1 3.8 MPH Speedo:



S1 3.8 KPH Speedo:




S1 4.2 Speedo (KPH):



S1 4.2 Speedo (MPH):



S1 4.2 2+2




I am guessing that, as with all things E-Type, a separate book could be written just on this one topic!!

[Heuer]

Not related to the instrument backlight colour: