good thought on the purple body and dash frame, I'll check that out..

On the radio, no light at all. The audio on the radio is there but very faint.. I literally had my ear against it before I could hear it and even then I couldn't make out what was going on a local station we have.

the ashtray light under it isn't working either, as a test to make sure I'm not crazy, i unplugged it and tested it on a battery...it lite up nice and strong..

but like suggested, I'll so some ground tests on that dash frame tomorrow..thanks for the ideas guys.