About 20 years ago I bought a bunch of NOS 1940s & 1950s Ford dash parts from one vendor at Carlisle. Since they were all small perhaps they were originally lunch pail parts. Among these parts were some 1957 Ford dash parts including ignition switch bezels with casting # FEG-11584 (equivalent to Ford part # B7A-11584) and wiper switch bezels with casting # FEG-17512 (equivalent to Ford # B7A-17512). The interesting thing is that the chrome ignition switch bezels are plain on the face, no 'ACC OFF ON START' lettering. I assume that these letters would have been cast into the face and not machined in later, however since these bezels are plain maybe the letters were machined in post casting? After chrome plating the letters would have been highlighted in black. Does anyone have any info or ideas about these plain ignition switch bezels? Photos of the face and back of the ignition bezel is included.
Just thinking out loud here but...
Could they have been an aftermarket item geared toward those sorts who liked smooth faces with no words? Not a lot of that sort of thing went on, but I do remember there was a "thing" with customizers for a period in which everything had to be perfectly smooth with no words.
Just wondering...
The original bezel was cast with the letters...