Features Love for Vintage Tachometer design

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Love for Vintage Tachometer design

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I love the traditional S-W and Sun offerings of the day but since working on a couple Sunbeam Tigers I have become a fan of the Smiths & Jaeger gauges. The style/design and function are truly top notch. Lucas wiring....now that's another story

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I just put a restored football tach in my roadster. The right tachomoter...well all gauges in general, are a beautiful thing in a hot rod

 

When I was a kid the hot setup was a Hurst floor-shifter and a Sun tach. That's what the cool guys had. Another popular item was the Rally Pac that was only available on the Mustangs, but there seemed to be quite a few floating around and used on other cars.

 

My old one; a Sun D-3, dated 1947 IIRC;

 

Not rare but my old Dixco off my AV8 circa 1965. Still have it today.

 

I've got a few of the original Sun tachs. No idea if any of them work.
I also bought the newish Sunpro - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sun-fz88r - for a car I'm working on. It's very close in looks to the originals. No clue as to its accuracy.

Mike

 

Here's the original Sun Tach in my Comet, I had the transmitter converted by Williamson's Instrument Service a few years ago.

 

Jones Motrola for race cars....that Moon labelled one is fantastic!

 

Yeah, got one in my pickup. It looks OK, seems pretty accurate but green LEDs not traditional.

 

I think it's safe to assume that we're the guys at the car show that get fixated on some obscure gadget and obsess about it until we get one or 20 of our own,in every conceivable variation.

 

Not HAMB friendly at all, but I want a Stahl/Jones for my falcon so bad!

 

Nice. I want a football and functional sender for my '39.

 

Mmmmmmm Jaeger....I want a black face 5" 8500 tach so bad....


Man, I REALLY do have a tach fetish. Nearly every post on here makes me go "Oh YEA, I WANT one of those!". Maybe I should start some kind of support group!! TachAddictsAnonymous anyone?

 

I have a (too new) Moroso in my Chevy II. I'd trade it for an early Moon, or even a plain Jones, but they seem to be worth way more than the $75 I have in mine.

 

Until about two years ago the Stahls werent real expensive either, but lately they have tripled in price!

 

I really dig the 1960's Faria tachs. They have a great look to them. The old autometers are cool as well.

 

I'd sure like a nice mid-sixties Rotunda tach(made for Ford by Faria), BIG $$$ By the way, theres a Stahl jones/motorola on ebay right now with $999.98 "buy it now". Bet that'll be there for a while...

 

Mine.

 

Regardless of the vintage, is there anything more kool than a mechanical tach bouncing to the cadence of a radical hot rod engine? Or when you zip the Rs up and and down, that little twitch to the needle. Their action has a certain purity to it, doncha think?

 

Here's my sun tach I picked up at a swap meet a while back. Found a NOS transmitter still in the original box. Been working perfect for two years now.

 

Here's my new one

 

I LOVE mechanical tachs, and its nothing to do with nostalgia, I've never been able to get comfy with the whole electronic tach revolution. And yea, needle bounce is kinda cool... I used to love watching the tach at idle on those MP and comp motors in the seventies/eighties.

 

For a good Jones tach check the Hot Rod boat guys sites (dragboatcity.com and such sites). Seems they must have been the hot ticket back-in-the-day because they offer 'em up for sale every now and then.

 

Here's one I recently made for a customer who wanted a little something different. this image is .75 x 2.250 in size and fits into the space on the tach face plate.

Jimbo

 

Cool stuff here.
My optional '65 mercury tach. Hope to have a rotunda tach in it's place someday.

 

Thanks for the tip I'll try that!

 

My Dixco...

 

This one is on eBay right now. It is SW 760 type with a vacuum gauge. The first one I've seen.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121409719834?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT