Classic/Antique Car Repair: 63 Ford Galaxie dash lights, 63 ford galaxie, napa store

Question
I can't get my dash lights to burn. I've replaced all the underdash bulbs and all the fuses. The fuse block is located on the back of the headlamp switch, and seems ok. All exterior lights (head, tail) burn fine. The blinkers (including dash blinker lights) work fine. The "dome" light burns. I'm not very good with electrical, so please, maybe point me in the right direction.
Thanks!

Answer
The rheostat on the dash light dimmer may have burned out but there is also a decent possiblity that it is just dirty.  

So before you buy a new headlight switch (which is readily available at any NAPA store), try this:  Turn on the parking lights (do this at night) and while you have the parking lights on, begin turning the headlight switch knob - start out with it all the way to the left (the dome light should come on,) then turn it to the right about 1/4 turn, and from there, start rotating back and forth about 1/8 of a turn each way; do it many, many times - like a hundred times.  What you are trying to do is to polish off the metal of the rheostat windings until you get though the coating of crud and back to metal to metal contact.  

Watch the dash gauges as you do this - I'm betting that after you keep this up for 10 minutes or so, you will begin to see little flickers of light from the dash gauges - when you find a spot where there is light, work around that spot with the knob - expanding and expanding the area of good contact, until finally you have the full range of brightness from too bright to no light at all (fully clockwise).  

If this doesn't work for you, then go off to the NAPA store and get a new headlight switch.  They are cheap, and quite easy to change. You'll note that behind the dash, on top of the switch, is a tiny push button - hold that down into the body of the switch while you pull out on the knob - the knob will come out in your hand, and then you can unscrew the bezel and the switch will drop out behind the dash, where you can disconnect the wires and move them to the new switch, one by one so you don't get them mixed up.  Disconnect one battery cable before you start to remove the switch.

Dick