Wiring question

[MyDream55]

Hello all,

I have a question for some of you that know the wiring in and out of these trucks. I have a 56 by the way. I got the truck from a previous owner and dont know if all the wiring is correct. The other day I was driving home and an older gentleman flagged me down and asked me to pull over to check out my truck (Gas Monkey style..lol). I pulled over, he looked at my truck, didnt offer me money, but loved it..

Anyway, I got back in, went to start it and nothing.. No power whatsoever. Tried getting a boost and nothing. Finally stuck a screwdriver across starter and started up and drove home. At this point I knew it was a wiring issue (I'm a controls engineer and know wiring so I knew something electrical was the issue).

I finally had time to go through it tonight and found the brown wire (or red, hard to tell since wire was painted) from starter was run from starter (Battery) to the back of my gauge panel and connected to Red wire (also hard to tell) through male fittings on gauge panel. The only thing I can think of is this wire came loose and fell off. Once I reconnected both wires to gauge panel everything seems to work.

My question is - is this normal or should it run to ignition switch instead?

Sorry for long post but hopefully you understand..

Thanks a lot