I know that the topic of tachs has been covered before (I did a search or two) but I didn't quite find what I was after. I'm building my car to fit the '65 - '75 era and was wondering which tachs were available during this period. I imagine that the Sun Super Tach was as well as some Dixcos and various Stewart Warners. Does anyone have any specific model numbers or pics? Were there any tachs from this period that didn't use the external transmitter box as I'd like to avoid using one if possible. When did the Sun Super Tach II come out? What about various VDOs? Anyone got one they want to sell? It's going on a 200 Ford six for the time being - hopefully dropping in a 289 later. Thanks.
I worked in Performance stores in that era,look for RAC,Cal Custom Hawk and Dixco.There is an ebay store with real good prices on things from"back in the day" I bought my gauges and Tach from them.Everything they sell is new old stock,look for Tuscola Trading Company in ebay sellers.
I have a Motorola tach that was on the column of my '70 challenger. I bought it in '93 and it had sat since '86 without running. the previous owner told me most of the custom work was don to the car in the mid seventies, so Im guessing thats when the tach is from. It is kind of plain,but I have never seen onother one like it.
RAC and Dixco were the el cheapos of the era. Sun was the hot ticket with Stewart Warner next in line.
There were some factory cars that still used a cable driven tach. Like some Corvettes had a cable that went from the distributor to the tach and the tach worked like a speedometer. Those tach drive distributors are pretty rare though.
The original owner of my '64 GTO installed an early style Sun tach (the type with a black rectangular sending unit) in it in 1965. A friend's '64 Galaxie (purchased used by him in 1967) had a Faria tach on the steering column.
Corvettes also ran em off the alternator and/or generator too have to ask a vette expert on that, but that opens up a new avenue, cuz i noticed a friends 70's ford tractor was cable driven off of the alternator too
I think that the allure of the Faria was that it was so simple to hook up. The one in my friend's Galaxie simply had two studs. You cut the ignition wire in half, crimped on two terminal ends, and screwed them down on the studs. It always made me wonder about the chance of the tach malfunctioning and causing the engine to sputter to a stop.....at 1:00 a.m. in the middle of nowhere, of course.
Yeah, don't put a grommet on the tach wire going through the firewall and see what happens when the tach wire wears through and grounds out. Not like I ever did that
While we are talking about tachs does any body have a picture of the old big daddy tach, I've been trying to find a pic of the cup itself as I trying to reproduce the look for my t- bucket you know the red, white, and blue strips on it. Thanks
paintcan54, this might work for you... http://www.starsandstripestachs.com/GarlitsDecals.html Also, Jan. 2009 Car Craft did an article on that era tachometer. http://www.zinio.com/pages/CarCraft/Jan-09/313339318/pg-39
Thanks Mumbles that is what i have been looking for. The stars and strips kit is cheaper then what the sign shop here wanted to cut the stars and strips for me. May just buy a new one. Thanks again
The Dixco Big Daddy tach (model 999) was introduced around early to mid 1971 based on some old magazine ads I found this week. The inside back cover of the 1971 Popular Hot Rodding has a full page color ad. I scanned at work today along with a Kustom Headers ad and an Edelbrock ad from late 68 that mentioned my F-427 intake... Cool stuff!
Back in early '67 the 'ol man was fresh outa the Navy with a pocket full of cash and dead set on gettin one of those new Camaros from Chevy. He headed down to the local lots with his dad and picked out one he wanted just when a salesman came walkin up. The sales guy went on and on about how great the new Camaros were when my grandpa spotted a big SALE banner near by. He walked over there and promply called my dad over to look at the great deals on the "old" '66 cars. Well, dad wasn't really into those he wanted a new Camaro but grandpa told him how a totally new car like that would have a lot of bugs to be worked out of em and wouldn't he really want something that wasn't quite as sporty? Well, no he didn't... but that teal green '66 Chevelle looked awful good and was quite a bit cheaper since the new '67 Chevelles were already on the same lot. Some haggling insued between grandpa and the sales guy, a deal was struck and my dad was very happy with his new '66 Chevelle, even though it wasn't a Camaro. The very next day he drove her down to the local speed shop to get a tach for it and show it off a bit to his buddies. That evening he installed the new Sun tach with chrome cup outside on the cowl cuz that's where it really needed to be, not inside the car. Grandpa advised against it, but dad knew better cuz it was a musclecar and that's where the tach belonged. Within 3 days his new tach was stolen off the cowl. Depressed but wanting a tach, dad made his way back to the same speed shop to buy another one. The owner took pity on him and offered to sell him another tach at full price but also a second one at half price. So, he left with 2 tachs, with the extra just in case it was stolen again. That night he installed the new tach on the column and enjoyed it until 1983 when my mom decided to stick it to him by taking his Chevelle in the divorce. Dad removed the tach and tucked it away for a different car. Mom took the Chevelle and promply sold it within a week after the divorce was final. OUCH! Fast forward to 2002 : Dad tells me he found a bunch of stuff in the garage and wonders if I might like to have some of it. Sounds good to me!! While goin though my new treasures I find 2 old Sun tach boxes. Opening the first one reveals a good looking Sun tach with chrome cup and all! The face is a little faded but not too bad. In the second box is a BRAND NEW, never installed Sun tach complete with instructions, hardware still in the little paper bags, stickers, even warranty card and bulb harness!!! Holy crap!!! The tach out of the '66 Chevelle was installed into my '66 Chevy truck and to this day, works perfectly. The "new" Sun tach is pictured below with all the trimmings. I just took the pic so you guys could see how bright the face is and how perfect the chrome on the cup still is. Pretty cool huh? So, to answer yer thread title... This one was available and in the spring of 1967 one guy in Milwaukee Wisconsin bought three of em within a weeks time for a '66 Chevelle.
Wow. I figured I'd get drop kicked into next week for even mentioning that decade. Yes, I'll have window stickers too. I love this forum. I'm gone for a day or two and my thread grows into 2 really useful pages of info and pics. I keep coming back to the Sun Super Tach II, but I'm mainly just finding the modern ones with the plastic housings that look kinda cheap and outta place. Did all of the Sun Super Tach II's have an internal sending unit? I know I'm nit picking, but I want the car to be as era correct as possible - I mean I spent like a month and a half straight looking for Stewart Warner black and white guages I could afford.
Actually,RAC and Cal-Custom Hawk were the cheapos,a lot of the Dixco line at the time was in line with Sun's prices they had several specialty models of Tachs that were pricey compared to the other brands,one thing Dixco quality in the 70's was A-OK in my book when I sold them, I didn't have come backs.
Anytime you use a whole decade in a question you will get mixed answers depending on the part of that decade that the responder is remembering. My memory of the late sixties is that Dixco was a less expensive brand than the Sun and Stewart Warner brands. I can't speak about quality or accuracy but the street jockeys in my area had more Dixco's on their daily drivers while the dedicated racers preferred the more expensive Sun's. I had a Dixco. One that you probably won't see is the Heath Kit tach. It was a build it yourself kit. Heath kit made do it yourself electronic kits for just about anything that was electronic in that era. My buddy has one of the rarest... it's an "Imi-tach" short for imitation tach.... A fake tach just sold to decorate the steering coumn or dash board. We laughed at it when it came out but when he found it 25 years later it was kinda cool just because we could remember it being available. Before you scoff at it... how many of you have ever seen one? If you are concerned about accuracy and shift points, I wouldn't use a tach that is over 30 years old anyway. Even if it works, admit it...it's mostly decoration.
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