At an estate sale of a family friend, I came up with a really odd piece of automotive history. I have NEVER seen anything like it. Have you? It's a lighted SMOKING TRAY, which has been made from all Delco-Remy auto parts. See Below: It was built as a retirement tribute for someone named Fred Hardman, and the little plaque on back is dated Sept 21, 1951. Someone put a LOT of time and craftsmanship into making this thing. The little ash tray at right front is sitting on a copper armature, and I believe that the chrome tray itself is the end cap off of an electronic component. The main upright body of this display is a generator housing, with a Delco ignition switch which turns on the lamp overhead. And of course the ignition switch features a removable and working GM ignition key! </O> <O The "lamp shade" has been made from a Bakelite housing cover for a heavy duty relay or voltage regulator, and has the words, "Delco Remy" in bold raised letters. The shade is painted white on the inside for reflection, and it is mounted on fittings which allow it to be pivoted up and down. The tubing which holds the shade upright is precision-bent, so that both sides are exactly the same. The lower portion of the tubing is larger diameter tubes to properly fit the mounting-bolt-holes of the generator. Then these larger tubes are swaged down to fit snugly over the smaller tubing at the top. It looks like this tubing arrangement may have "telescoped" at one time, to allow raising and lowering the lamp shade height. But it is stuck now, and I was reluctant to pull on it too firmly. In the left front corner of this little tray is a heavy-duty Delco-Remy ignition coil, with finned aluminum body. They set it up so that the coil tower operates as a lid for the coil body, which serves as a cigarette or match holder. The chrome-plated "handles" on this tray appear to be automotive components also, pulled right from the parts bin and plated for appearance. I believe that they may be internal components for tube-type shock absorbers. <O </O <OSo there you have it. It's an oddball, for sure. And someone put a LOT of time into making this thing. I presume that Fred Hardman must have been an important guy, and this was his retirement gift, made by a tool and die dept. I plan to clean it up a bit, and try to research its history. I have seen little retirement displays made from factory products before, but NOTHING to the degree of this thing. Have you??</O
Now that is very cool! It's finds like that which make going to estate sales so much fun. I like the "PATENT APPLIED FOR" at the bottom of the plaque.
Hmmm...maybe so...but they are hollow stamped steel, threaded on one end. I was thinking that most armature shafts which I have seen were made of solid stock? But I'm no expert on armatures or electrical components.
Interesting piece. The lamp shade is the voltage regulator cover for a Military 24 volt charging system generic to most vehicles of that era.
Someone liked old Fred ,for sure Very cool ,lots of time and though when into making that... A old style gag gift ? maybe ?
As an afterthought, I plugged it in this afternoon. And sure enough, the key switch still operates the light bulb perfectly. LOL.
I was wrong about these, when I reported them as hollow steel tubes. They are solid steel, chrome plated. So Gas Pumper is probably right; they are armature shaft blanks. Good eye!
Since the piece was made at Delco-Remy, those are not likely to be shock absorber parts. Delco Remy made ignition/starting/generating system parts in Anderson, IN. Delco Products made shock absorbers in Dayton, OH.
Yeah, I have wondered about the connection. Here in Dayton, OH, we had about 11 GM plants at one time, and several of them were "DELCO." But none were Delco-Remy. Yet The girl whose family's estate I bought this from was sure that her dad had gotten it directly from Fred's estate, right down the street in the upscale Dayton suburb where they all lived. Was it mere coincidence that Fred may have retired and moved here? Who knows?
Found a reference to a Dr Fred Hardman of Delco Remy in the Chester Wisconsin Times dated 26 May 1947 - article was unreadable though. There's also some obituary reference to someone who may have been his widow dying in Anderson in 2009. Lots of related Hardmans working for Delco Remy in various geneology sites. I bet someone in one of those towns will remember him.
When I came into the industry as a "pup", it wasn't unusual for the team to make up special mementos for a coworker's retirement. It was more of a family environment back in those days & special things like this let the retiree know he/she would be missed by those left behind. These things happen much more infrequently these days, but are still referred to as "Goverment Jobs", which help ***ign the priority back in the shops. I've seen some pretty novel creations over the years, that had a LOT of time invested in them by Engrs & Techs. (esp if it was a big-wig retiring) REALLY cool score tho...
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