Classic/Antique Car Repair: dimmer switch, gm type, pontiac street

Question
i have a 37 pontiac street rod with a gm sterring column  the dimmer switch is bad,i have been to 4 parts store and the chev store no one can match it. can i get a floor mount one and just wire it and not have it in the column,would i just wire it into the socket that i pulled from the column? thanks any help would be appricated. bob

Answer
Bob, you sure can use the floor mounted switch and wire it into the wires that you remove from the column. Being that it is a street rod I would assume that who ever built it did not engineer a relay system for the lights. So with that said it should work. As far as not getting the new switch goes, did you do the work of building the rod? If you did who did you get the column from? If you did not can you trace back to the builder to see what year and model column they used or if it is one of the after market units advertised in rod magazines? Once you know the year and model the GM dealer should be able to get the switch if it is a GM built column and not a GM type column. How I wish rod builder would supply a build sheet with their creations.
Brad