In search of aerial/antenna switch

It's a pretty simple switch. All you need is 3 positions. The center lug gets the +12V and the rear lug gets the "down" wire from the ant. while the front lug gets the "up" wire from the ant. The - wire on the ant. just goes to ground . The other 3 lugs are not used.

 

Eric,

I'll make you a deal you can't refuse. You can have mine for free, and I'll pay shipping. If you send me your address I'll put it in the mail this week.

This is out of a QV...not sure if your 78 had the same switch.

I recently re-leathered my console and removed the switch. I put it on Ebay for $10 thinking someone could use it and nobody bought it. It's yours.

Here's a pic.
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so, on my car that's the rear defrost switch and the antenna switch is next to the parking brake lever. What's that toggle switch next to the parking brake in your car? Rear defroster?

Anyone else need an antenna switch...cheap?

 

The switch that is circled in the photo is the correct switch for the early carb cars. The Superformance switch is functionally correct, looks close (once the toggle is replaced for the 'Mickey Mouse Ear' pill handle), but is a little different in that its base is black rather than chrome. This is a tiny difference that would be noticed by only the most knowledgable observers so it is up to you to decide how crazy to be about the whole thing. Fact is that with most semi-modern radios the switch is really nothing more than decoration as the antenna raises and lowers through the head unit and not a remote switch.

 

Correct that is the rear window defroster. Not present on Euro cars that did not come with this feature.

 

The mouse-ear switches were made by Lucas, there must be suppliers who have them. Many older Jags had rows of them, you just need to pull the plastic handle part off and push the mouse ear on.
Mk2's, S-Types and 420's, as well as series 1 and 1 1/2 E-types had these switches, and most of them have at least 1 switch with 3 positions and a neutral centre, but you may have to move it back to neutral manually instead of just letting it go. The switch to go for is the dash-light/interior light switch.

 

Strange. I bought a Superformance switch earlier this year and it's almost exactly like the original one (including mouse ear knob and chrome base). This switch I used for the ventilator (1978 Euro 308 GTB, the switch closest to the driver).

The aerial switch is different. It has the neutral position in the middle and you need to keep pushing it either forward or backward to get the aerial up or down (when released it springs back to the neutral position). The superformance switch is an on/off switch with two positions only. YRMV.

BTW the Superformance switch was about 40 euro shipping included to The Netherlands.

Edit: upon inspection of their website I was refering to another switch. The aerial one they have is indeed a bit different (black base, no Mickey Mouse ear). They also sell the mouse ears seperately. Just pull the one on the switch off and push the right one on.

 

PM Sent

 

Driving my oldest car last night I noticed the Aerial Switch does NOT match the mouse ears.

It's a chrome switch with a teardrop lever.

No black knob at all.....from memory my other two cars use this same switch also, I'll confirm next time I'm in them...

 

it's yours!

 

I know this is an ancient thread but can somebody confirm that chrome is the correct finish for the aerial switch please? Mine is the black and it looks out of place alongside the chrome. Any photos would be great. Thank you.

 

All 4 of my originals are chrome with mouse ears.

 

I've seen too many (early, roughly pre 1980) cars where the aerial switch is NOT a mouse ear. A simple shiny black toggle is common & I believe that to be OEM. Look at interior photos on cars for sale and you very frequently see time and again the same shiny black/stick toggle for the aerial control. Maybe others can comment.

 

They probably are OEM. While I believe 4 perfectly-matched switches looks best, I'm also not sure the factory cared about that as much as I do. It's quite possible Lucas didn't have available stock of one style, and Ferrari said "Fine, send us 2K of whatever is closest."

It's rather easy to find any of the other 3 switches. The 2-way chrome spring toggle is far more difficult; that seems to indicate that Lucas just didn't make that many of them.

 

Hi Andrew,

I re-did my 1978 gts console about 4 years ago. The antenna switch was black plastic IIRC. It did not match the style of the other switches which appeared to be Lucas sourced. I replaced the plastic switch with a rare Lucas switch, but had to replace the elongated plastic tip with a mouse ear. Matches the other toggle switches perfectly.

I had to special order the Lucas switch from a Lotus specialist in the UK, as it was used on early S3 Lotus Elans, for the door window switches that are mounted on the dash.

Bill

 

There are actually 2 'correct' switches that can be used in this application.

- Lucas dual throw toggle with a central parking position. Chrome base and round black 'Mickey Mouse Ear' lever. This switch was used on a number of British cars and is mildly difficult to find but not at all impossible. Do a search as there are threads talking about the cross reference. Note that the cross reference switch has a different lever so you need to pull that lever off and replace it with the round one. These replacement levers are readily available at Superformance so the trick is in finding the switch.

- Single chrome/silver toggle again with a central park position. Ferrari used these switches from factory (probably because they ran out of the Lucas ones from time to time) and this FACT is forever immortalized in period sales brochures that CLEARLY show the antenna switch to not match the others. Again all of this has been discussed with photos posted in previous threads.

 

Check out this thread. I modified a Lucas switch for the aerial function.
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/308-antenna-switch.260578/page-2#post-145832573

 

Hi Gentlemen, Thank you for the information. I have the quest to find a chrome switch now. Of course when I searched previously I put in "aerial" not "antenna"

 

I got one today for $11 on eBay from AUS. New, Lucas, 3 position, momentary on-center off-on. I’ll have to modify it for the other momentary on position. I hope it’s one that can be opened and modded.

 

Me too but paid a lot more for "same switch" It will be a while before I get to do the mod but happy to have the part on order. Now to source courtesy light switches and figure out how the professional trimmer butchered the drivers door handle by attempting to mount two switches in one big hole.