I thinking of using this gauge in my roadster, but I was wondering if anyone knew anything more about this gauge? I know it is out of a Hudson Terraplane, but what year is it? What are the dummy lights for? Thanks, Tanner
I got one like that says Hudson. It has another piece that holds the head light switch and starter button.
Yep, the 1932 cars from Hudson Motor Car Co. were the first cars in the US auto industry that had oil and amp red lights on the dash board. Lets admit it, you gotta watch the road and can't read the gauges all the time but if a RED LIGHT comes on, you will know INSTANTLY that you have a problem.
Okay, what yeat was the first real Hudson made? All i remember about Hudson was the "upside-down bathtub" Hudsons of the 50's.Ha d a BIG 6, flathead, beat everthing on the road!!
Or Gen and Oil lights idiots. Someone mentioned the lines of the terraplane, absolutely correct, beautiful cars excellent custom fodder or a perfect candidate for an american sports car concept.
The first application of a flashing electric turn signal was used on the 1938 Buick as a new safety feature. It was advertised by Buick as the Flash-Way Directional Signal. By 1940, Buick added the self-canceling mechanism attached to the steering column. This complex and sensitive mechanical method of springs, cams, sliders and lobes with fixed shut-off points is still used worldwide in virtually all vehicles. This was indeed an ingenious solution in 1940 and has worked well enough to get by for many years. So much for JohnEvans "33 Essix/Terraplane" that had both....
As an owner of a '34 Terraplane, I'll post up an amen to most of that but not about to rod or customize my original survivor. The factory fender skirt option is custom enough.
The mystery idiot lights have a letter "A" in one and a "C" in the other if you look closely at the picture. That would probably rule out turn signal indicators.
Here is a link to a 1936 Terraplane owners manual. Check out page 8. The drawing says the lights are "generator signal" and "oil signal". http://hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1936/1936TerraplaneOwnersManual.pdf Looks like a slightly different gauge cluster, but I would think the lights are the same?
Hudson and Terraplane all cars have splash oiler engines (up until the '48 sixes and the 8 cylinder stayed splash through '52). So the oil pump is putting out around 3.5 pounds pressure keeping the rod dipper tray full. It would be totally impractical to have an oil pressure gauge but the driver does quickly need to recognize any failure of the pump to fill the tray that the rods are passing through with each engine revolution. A dash red light, starting with the '32 cars was the answer. Similarly, any time the battery was being discharged because of generator failure, slipping belt or electrical short /problem, the other red dash light would come on. So if the driver saw a red light at idle at a stop sign, no big deal (we've all seen similar discharge on a gauge) but if that light did not go out with more rpm, he knew immediately he had a problem.
The Jalopy Journal
