Thank you... polarity should have been obvious.
LEDs are diodes and only work one way.
The ones I bought require a -ve feed to the body and +ve to the end, but being originally a +ve earth car, I’d reused the old connectors in the original setup, so they were live to the body of the fuse holder.
Quick switcheroo and it’s all sorted.
Not sure why they flashed briefly, but be something funny in the ignition switch maybe.
Thank you!!

