I have a question about the neutral safety switch. Off my donor 240D manual, the pedal assembly has both switches on the brake and clutch. My initial thought was the clutch switch was the "safety switch," like many manuals you need to press the clutch to start the car. However the switch doesn't work for the neutral safety wires (violet and violet/white) on my '80 300CD auto, which need to be "closed" to start.

So my question is what is the clutch switch for, the cruise control system? Did manual cars have a clutch safety switch? I could just connect the two neutral safety wires, but I like the clutch safety feature if possible.