Hydra-Matic indicator

Hi all! on my Catalina 59 , I' ve no light for my hydra-matic indicator. I see on my shop manual, page 12-65 it was a "special Equipment"..so that's mean there is no bulb ? Thanks. Phil.

Phil.....that means that the Hydra-matic was "special equipment." All cars that had automatic transmissions had illuminated indicators. They are back-lit by a bulb located behind the housing. If your's is not lit, it probably means that the bulb is burned out, or the socket has fallen from the hole in the housing. The lamp is part of the instrument panel illumination, and is controlled by the rheostat on the headlamp switch. The wire to the socket is light gray, as are all lamps controlled by the rheostat. It's not real easy to get to, but if you reach up under the dash above the steering column, you should be able to pop out the socket to check the bulb......John

thanks, catbird , I'll repair it ! For your info, and the little story, i bought in sept 2013 Ironsmith' catalina 59; but ironsmith sold his car in 2010, and between these 2 dates the owner took no care with the car , and now catalina has floor rotten, and the same breakdown that ironsmith described in his posts ! Since sept 2013, I put a new remanufactured originally carb ( ironsmith  'carb was good for pontiac/buick 1978 !!) , and HEI ignition with 40 000 v coil : the engine run now like new ! i removed the tank fuel, the wire on the tank sending  unit was break..look at the posts of ironsmith, I found your forum with hazzard , what a surpise to find my car   ! i sent a m.p. to  ironsmith , but he didn't answer at this day. I'll try to put some more infos on the forum. Bye ! phil