Projects Save The Gauges

This one’s my first so I don’t even know my parts situation just yet, this one is made by Delco Northeast so that doesn’t help.
I’ll keep you updated when I get it opened up and figure out what’s going on.
You fortunate to own such a beautiful car that is a work of art, congratulations.

 

This thread has my interest as the gauges in my Buicks are in my sights for repair and the temperature gauge will need a longer capillary tube to reach the port on the nail head motor.

 

Williamson’s Instruments in Chester Arkansas can do capillary tubes.

 

Old, but great post that I somehow missed earlier. Years ago, I read an article where a guy was restoring a gauge, might have been a speedo, where the face needed work. He removed the face and scanned it into his computer, fixed the flaws, then printed the face to the right size and installed it.
On another front, I found these grounding lugs on some old abandoned rail cars, and grabbed a few, thinking I might be able to use them for something. I didn't know they were brass until I started buffing them with a buffing wheel. No sanding at all on any of these, and they polished up like mirrors. Looks better than the pix, but you get the idea. I use buffing wheels for all the SS trim on my cars, aluminum and even my wedding band.

 

I kinda forgot about this thread and that I was going to post a pic of my set of glow in the dark gauges. This is the second set I've ended up with. Kinda bad picture but they do have a weird green glow. And no side lights or bulb socket.

 

They're made by AC. You see a lot of them around, but I never saw reference to what sort of senders the electric ones need. They made them with regular white graphics, too, like these....very nice gauges, actually.

 

Is that tach for a right hand drive rod???

Nice panel.

 

Those gauges came with the panel, which was probably intended for the boat crowd, ergo the reverse spin. You have to employ some trick adapter to run it off a car tach drive dizzy. The old Stewart-Warner right angle drives that were used in the 1950's Wings & Large Logo gauges have the ability easily switch the gearing to spin the needle clockwise or counterclockwise. I've seen a couple of hot rod set-ups where they had the speedo on the left, with the needle moving clockwise & the tach on the right moving counter clockwise. Pretty cool.

Yeah, the panel is one off those "G.M. Diesel" or "Detroit Diesel" jobs...one stamped piece...N.O.S. They do have an Art Deco vibe to them, but they were actually made in the 1960's...mainly used for boats & large trucks. The origin is a bit of a mystery, but I believe that AC might have had something to do with the production. Some had "G.M." painted on that upper chrome box area & some did not. They made a larger version, too, similar to the S/W Hollywood panel.

 

Seems reasonable that with no speedo, the panel was not meant for automotive use.

 

I have an AC 80 mph speedo and two tachs. A really grubby 5k and a new in box 2500 rpm job. They are neat.

 

You know, I think an 80 mph speedo and a 5,000 rpm tach would suit me just fine.

 

Very cool, but you have all the cool stuff.

 

Still in love with blues. I have box of more somewhere, I want to make a display like Moriarity!

 

Nice! I may copy you. Looks rad!

 

I'm beginning to see why SW gauges are getting hard to find....... Moriarity has them all!

 

Someday you’ll have quite a collection Mark.

 

Mark, you just need to build 65 more cars, at 5 gauges per car.

 

Here is a SW "Vac-Tach" where I had the tach portion converted to electronic. It was originally two piece so when it was converted the big back piece was eliminated.

 

Dude, you have issues. Do the gauges in the acrylic panels light up?

 

I didn't like most of the ways builders of the '38 & '39 Ford pickup were dealing with gauges. Most were cutting up the dash and adding a flat dash panel so I decided to keep mine mostly stock looking. I pulled them apart and cleaned them up. I removed the thermometer and added a temp gauge as well as changing out the amp gauge for a volt meter so I had to make all new gauge faces. I later added a digital temp gauge that is hidden until the ignition is on. For kicks I reprinted the faces with red faces to match the dash.

 

Here's an odd one I recently stumbled across. It's cast ....and heavy. When the old junky gauges were in it, it weighed in at 14 lbs.! It's chromed, but most of it is gone. It has signs of being from the 1950's or early 1960's, because there are the light holders on the back for the older back lit gauges. It's actually quite nicely done, so I'm thinking it was not a back yard/one-off deal. But, I've never seen another. It's 17" long, which is 2" longer than a S/W Hollywood. Every time you think you've seen it all....

 

That may be from a truck or bus application...

 

I think maybe a boat, as it had two tachs. Plus, the corrosion was indicative of the salt air. The paint slopped on it was latex, which was difficult to remove. What were they thinking?...they even painted the gauge bezels.

 

This is one I've never seen before, a Stewart Warner all brass Navigator panel.