Its beginning to look like that may be what I have to do.

One with the proper knobs are hard to find. You can buy universal choke cables at NAPA and if you have your original knob, with some work and silver solder, you can put the new assembly on the old knob (or I guess it's the other way around).

I am looking for heater control cables for a 52 Dodge truck.  The end that the knob goes on is half moon shaped to orient the writing on the knob.  They are the same style as the choke and throttle control cables used in the 40's and 50's.  The cables I need are approximately 36" and 60".  I have a parts book that gives the part #1261 045 for both cables.  Mark