New old military gauges good idea?

So I was on the phone with our sales guy ar Faria and we were talking about new products. I found out that they were still making many of the old Jeep, military and industrial gauges, they have been upgraded of course over the past 50 years or so, but they still look exactly the same as the did back then.
I was thinking, maybe a chrome bezel, maybe a different pointer and they are pretty much good to go. They even have gauges with adjustable switch contacts on the front. By the way they are made here in the states, which is nice, and they are pretty reasonable on price. I have asked for some more images of what they have. What do you guys think?

Mark

EDIT:
Here is a shot of what we have started to work on. Military numbers and markings, white tip pointers. Not meant to be mil-ripoffs, just with the feel, and they are new.


Here are the finished prototypes. Should be in production in a couple of weeks:

 

I think an oil pressure gage must have followed me home in '62 when I got out. New in half the box. You want to buy it? They are from 24 volt trucks.

 

i always liked those gauges, I have had several old jeeps over the years.

one thing to keep in mind is that the amp gauge will be 24V, and at least on the 50s-60s era stuff the gauges are not lit (if it matters to you) they were lit from centeral lights on the panel, which are not tough to rig up.

 

The volt gauge catches my eye. I would sell them as they where.

 

That looks awesome I would rock 'em on my rod.

 

They can probably use a different can and light them, being a big company they can mix and match to get the right look and function.
Mark

 

I agree, the military gauge fits perfect in a performance oriented car built right after the war. say later '40s to earlier '50s.

I had a '41 chebby coupe for awhile when I was a kid that had an inline 6 and military gauges upto and including a 6 grand tach. I didn't build it that way someone had done it before I came around. I just got it going after a long nap. I still think that old chebby was pretty cool, in a lot of ways but the gauges made it.

 

They look funny without the Dolphins on them!
Seriously, they look great and the way gauges should be. Tough, durable, accurate, readable.

 

they look like what we always called a "murphy guage" they have built in adjustable settings .If what ever gets to that point it shuts off the engine so there is no damage

 

Sounds the best of both worlds to me.

 

I thought they were pretty cool, do you think a speedo and tach are needed, or just the extra stuff?

 

I think a tach would be cool, but would it be 12V electric?

and can you get a vacuum gauge? some guys are suckers for vacuum...

 

Would love to see a speedo and tach as well!

 

I dig 'em!

I could even see a sixties style ride sporting these....

 

First pressure gauge I've seen that abbreviates pressure with the double S. Why do I suddenly have an image in my head of Gomer Pyle pushing on his jeep's dash???

 

Yeah, they have some dished dial stuff too for marine, could be pretty cool.

Yes, they would be 12V

Mark

 

I'd never heard or seen the Faria name before yesterday. They're in a car Wild West is building for my friend's Grandma - 3 window coupe.
Now I see the Faria name on your post here, and background info on them?

 

They started out with marine gauges in the 50's ....

http://www.faria-instruments.com/about.php

 

Same gauges are still in use today in most US vehicles

 

They have been around quite a while. One of the engineers told me that they used to build gauges for Autometer when Autometer was getting started. They have some high tech stuff too. I will see if I can get images of the entire military lineup and some specs.
Mark

 

nope, the current generation of vehicles we build use electronic gages to work with the computerized engine controls

 

I talked to our sales guy at Faria. He said the Military spec speedos only come in 55 and 85 MPH. We could do dome 100 or 120 MPH mechanicals but the internals would not be military spec. He also said that the mil spec gauges get pretty pricey, I am not sure what pricey is, but I don't think 85MPH is going to cut it.
Whaaddya think?

I was also thinking black bezels instead of olive or tan.

Mark

 

make a good range of gauges in that style. I'm not too concerned with them being military spec, just as long as they look that way and work well.

If you make a boost gauge I'll buy a few of the gauges. just dont make them read up to like 30 psi. 15 is plenty

 

I dig the olive bezels. Are you going to be carrying this line?

 

OK,
I will see what is available. How do you guys feel about the 85 MPH speedometer? We can do a 140 dial that matches, we have those speedos in stock.
The only thing is on the 2-1/16" sets we can only order in box qtys of 24.
As for bezel colors, maybe we get the all in green and we can change the bezel out to order. We can do green, sand, black and stainless. Maybe we can do a "5 star general edition" with stainless bezel and domed glass lenses.

Mark

 

"domed glass lenses" got my attention...

 

Would fit right in with all those RPUs that run bomber seats and an ammo can for a jockey/tool box

 

Everone need to go buy all the old or new military stye guages right now. Once everyone has them mounted in their car we can get on the the next everyone has to get/do this.
God forbid that anyone has an original idea.

 

Here is a shot of what we have been working on. Military look fonts and hash marks, clean, simple. Mechanical speedo. Maybe options of a black/olive bezel with flat glass or stainless bezel with domed lenses for a bit more upscale look. Trying to get these into a good value price zone. Do you guys care about a resettable odometer?
Anyhow, we can also make them look like new, or screen the numbers a touch yellow, like we do on our black Woodward seies so that they don't look too new.
Mark