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Now the the mystery of the interior lighting for the wagon's tailgate is solved, here's something for the sedan owners instead, for those who are still in the dark about this (no pun intended.)
Talking of interior lamps (though a bit off topic from the main post), my 74 only has switches for the front door and none for the rear door and trunk. However, there are pre drilled holes for the back doors, covered with rubber grommets (hardened rock solid over the years) which can be removed and switches installed. I picked a couple of them at Pull-A-Part during my days in OKC. Got them installed and wired, and now I can have light whenever I open any one of the four doors. Future plans include adding low voltage lamps to the door panels, like you see in newer cars, and wire them to the interior lamp.
If you are searcing for the switch for the boot...er I mean trunk, don't bother. There isn't one. For years, I managed to shed some light on this problem by adding a bulb holder and a Volvo auxilliary toggle switch on the dash, and turned the light on and off manually. Until I found an original Volvo/Hella mercury switch with integrated lamp mounted on the inner trunk lid of a 1975 164, a very rare piece of antique, made only for USA bound 1975's. Mounted it the same way on my 144 as I found it in the 164, and now I have light whenever I open the trunk lid. It can be made at home, with a mercury switch from your old home A/C/Heater thermostat, a bulb holder, and some creativity. Mount the mercury switch at an angle that it turns the light on when the trunk lid is open, and off when its shut. My guess is that is fires the bulb on whenever you hit a pothole and the mercury moves around.
Good luck. Hope this was rather enlightening for the sedan owners who used to rely on the license plate light for trunk lighting.
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...and the bricks keep on rolling
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