Ryan, thanks for the 29 Chevy panel,now i wish i hadn't traded mine to a restorer. And this other is from a Kaiser Darrin(the one with sliding doors)
This is going in my 32 truck. REO wolverine gauge panel. not sure if Ill try and restore the speedo, or mount the speedo elsewhere and use the funny shaped hole for switches/warning lights, the round holes will have SW block gauges.
I'm rebuilding mine right now, it's gonna look sweet. Haven't decided what to use for the mounting oval yet, I may keep the original but brushed stainless is more likely. I love the original gauges. They are on ebay all the time, you can always go back, thats where I got spare parts from.
Ryan you've done it again. I certainly recommend the book mentioned earlier. You would love it. The dash you thought was Bugatti is I think Talbot going by the far left gauge. Bugatti nearly always had a engine turned dash. What does have me curious is the the Tach seems later. It is very small for that era and the adjustable tell tale also points to later. Going by the material on the seat the silver car is Mercedes mid 50's. Mercedes, Porsche and BMW have always been leaders in dash design and if you look at a mid 60's dash and a late model one they have changed very little and most controls are in the same place. I suspect it is one of the reasons they have such good customer loyalty. When you update you immediately feel familiar with the car. The other thing they do well is making switches etc feel great to use. This is one of the areas where MB cocked it up in the mid 90's when they lowered the quality. I sold a 92 190E 2.6 and bought a 98 C280 and hated it because the indicator switch felt cheap and nasty (Japanese). It pissed me so much I sold the car and bought a 94 E320 Coupe which was the last built before they dumbed down. In the mid 90's Fiat bought out a lovely Coupe with a very simple painted dash and it looked stunning.
Ryan, I know that you are a book collector.........have you seen the book "Dashboards, by David Holland". Jen bought it for me a couple of years back for a gift, and it has a TON of photos and descriptions of the cars dashboards in it. 'Dashboard n. a board or leather apron in front of the vehicle, to prevent mud or stones from being splashed or flung up upon the interior.' Chris I guess that I should have read the post first.........the first reply was for the book........now I feel like a fool. Oh well.
Always liked the gauge panel in Alan Button's 32 3w. Looks very classy in the car. Pretty neat idea with the needles making the V8....
A few from Pebble Beach this year 32 Chrysler Imperial 35 Auburn 38 Peugeot ok - not an I.P., but cool from a pre-war Sunbeam race car 34 Packard 29 Ruxton L-29 Cord
What is really amazing about thses mercedes is that this is the quality standard to which they were built,it's not a chainer restorers take on it. The bottom part with switches is a die casting and the panel are all one peice. The 300SL roadster was equally lush inside ,this is one next door to me.
The Studebaker Silver Hawks were simplicity at its best during an era of garish, ostentatious, many times ugly dashes of the late 50's American cars. A simple engine-turned panel with S-W's in front of the driver. For homebuilt panels, gauge placement is critical in order to "pull it off". Too far apart or too close together can ruin an otherwise good looking dash panel. Yeh! The Mercedes has it - it is pleasing to the eye.
Grabbed the wrong pict for the L-29 Cord, here's what it really looks like. and for a bonus, a 37 Delahaye and the Blitzen Benz
Fuel sight glass in the lead in photo looks very similar to those used on EMD GP series locomotive fuel tanks. Probably from same supplier and used on quite a variety of equipment over the years. Keep both sides of the glass clean and they are much easier to read. Remove the inner ring to take out the glass for backside cleaning [make sure the fuel level is below the level of the sight glass before removing if the gauge isn't valved].
I've only just seen this post as I was in Hospital with Pneumonia this past week. Dodge Special Bugatti Can't remember Maybach Special Delage Terraplane (?) Special my absolute Favourites 1954 Alfa Romeo & Talbot Lago Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Coupe
Here's a pic of the aluminum dash I've made for my model A...it's not quite finished, still needs a switches etc. I made a hammer form from some plywood to get the right shape.
Just got this off eBay gonna use it in my 1927 REO coupe (even though it is not the wolverine model).
The Jalopy Journal
