The cruising through the Auction Site and came across this Smiths 6 gauge set for $40.95 with free shipping from India. Seems to me that shipping alone for any decent 6 gauge would be more than the purchase price. Obviously the quality can't be worth a crap. Did Smiths sell the name to a company in India. I'm not in the market for gauges but I'm curious about these. They look pretty nice in the photos but we all know about photos. Anyone have thoughts and/or experience with these gauges? Smiths Replica Kit- Elec Temp + Oil + Fuel + Amp Gauge+Speedometer +Tacho 100 mm | eBay
I like the look of the amp and fuel. too bad water and oil dont match. A few years ago I got messed up with some guy who was importing motorcycles from there and flipping them here. I repainted a few. Gobs of what seemed to be peanut butter over dents. Nothing catylized or ever got hard. Couldnt even put primer or sealer over them. dripping bronze patches over rust holes. Made them look as good as I could, the guy bitched. I told him find a new painter. His buiness plan went tits up
My guess is they are all plastic with very cheap lettering. I bought a cheap princess auto ( harbour freight) tach years ago looked like an auto meter white face with shift light . mall plastic very light and when it would work you could hear the gears or what ever inside buzzing and clicking !!! Lasted about a year for $14.99 ya get what ya pay for!
Not sure I'd want to convert to Centigrade for temperature, and not sure anything I own doesn't go over 50 psi oil pressure on occasion. Wonder how long they'd last?
I can look at a picture in a magazine and come up explanations out the YoYo for why I like it, or why I don't. Science is a different tiger to grab by the tail, though. My suggestion is for those who really want to know about these gauges to pool their resources and buy a set and pass them around for a real honest looksee, then for someone who actually has a running engine to hook them up and check out what happens. As in betting, someone needs to hold the money and do the deal, I'm in Five Bucks just to see what's what, since I have always thought the old English versions of Smiths that I had in an older Jag I owned and then didn't on account of my granny, were full tits. So here's the deal. Come up with a plan, an address to send the money and let's see what this is for real and not gab about it like a bunch of school kids looking at the ads in the back of a comic book.
Since you can’t buy a decent speedometer OR tachometer for anywhere near $40.95 my guess is that you’d get JUNK.
At one time Smiths was as ubiquitous on British cars as S-W was here, maybe even more so. Used as OEM on a lot of sports cars like Jaguar, AC, MG, Aston Martin and even the Ford GT, plus British motorcycles. And like S-W, they no doubt offshored production to cut costs. This looks like it may be a warehouse-cleaning set as these aren't quite a matched set; somebody may have gotten a real deal on discontinued/overstock bits and this was as close as they could get. A ammeter only rated for 20 amps?
Maybe they are selling a photo of the gauges, not the actual gauges. But I agree with Fortynut. Buy them and see. $41 won't send you to the poor farm. I hope!
Smiths sold their automotive division to Lucas in the 80s, who in turn sold it to VDO. VDO decided to stop operations and it was acquired by CAI which is listed as the maker today. I have no idea if they are outsourced.
Several different sellers have them listed on the bay. They come in several different colors and one set with both an ammeter and a volt meter. Go figure. Maybe someone will order them and report back. But as said I'm not in the market for gauges so it won't be me.
I’ve made a conscientious decision to avoid all things made in communist China. India might be another story, but best to buy American/ Canadian.
I've seen these too, my guess is they are patterned after the Smiths gauges for Cobras and they are a cheap reproduction for Cobra kit cars, some even come with the reversed speedo needle like a Cobra does. I have a wrecked Jag XK-E I want to rebuild and I looked at these very same gauges. Speedo and tach dials are a bit small for my use but the price is really right and the rest look good. I'd guess they're all plastic, but if they work and if they look even close to how they look in a picture they're a great bargain. If someone gets these, I would love a review on them, if they're even half assed decent, I'll grab a set right away in case they go out of production. I figure worst-case scenario, I could reuse the Smiths faces on a different set of gauges. I don't believe everything made outside of the USA is automatically junk (and that all US made stuff is great) and I also don't believe that something simple like these gauges could not possibly be made cheaply. Not saying I'm sure they're great, just saying, I'd like to see a set up close and judge for myself.
I've used the Pricol brand which I think are made in India for the last 25 years mainly because they look like the original Smiths stuff but about half the price. Haven't had an issue with any of them yet. I only use capillary type for oil and temp so can't comment on the electrical sender type. Mine are black face, white pointer.
I bought a pair of these India- made Smiths gauges as I had a leaking Smiths (U.K.) oil pressure gauge. I have installed only the oil pressure gauge, it looks like it is made well, but the face doesn't look as "classy" as the original., and doesn't quite match the original black-face jobs. It seems to work OK, but it has only been in service for a few months. Turned out that I repaired the original U.K. Smiths gauge, it was a leak in the inlet sealing olive, which dribbled into the gauge, and would weep out the bottom of the face, down the dash. At least I have a good spare, if and when the other one craps itself.
As I mentioned earlier, Smiths is owned by CAI, Caerbont Automotive Instruments. They are based in Wales not India. My guess is that they are outsourced if legitimate or illegal knockoffs.
A coworker bought one of them modern Indian Royal Enfield motorcycles in the last few months, and seems happy with it. Maybe made in India quality has improved.
I'll pass on chipping in a few bucks to "test" the quality. I think I'll have a fast-food snack instead.
Maybe the PSI marking means "per square inch" instead of "pound-force per square inch", and the gauge increments are KG PSI. 50KG = 110 LB But why would you mix inches and kilos? I'm so confused. I've got a box full of old Stewart Warner stuff, so will just stick with that as long as I can.
As far as things made in India, I discovered online an automatic clutch mechanism that is available in India. They make these kits because automatic transmissions are expensive there. I would love to get my hands on one of these units since my wife does not want to try driving a standard transmission. Made in India may not be such a bad thing.
What good is a gauge that only goes to 20 amps? Unless you have a stock 1920's car. In which case the original gauge probably still works correctly.
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