My S1.5 didn’t have any horn internals in the column, but it’s all there now including rod and contacts. The horns work if I earth the visible tip of the rod that slides through the column. However, I’m unsure of how the earth is made through the underside/internals of the horn button to the rod. I probably have some bits missing there too. I can see the horn button is earthed through the three grub screws. Inside my horn button, which I have prised off by lifting the three tags, there is a brittle piece of yellow sponge with the indentation of the previous horn rod. Should there be a spring in there too? And a metal washer on the sponge face or something to earth the the horn rod to the steering wheel through the grub screws? I’m not even sure if the sponge is original or just someone’s add in. Hard to find any diagrams of this.
You must have an S2-style column, with a collapsible section. the horn button in your photo is certainly the later style. The early center-blow buttons have a metal cup which grounds the rod.
The series 1.5 didn’t have horn push internals in the steering column, The horn is actuated by a button in the end of the turn signal stalk.
Yes - there is a metal cup on the underside of the black circular piece. My car is a 1.5 but regardless it has a steering column which has the internal rod and associated contacts setup for a steering wheel with push button horn. I believe that not all 1.5’s are the same. As you can see from these extra pics, there is a cup. The spring loaded rod goes through the grounded metal cup, but is somehow earthed to it when the button is pushed. Does anyone have a pic of what the internals of the push button piece look like? Is there a spring or metal contact of any sort between the Jaguar button and the black plastic circular piece that contacts the rivets holding the cup?
An addendum - as mentioned in an earlier post on the subject (Horn contact 1962 S1): “The switch is closed by the outer metal ring on the button touching the wheel hub, not by movement of that brass rod.” But the the tip of the brass rod must be making contact with a conducting surface that earths inside the button when the horn button is pressed. It is this part that is not present in mine.
To help clarify here, since @Freoway3 is located in Australia, I presume that this car is RHD. The 1968 model year car spec was well defined for the US market as it was dictated by Federal safety and emissions regulations. The changes to equipment fitted for the rest of the world, and in particular RHD cars, lagged that of the US cars, so a center push horn button on a 1968 RHD car is likely original. The creation of the term “Series 1.5” for the US 1968 Model Year cars was intended to help nail down a particular feature set during the S1-to-S2 transition. It works well for the US cars which had a consistent specification over that period. Applying it to non-US cars muddies the waters somewhat, as the changes happened in a more gradual manner.
Yes, but that’s still an S2 horn button. So somewhere along the way, something became mixed up.
All of your comments have been very helpful. I can see in the pic that the original S1 horn button has a central dished copper contact, which mine does not have. I’ve managed to get mine to work for now - even though it’s not original spec - and now I’ll keep an eye out for a moderately priced replacement unit.
Hello David,
I was my understanding that the term Series 1.5 was created by Jaguar enthusiasts and that what is commonly referred to as the S1.5 was called the Series 1A, where the “A” stood for America. This model destined for the US had Rocker dashboard switches, referred to as safety switches, whereas cars for the rest of the world retained toggle switches.
Regards,
Bill
Yes - as Bill says - my car retains the toggle switches.
Bill,
I’ve never heard of the term “Series 1A”, but maybe that is (like Series 1.5) another enthusiast-invented term created to reduce some of the confusion around what features were delivered where during the hectic transition from Series 1 to Series 2 in the 1967-69 period. It would probably serve the community well for someone to list each of these changes and document when they transitioned by market. Something like this, for example:
| Feature | US | Canada | Rest of LHD world | RHD Countries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Headlights | Jan 1967 | Jan 1967 | July 1967 | July 1967 |
| Rocker Switches | Aug 1967 | Aug 1967 | Jan 1968 | Jan 1968 |
| Twin Strombergs | Aug 1967 | Jan 1968 | Never | Never |
| 3 point spinners | Aug1967 | Aug 1967 | Dec 1967 | Dec 1967 |
| Horn on Turn Stalk | Aug 1967 | … | ||
| etc… |
NOTEs:
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Deciding on the Columns to group markets under is key, as it isn’t just a case of US vs non-US
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The dates in my examples are not intended to be real data, just an example to illustrate the concept
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Most, if not all, of this information is already researched and documented in work such as McKay’s Original Jaguar E-Type, but not in a consolidated tabular form
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The list of features that changed during the period is very extensive - and many of them are not documented in the Jaguar Service/Spare Parts Bulletins
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Many of us in the US are ignorant of the fact that E-Types sent to other markets were different and as a result terms such as “Series 1.5”, which I believe originated here, only helped clarify the US feature set, but probably added to the confusion when non-US cars are considered.
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Though the transition dates were clear for the US market as they were mandated by Federal regulations, elsewhere things are less clear, as the factory may have waited until old parts ran out.
If such information was consolidated in one place I’m confident that quite a few of us would refer to it regularly to help with issues such as the one currently under discussion…
So does anyone here have a 1.5 with two ignition switches ? The Porter book I have from 1990 shows a RHD FHC in the 1.5 chapter with a toggle switch dash with key and starter button and also a key switch on the column. I always wondered how it worked.
David
68 E-type FHC