Semaphore Indicators

Tomo    on 29 September 2005

A trawl through published Lagonda photographs shows a first appearance for them in 1936.

codefarm    on 28 September 2005

Why did cars ever have semaphore indicators? Surely a fixed flashing bulb is simpler and cheaper to make & maintain than a motorised arm.

pmh    on 29 September 2005

A Bang on the pillar...

Not very sticky then. I remember the best way to make it work on a 1949 MM minor was to open and slam the drivers door whilst the indicator was actuated, (while you were driving of course).
IIRC the early 2 door one had a low level indicator, the later 4 door had an arm above shoulder height, which was at least partially visible.

If you had a passenger you could even signal left turns letting him slam the lh door.


The same trick use to work with an intermittent fuel pump, slamming the pasenger door was much more effective than kicking the bulk head.
--

pmh (was peter)

tunacat    on 29 September 2005

My grandad's A35 van had semaphores (lit but not flashing). That was either a '57 or '59.

I too remember having to thump the pillar for him on occasions. I also remember, when sitting in the front, having to sit near the front edge of the seat in order to see over the scuttle. This meant every time he braked hardish, the seat tipped forward (no locking knob like the Marina) and I ended up in the footwell.

Little risk of going through the windscreen, then -safety for kids even in those days, see !

Chris S    on 30 September 2005

I seem to remember the Triumph 2000 had imitation semaphor arms in its door pillars, and that was in the 1970's.

sierraman    on 1 September 2009

"flashing side lights in lieu of trafficators"

They the ones like teddy bears ears on the "B" pillar?

Are you thinking of these? tinyurl.com/ldjnc3 on the A post just under the door mirror,but they are indicators.IIRC the Anglia had indicators in the rear fins but the front had flashing sidelights,around 1966 they incorporated a seperate indicator next to the sidelight.

Lud    on 1 September 2009

I had three cars with them. Being in the central pillar the offside one at least (or nearside in my Light 15 Citroen, a left-hooker) was susceptible to manual tweaking when it got sticky as they often did. The light in them was quite faint, didn't flash and had a bulb accessible I never found out how.

The last car I had with semaphores was an R type Bentley. Most of the ones still on the road have the obvious modification of aftermarket flashers, but mine didn't

Believe it or not I managed to bend one against something in a close manoeuvre in an airport or multi-storey car park. Once you had pushed one back like that it would never work properly again, or look anything but totally carp in the worst possible way.

I was horrible in my thirties, although a few interesting things happened to me. Bending that signal was among my worse minor acts in that decade.

blodwyn49    on 2 September 2009

Hi Ted would be very grateful if you have any, I'm starting to get a bit desperate.
Many thanks Blodwyn.