Weird Speedo Clock Question..

Ok, Raven61 and I picked up this weird speedo/clock setup from a swap meet and are planning on using it in our low budget 46 Chevy truck we're building. Was curious if any of you guys had an idea what it came out of, I'm guessing some kinda industrial application like a big truck but don't know. It has a ton of miles 176,465 also it has a red light that comes on when you hit 55. Has a cable input on the bottom that will work for us. The clock doesn't work so we were considering mounting a tach there then 2 gauges on either side of it or if we could find a cluster that had Oil, Water, Temp and Gas all in a 3X3 footprint it would fit in where the clock goes. Fixing or replacing the clock is an option too.

Here's some pics..






Here's the interior of the truck now, no dash so we're really open on what we're gonna do to it, the key here is cheap (and good looking). We had considered just cleaning it up filling some holes and leaving this way with the gauges mounted right in the middle. Any ideas?


Thanks,
****O

 

Just answered part of my question with google..

Tachograph
Combined speedometer and clock that records a vehicle’s speed and the length of time the vehicle is moving or stationary. It is used to monitor a truck driver’s working hours.

Still curious if anyone has any other info on it though and opions on how we should use it.
****O

 

The speedo looks like it came out of the late '70s dumptruck/garbage truck I used to maintain for SF. It was Ford with a Louieville cab.

Now onto your dash dilemma. Send me a width, I have some really cool diamond stamped stainless that would be DA'BOMB.

 

****o,

any way you can keep the "tachograph" face and put a tach behind it that only moves the minute hand? in sync with the clock numbers?

 

Used to be real common on big trucks years ago. You would put a round sheet of paper in it and it would draw a line in a circle to track speed and hours at the same time. All electronic now.

 

Robin made a good point a while ago we're thinking of leaving the Patina'ed doors with the Purina logo on the truck so the speedo should fit in on a commercial truck. How were they mounted back in the day? Was it just kind of a bare cab like we have or did they have a regular dash then this was bolted somewhere as an extra?

PorkN****** - I'll try to get some measurements this weekend that would be great.

Atch - Yeah that's kinda what I was thinking I've been gonna do this to the tach in my 53 for a while making it look like the optional dash clock. Hour hand on 5 and the Tach sitting up on 12 with the engine off.

Thanks,
****o

 

The one in the city truck was stuck over where the Ash tray should have been. But I think it was a kind of an afterthought.

 

We mounted them on a bracket on top of the dash. Drivers used to call them an iron foreman.The lock was so the driver couldn't tamper with it. About 1985 trucks started having the capability of getting the same info off the ECM, so tachographs went out of use pretty much. Now days you get the same info with a code reader, and a laptop.I was extracting info on a truck a few months ago, and found it had recorded a speed of 124 miles an hour on the Pennsy Pike somewhere near Summerset Pa last Dec. Glad I wasn't with him

 

Well, it's a Sangamo Tachometer and on the inside of the door, you will find a wind up "T" and in the center will be a post. You mounted a round disc called a tach card on the spindal, wound the clock up and it would record every rpm the engine turned for 24 hours. If you ran over the 24 hours they simply ran over the old marks. Thay also made a speedometer to match with the same abilities. Many of these devices were a "watchdog" on the driver but for many years, I used these as I was paid by the hour and this showed every minute you worked.
Mike at TUFF TIN