Were tachs common on rods in the '50s? I always thought they were more of a '60s thing. Thanks, --louis
… Are you referring to the Column Mounted Tach with Cup? I know they came out at least in the mid 50’s. Some Luxury Cars as far back as the 1930s had Tachs; also some Trucks had low Rev Units back then.
Just wanting to know if tachs were common on hot rods in the '50s. From what you say they were at least available. --louis
In the 1940s a large percentage of the Southern California hot rods had tachometers. Most of the cars running at the Lakes had tachs so the driver could see how fast he was running. The tacks were mostly Stewart-Warner mechanical drive tachs, typically with an angle drive off the crankshaft or, in some cases off the generator. Don
Sun produced the "D" series - aviation style tachs from at least 1946 through the early 50's. Here's a January, 1950 produced Sun D-3 I had in my old Plymouth; Lee Petty ran a Sun "Football" tach in his Dodge during the 1954 NASCAR season;
I think they were pretty common. Stewart warner was making aftermarket tachs in the 40's, i've seen several with date of manufacture in the 1948-53 range, but not any in my price range within my desired rpm range.(banger) You see a fair amount of them in dash board pics as well.
In Pontiac Mich. in the 50s you could buy Sun tachs from guys who worked at the GMC truck plant. A sending unit was 5.00$ and a head was 5.00$
Here's a couple..the first is a Stewart-Warner (not sure of the date) & a Sun D-1. An interesting aspect is that the cases have a smaller diameter than the later tachs. 3-1/8" for the S/W & 3" for the Sun.
Those are pretty cool. Guess most cars didn't rev past 3-4K then so most tachs are in this range. That Sun D-1 would look cool in a comp coupe or roadster. --louis
Yeah, it takes an E-1 transmitter, where ever one can come up with one of those. I suppose 3.5 K would be the cat's meow for a banger or flattie. I have a 5K Sun "football" tach in my '33 & that's plenty enough for the stock 283. I find that red faced AC tach interesting, because I've had this wood grain AC tach for sale here for quite some time. It looks like they're out of the same mold.
That wood grain AC tach is pretty slick but I got to say I like the red one better. You know you people are a corupting influence because I really don't need another obsession like antique gauges. --louis
Come on, Louis! I think you have what it takes...ha-ha. I don't have another build in me, so I've become obsessed with gauges, panels & dashes. Thanks, HAMB. And I like the red one better, too. Maybe he'll make me a trade?
Yeah I have been specing out the dash and gauges for my '50s A build. (The reason for my original question.) Looks like I am leaning towards a Sun football gauge style tach. Thanks, --louis
I have see those generator driven tachs on ebay. It looks like you could pull the motor off the back of the tach and have a cable drive tach. Is that possible?
Williamson's did mine, too, with an EB-1. Took them awhile to figure out 6v positive ground, but they did it.
I have not run that tach yet but I am pretty shure it would be hours. I have a collection of those tachs with and without the meter on the bottom. They are from the early 50's and work good. Gary