1963 Wildcat - How to remove interior sail panels?

This weekend I was continuing to work on stripping my Wildcat for rust repair and paint, and I've run into a hang-up - I cannot figure out how to remove the sail panel lights (rear interior pillar lights) from the sail panels so I can continue to remove the headliner.

I've removed the housing and screws from the pillar, and I've removed the sail panel from the car as well, but I can't find a connector, or way to disconnect, the wiring. Is there a connector somewhere above the headliner? Or am I stuck having to pull the entire harness? I tried just removing the contacts, but they did not want to be persuaded out of the socket.

It seems like there ought to be some trick to this, they had to get installed somehow!

If I remember right, by 69 the connectors were in the trunk attached to the harness to the taillights.

I think John means to say "by '59...", and I think that's right. Since my '63 is a convertible, I can't help you, but I do know that it has wire disconnectors/connectors for the interior rear seat quarter panel lights near the inner fenders of the rear wheels, inside the car.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

1963 Wildcat conv. (and others)

I think John means to say "by '59...", and I think that's right. Since my '63 is a convertible, I can't help you, but I do know that it has wire disconnectors/connectors for the interior rear seat quarter panel lights near the inner fenders of the rear wheels, inside the car.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

1963 Wildcat conv. (and others)

I forgot to update this thread!

The answer to my question is that the '63 coupe does NOT have a disconnect. The sail panel lights are on a single wire harness; the wires for the passenger's light run across the center roof support and join the driver's side light above the rear of the driver's door. From there, the harness runs down the edge of the roof, down the a-pillar, and through the dash. It plugs into the main harness just behind the driver's side kick panel vent. The harness was pulled through the car in one piece.

This said, I still can't figure out how the heck they got it through the sail panels. The sockets (as far as I can see) are spot welded into the light housing, which is too large to pass through the hole in the sail panel. Since the harness is a "Y" and has no disconnect, short of removing the terminals or adding a connector, I don't see how they can be removed from the sail panels???

I figured it out!

GM installed the rear light housings (crimped connectors) onto the harness AFTER installing the headliner. There is simply no way to separate them now without cutting the wiring.

It is actually physically impossible to pull the harness through this roof support, where the solder splice was hiding.

That said, I'm looking at one of two options:

1. Cut the harness to take it out of the car, and then solder it back together when I reinstall the lights

2. Make a new harness, which runs with the rear light harness and then comes UP the B-pillar from the trunk. That way I can install a disconnect for each side to make it possible to do this with the headliner in the car.

I'm favoring #2 at this point. Any opinions?

Third option. Let YnZ make the harness. I needed just the license lamp harness for my 55 Roadmaster last year. $30 + shipping with correct wires and connectors. Reasonable I thought. Let them put some disconnects to make it easier in the future.

Take a close look at the light fixtures. I have a vague recollection that the bulb holders are a spring fit in the plastic light housing for a 1969. Unsure if that's the same on a 63.