what tach to use

i'm building a 54 chevy 2 door sedan, and am trying to do a hot rod build that would have been done back in the late 50's to early 60's. my question is what tach(s) would have been used back then? i'm too young to have been there, and don't know too many that were. any help would be great. i could always go with a moon tach, but i'd like to know all my options first.

 

If you had money...a Sun tach and sending unit. A street car on a budget would have a Dixco. I had a Dixco.

 

A few more options you might be able to find-- Offy Tach, California Speedtach, Motorolla Jones MOON tach, and another Motorolla Jones Moon Tach.

 

Vintage Sun "Football" tachs and their senders appear on eBay all the time (e.g., Item No. 320485496519). The senders used batteries that are now almost impossible to get, but you can have them rebuilt for battery-less operation with solid state components by Williamson's Instruments. Hope this helps.

 

so you're saying the senders can be rebuilt, or the gauge itself?

 

Have any of you guys ever used a GCA tach? And if so,where would I get a sender?

 

I was born in 1951. My older brother and his friends used or wanted Sun tachs.

 

Only the sender needs to be rebuilt, but it's a good idea to have the tach calibrated, too. I recently had Williamsons do both for my 6-volt, positive ground flathead Ford V-8. Super folks to deal with.

 

Sun was the one

 

And the prices on the auctions site show it. A decent looking (not guaranteed to work) Sun will bring over a $100.00.
Larry T

 

I am using an Auto Meter Traditional Chrome tach. You can get them from Jeg's amoung others. The tach is electric and has a chrome ring around the face. The face is black and it has a adjustable red pointer. It fits in well with the stock gauges on the car.

 

i like this tach. new inards with an old skool look. that might be the way i lean for now, unless i can get a good deal on an oldie.

 

I like the moon 1/2 sweep tacho as far as a traditional tachos goes but I think they are now on the cheap side{china] anyone here had trouble...........

 

I mounted a smiths tacho on the column on my 54 more door - I built the car like an 18 year old would have in the late 60's. Present owner has returned it to stock - or at least the important bits I did

 

In the 50's and early 60's, there was nothing above a Sun tach - that was it. If you dared to be different there was the Stewart Warner tach, or if you couldn't afford a Sun tach the Dixco models were inexpensive simulations. But to any car crazed kid back then a Dixco tach was like Fenton mags compared to American Torq Thrusts. Of course I was stone broke and didn't have one at all until much later. Here's a old photo of my 54 Chevy in the mid 70's with a Sun football tach mounted on the steering column. The steering wheel and left side hand brake were from a 1950 Oldsmobile. I was lucky enough to find a chrome turn signal bell in the wrecking yard, so I slipped a chrome exhaust extension over the column and had an early version of a chromed column, which also eliminated the shifter mounting holes. The engine was a 283 with a T10 4 speed.



In case you haven't seeb the other recent threads, Sunpro is now making replicas of the early Sun tachs:

http://www.sunpro.com/product_category.php?id=377

 

Those are nice looking repops. But the blue line was late 60's. When the Sun Super was introduced around 64 it had a green line.