I miss the OLD Stewart Warner! BOOO!

I recently changed my dash center from those white-faced Stewart Warner things to the VDO tach and speedometer shown. They match my early 2 5/8" SW gauges nice enough to satisfy me, especially the bezels. The vintage SW oil pressure, water temp, vacuum, and volt gauges will be in a narrow matching panel mounted horizontally below the dashboard.

 

Crap! I hope my new S/W volt meter (Hencho en Mexico) works,Im installing it this week,I had to match the face and bezel with the 70s S/W water & oil gauges that were in my gasser 56 when I got it.It did come in a lice box with OK instructions and hopefully all the parts,I just built a new dash bezel and moved them up to where the lighter was.instead of that hangdown underdash panel........I really liked Classic when they were in Oregon,Ive still got a set of in the box MOON/Classic gauges in the box I got in about 1992 from the Wheel Shoppe in Portland,Oregon I think they might end up in the Pie Wagon showrod

 

i just went through the same crap with SW. took forever to get the gauges because they had to make most of them, in mexico. you can't ever talk to anyone with a brain. the 5" electric speedo has the same huge ugly bezel as the tach in this thread. i'm going to try to get my machinist friend to fab a stepped bezel. better yet, i just might buy one from classic instruments and egay the SW pos.

 

I just thought I'd put a word in for Classic.Well made ,great quality & accuracy,great customer service;

 

new s-w gauges = crap i have the wings in my roadster and have got 2 new junk water tep gauges i had to break down and put a 13 dollar auto zone for back up and it works great. billy

 

I got those too, no issues yet, but I will replace the new gauges with vintage ones as I find them, the white plastic hands are killing me everytime I look at them.

 

same here when i get 3000 extra dollars for the right gauges for my car it will have them. billy

 

Newvintage gauges (www.newvintageusa.com). Marks914 on the HAMB. I bought a set with some differnt screening and integrated turn signal indicators and I think they look pretty good. Mine are based on Faria internals, have curved glass faces and I installed them into cut up original 46 Ford gauges so they'll bolt into my car. My car is a long ways from driveable so I can't comment on how well they function but I am very satisfied with how they look and Mark seemed responsive to questions.

 

Thanks, That's it!! Here's the thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...ilitary+gauges

And they are an Alliance Vendor

 

Thanks for posting,Scooter,you've really pissed on my bonfire!I have a set of wings gauges ready to go into my'A'.
It's worth checking ex-military vehicles for those gauges.Best vehicles to check are the specialist ones such as runway sweepers,snow ploughs ,generally low production stuff.

 

Glad I could be of assistance! Sorry I couldn't hold it...

 

Am i missing something, or is it really that hard to find a set or 20 or 30 year old SW's?? I'd run them before almost any of this other stuff

 

This is what happens when company's concentrate more on profit and production than quality. Then they wonder why nothing sells.

 

Thanks very much guys. Just in the market for a 3 3/8 tach. Looks like it's either Classic or Newvintage.

Pete

 

FYI Pete I had a good experience with Classic Gauges in Sydney. I wanted a gear selector gauge in Hot Rod style and they only had vintage style in stock. They quoted me 3 weeks to ship it in from the States and I had it in less than 2. It matches my stepped bezel S-W gauges its running with as good as you would expect.

swifty

 

Thanks Scooter timely post to find (thanks Jase). You've just made my mind up on what new SW gauges to get! None, think I'll look into Classic Instruments or see how I go on the old SW hunt over here....

 

Man, this sounds like when I bought a Moon half sweep tach 3 years ago for my gasser...after the first winter mounted to the dash the plastic cup the gauge is mounted to shrunk and all of the "chrome" peeled and flaked off...and on top of it the damned thing was never very accurate to begin with since it lagged behind so bad, so I carefully disconnected it and promptly threw the fucker against the wall...I only buy vintage SW gauges now, either on ebay,from junkyards or swap meets...wish I had a pic of em all, but they're displayed in my bathroom now (all 13 of them) along with the 5 that are in the dash of the gasser in storage...I'm always interested in buying or trading for the SW gauges with the square needle that comes from behind the gauge face, those are my favorites...

 

Thanks Swifty.

I like the look of the 1940 range by Newvintage. (HAMB Alliance Vendor)

It's different to my SW gauges but will be in a cup on the column so I'm not set on it matching. Has an aircraft style - very simple.

Price seems good too. Just need to find a nice cup. Any recommendations?

Pete

 

I'm curious why nobody makes a knock-off of the SW style gauges that uses proper looking needles and no trip meter (seriously, I can run a log book in my hot rod if I REALLY need to know my fuel mileage)...it seems like such a simple deal, being that they're the most well known and well used gauges...even SW doesn't make their own stuff look closer to their old products it's supposed to emulate...maybe I've just sniffed too many fumes over the years...

 

Pete, Neil Stamp of Stamps Seat Belts used to sell a spun aluminium one and I think Rod-Tech in Adelaide have them too.

swifty

 

I think it sucks they make them outta the country however one thing I noticed with the new ones is you can see the damn things at nite compared to the mid 70s S/W gauges I added this to.............that being said I wont ever buy another one and will stick with U.S. made gauges

 

Westach is a U.S. made gauge company that I don't see much of. They've been making gauges since 1944. Here's a pic of an N.O.S. speedo that I picked up on Evilbay for $25. Their website is www.westach.com. They have a new speedo which is like this one for about $125.00 if I remember correctly. They also have other types of gauges for reasonable prices, but it seems that there are no bright metal surrounds, only the muted flat black plastic surrounds. To complicate matters, it appears that the other smaller gauges (water temp, oil pressure, etc.) have square plastic surrounds, with four brass screws that hold the gauge to the mounting surface. On the positive side, the flange is kind of neat in the fact that it has the Westach logo encased in wings with U.S.A. on it. I was in a hurry to get my dash together, so I bought a set of the cheapo Sunpro gauges that mimic the style of the speedo. I may try to swap those two out with the Westach ones, but I don't know if I'll have room with the flanges & all. All three gauges seem to be working O.K. so far.

 

So, what, when I see an older S-W in a clunker at the junkyard I should probably take the time to grab it?

One of the yards locally an IH Scout turned up that looks like it hasn't been on the road in 20 years and there's one SW gauge tucked it from it's last use as a plow truck.

I mean I'm sure I'm not going to find anything much older than '60s and this is probably 70s era, but if they're at least still quality parts in that era, maybe they're worth having on hand.

 

i have a set of classic instruments gauges, they have the step but the cup is plastic. they look good, have convex glass and are close to the original '36 gauge size. you can get different faces then i have, i haven't put them into service yet but don't expect any problems.

 

are the moon gauges any good ,they look killer? not trying to steal your thread by the way.

 

Hmm, as I review the last fifty-five or so years of my life with hot rods, it seems that all quality is going down hill. And prices are heading the opposite way. "Assembled in Mexico"? At least it wasn't Chinese!! Guys, the country is changing...same as the world. And not for the better.
ARRGGGHHH!!!

 

Wow! That's the nicest looking "new" speedometer I've seen so far.

 

i'v watched and found new old stock sw gauges still in the boxes from the 60's and the amasing thing is they are metal and say made in the usa?
i'll take a old part made by a proud american worker that took pride in their work.
god bless the usa and shame on you manufacturers that sold out to the cheapest bidder.you'll get what you deserve.
you can't count on a name anymore.

 

Here's some old 1963 SW custom faced up in my garage attc, just as I removed them in 1995.-----Sure I'll sell them,-----Don