Technical 1234

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I bought a new one some yrs. back for off road desert use. It came with instructions & two adjustment screws 90 deg. apart. It refused to work right, finally threw it away. Only worked if I hand held it & had it outside my truck. I see a bunch on Ebay under 'Vintage Auto Compass'. Been tempted to try one of them. Good Luck.

 

I like the aircraft style, top of panel mount(dashboard)

I see them on ebay frequently.

 

Dont know about quality between brands......but bought 2 different vintages on Epay, and my firend got one,and they function great. Trouble is location....on one car it goes straight on, on another it get to much magnetic interference. One other thing...on my 50´Fleetline i had to get a lot of adjustment to get it right, the adjustments just needed fractions of an inch to get wrong, and just spinning of interference.
Hull compass, Caddy original assy. compass, Airway compass. The Hull was the troublesome, the two others looks similar (Airway), and was pretty easy to install/adjust.

 

The only people that had compasses on their dash board in the 60s were the weird old guy around the corner that wore the plastic pocket protectors. There was not a single self respecting hot rodder that would put one on his dash...at least in my neck of the woods. The term nerd comes to mind. A tachometer sure... a compass...not unless you had a very thick skin.

I remember them well. I've seen some great prices on them over the many years since then but I never could get myself to buy one. I admit that I thought about it but I held on and passed on them. It's not a sin to think about it - is it?

 

" It's not a sin to think about it - is it?"

He better hope it's not a sin 'cause you know he's got a Jesus statue on the dash (tee-hee).

My grandad used to have a big old round top compass on the dash of his 50 Plymouth 4 door.

I bet that big old compass would have been all outa whack after jumpin' all the speed bumps at the Mo, huh Tommy?

 

I always thought a compass was sort of neerdy too, until had a pt cruiser for a while (that's neerdy too - I know). That came with a factory compass that worked perfect and it really was handy. I bought a cheap one at autozone for my Ranger - put it in one day and threw it out the window the next. I don't care how neerdy they are - if I could find one that worked, I'd get it.

 

Try a marine store. They usually have a good selection of compasses, or is that compi in nerdsville ?

 

Back in the late 60'S I worked at a Chevy dealership and about everyother trade-in had a compass on the dash............We would take them off and toss 'em. Never saved one.

 

I always wondered why anyone would want a compass. On cars that only go from home to work, store, bar. And in the NE, the roads are never straight anyway. Nobody in NJ was blazing a trail across the Rockies. Plenty of them came into the Station I worked at, too.

 

Should have saved some, maybe.... sold them to hot rodders

Presuming to comment on someone else's 'self respect' is quite pompous, hot rodder on no. Is it possible that you are (simply) remembering what you thought about the old guy around the corner when you were a kid?

It was about fifty years ago; a gal that I was running with had a '37 Terraplane Coupe and I viewed the old aircraft compass on her dashboard as cool. That same car (today)with appropriate horsepower under the hood would be a bitchin' hot rod, with or without the compass.

 

My grandpa had a compass in his car.

I agree, it was an old man thing.

 

Probably in the 50s when I was a kid but he mentioned the 60s and I was building hot rods by then. They were a lot more popular (as I recall) in the 50s than in the 60s, especially to the hot rodders that I knew and palled around with. The peer pressure of the 60s (in my area) would be tough to endure if you had a compass on your dash board at the Mighty Mo. Is it pompous to try to accurately relay the majority opinions of the day? I try not to have selective memory. I can't think of a single car that I admired in the 60s that ran one. Not one.

They sold millions of them. We used to call them "do-dads". J.C. Whitney had all kinds of do-dads for your car but in my neck of the woods, guages were the only accepted add ons for the dash board in a hotrod. That's how it was.

I can only speak for my personal experiences. If that's pompous then so be it.

 

I think the tissue box covers went along with the compass. I almost forgot dont leave out the sunvisor extension.

 

My grandfather had one in his car for years and the design never changed much. I have a cheap one in my van for adventuring in unfamiliar territory but it took a long time to find a place to stick it where it would work without interference from something - it ended up on the vent window glass.

 

My son got me one once put it on the dash of my 80 Ford 1/2 worked fine until you turned the key on Best to watch the sun or the moss on the north side of trees

 

This came out of a 63 Impala SS we had when I was a kid.

 

You are right in that regard, the way you now put it, speaking from personal experience.

I think you mis-read my comment. Your statement: "There was not a single self respecting hot rodder that would put one on his dash........................." I'm saying that part of your statement is pompous.

 

As far as building a hot rod according to 'peer pressure of the day'. ???

I loath the very thought.

 

I want to use this one I picked up. It states that it is for High Speed Craft only. Haven't been able to find out much about it. It has wires so I assume it has a lighting capability. Anybody know anything about this one.

 

I've seen period ones that were apparently factory, too, one yard had a '61 Bel Air 4dr come in that had one on the dash with a Chevy bow-tie cast right into it. That might not be a bad piece for OP's truck -

 

you pompous arrogant pea brain i am a rodder and i am looking for one also because as of this moment they are extremely cool, what a little girl you are r

 

one of the funnier statements I've read on the HAMB

 

the reason old men use them is they had enough brains to use them and not get lost. what about a umbrella? only nerds carry them. you can spot all the cool people in a rain storm soaking wet running with their hands over their head. i would not get a cheap one that looks cheap, woogeroo. several of the pictures on here would look good in your truck.

 

its funny because just today i was on ebay looking for one, after the nerd comment I am definitely going to get one, my granddad had one on his dash of his 60s buick, I think they also had a small light in them, look great at night, gauges of any sort are good, especially the ones that are oil filled. R