Adam, thanks for the reply. I'll appreciate anything you might suggest. I dug a little deeper myself and in addition to the the relay I think the most likely other possibility is the switch itself. Apparently grease in the switch can degrade over time becoming hard and creating an insulating coating on the contacts. No rush on this. The car leaks in the rain, so I don't plan to drive it when it's wet.
On the topic of driving it, as of yesterday there is an fresh inspection sticker on the car, the first one since 2003. Since the wipers functioned at the primary level, standard wipe, they passed. The only ding was for an exhaust leak between the manifold and down pipe. A little heat on the nuts to break them loose and a little tightening fixed that.
Pretty amazing that a 37 year old care with all the original suspension (other than shocks), steering linkages, exhaust (except for mufflers), etc. could do so well. As the mechanic said, "this car's as old as me".
Now the next issue is all kinds of rattling in the back when driving. I'll put a different post for that.
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As it once looked and hopefully will again