Author Topic: Vintage tachometer Possibly Kaiser 1950s 1953  (Read 718 times)

jake

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Vintage tachometer Possibly Kaiser 1950s 1953
« on: January 15, 2016, 09:43:07 PM »
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« Last Edit: June 21, 2018, 10:47:58 PM by jake »
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OLDNMKFR

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Re: Vintage tachometer Possibly Kaiser 1950s 1953
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2016, 09:48:03 PM »
Having had one years ago, it is almosr certainly off of a 1954 Kaiser Darrin.
Current Family:
2017 Toyota IM
2003 Toyota Corolla
1997 Buck Skylark Custom
1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible (440 TNT)
Former Family:
1954 Kaiser Manhattan
1954 Kaiser Darrin #137
1948 Kaiser
1951 Kaiser 4 dr w/overdrive

OLDNMKFR

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Re: Vintage tachometer Possibly Kaiser 1950s 1953
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2016, 03:47:43 PM »
As an interesting side note to the Darrin 'tach' used in my car and i assume used in all of them! I had occasion to take it apart once and discovered that the mechanism inside  was a 1950-1951 Frazer speedometer head that still had the holes in the frame for the gears and shaft to drive the odometer and to hold the odometer cylinder which of course had been left out. The plastic faceplate is custom made and is a different color as is the color of the speedometer metal face but the case, the needle and internals were nothing special. I always thought that Kaiser was a master of improvisation since all the instruments were based on the 50-51 Frazer and looked really impressive at night.

When the windshield broke and NONE were available at the time it required only slight modifications to fit a windshield from I believe a 1953 Oldsmobile without doing much changing except to modify the dash. The 12 volt starter was taken from a Buick straight eight if I remember rightly with the nose piece from the Darrin that fit right on it with only a new hole drilled for the locating pin. That was all it took and would it ever crank that little 161 over. Back in the day, Darrin reproduced parts didn't exist and the newbies have no idea what an advantage the Manufacturing Fund and vendors are.
Old member #511

Current Family:
2017 Toyota IM
2003 Toyota Corolla
1997 Buck Skylark Custom
1966 Chrysler 300 Convertible (440 TNT)
Former Family:
1954 Kaiser Manhattan
1954 Kaiser Darrin #137
1948 Kaiser
1951 Kaiser 4 dr w/overdrive