Sorry, Norm. I didn't follow through on that like I promised. But I am now. First, a shot of the Cruise dial on my '62:
Doesn't really do you much good, except you've obviously got an interest in Cruise Control.
The '62 Olds setup was adopted from Cadillac. All Cadillac had in '61 was a slider that said "slow" and "fast". For '62 they came up with the numbered wheel, which is supposed to approximate car speed. I've got an "off" at the end as well. The high end. I'll never figure that one out. In an emergency, if you need to turn the system off, you have to turn it all the way up past 90. Why wouldn't you want to turn it all the way down past 30? It's in the design - turning the dial all the way clockwise pulls the selector cable all the way in, which pulls the plunger in the regulator all the way down, which open the switch, turning the unit off.
There is nothing I would like better than to take this thing apart and photograph it for you, but you surely know how fragile it is and I am afraid to even adjust the speed when using it. You can see I've got it set at roughly 72, which is where I travel when the signs say 65. This attests to the accuracy of the dial in relation to actual speed. At this setting the car is probably somewhere between 65 and 75. Since the speedometer isn't accurate either, it's hard to say. You can see that I have no pointer like you have. The apex of that hump in the housing is meant to act as a pointer. Not exact science by any means.
The Cadillac thumbwheel is illuminated, as yours is. We '62 owners got screwed. The thumbwheel is the same as a Cadillac, and can be illuminated, but there is no room behind that panel to get a light bulb back there, so we have to fumble blindly in the dark, with no relation to speed.
I can tell you that what you are showing on the tip of that selector cable is about all that is there. I don't think any of it is broken off. Do you have the part of the white piece that is broken off? Or is it missing? There is a shallow channel in that piece that this wire rides in, probably less than 1/2 in inch long, and there are two ears on the plastic that the wire snaps into. Those ears, the channel and that little hook are all that hold the wire in place. The aluminum replacement piece has no ears and no channel (that I remember). That little bit of a hook needs to be super-glued into the hole. It'll never stay on its own. Supposedly there are some of these floating around in the Chicago area. I'm working on confirming that.
More to follow...
Paul