Primer course on Stepdown speedo-clock faces

Kdancy

While looking for nice speedo and clock for the 52 Wasp sedan, can anyone tell me which ones the factory used that year? I don't know that these are properly labeled.

[Deleted User]

Top row far right. That is the Pacemaker/Wasp speedo. Clock was windup version same decal /silk screen dial flat glass.

Kdancy

Which model does the bottom right with gold center go to?

[Deleted User]

My 51 has that gold centered clock.

[Deleted User]

My 51 has that gold centered clock.

RL Chilton

Yep, bottom row, far right is '51 (and maybe '53). Gold background, came in either wind-up or electric, curved glass, raised letters. Senior cars.

'52 was identical on senior cars, except it had a marbled black face as opposed to the solid black face.

[Deleted User]

Russell, You're right about the 52's having marbled faces but not all of them. There were other 52's that had the standard black ring dial with the buff background. In 53 Hudson went back to the black and buff combo. No more marble. Other than 1952, Hudson only used the marbled background for the 48-9 Commodores stepdowns.

Kdancy

RL, then the bottom row, first one on left, is for Wasp and not Hornet? (labeled 53 Hornet) it looks to me like the same one as the top row far right one that is labeled 52-3 Hudson Wasp.

[Deleted User]

Nope. That one is for a 50 Pacemaker. One year only model.

Kdancy

Okay, I deleted and re-posted that one after re-labeling. So it shuffled up the line up.

[Deleted User]

A lot of the clocks I have looked at still had a date and part number visible on back side. That will make it easy if you check in parts book,
Roger

RL Chilton

Lance-

That's interesting. Are you sure that the ones you saw came from the factory that way? Not that I'm doubting you, 'cause nothing Hudson did would surprise me anymore. Just haven't seen one or heard of that before.

[Deleted User]

I pulled a few off the shelf and took photos. Some had dates ,some did not and only one of these had a part number. Not sure why some were marked and some not, but they are all hard to see,
Roger

[Deleted User]

Russell, Yep some 52's were black rings and had buff backgrounds. Guess they ran out of marble. There are also 2 versions of marble in 1952. One is a very light grey marble. Customers complained they could not read the numbers on the dial. So a darker version came out for better visibility. I think a 54 in marble might have been interesting.

Lee ODell

My 52 has the marble. Since the interrior is blue I assumed the marble was a very dark blue. I'll check it out. It was very difficult reading the numbers at night. After replacing the generator with a 6 volt alternator all the dash lights were much brighter. It was great to see them at night and having much brighter headlights was very much appreciated.

Lee O'Dell

RonS

The numbers on the face were radium coated( Hornets anyway), so a dim light was used to create a glow on the numbers and pointer. Kinda' like the Big Ben alarm clocks. Over the years the half life has waned and the radium is inert and appears to be a greenish color. I wondered if a brighter bulb would help, as it is difficult to see the pointer at night, especially at idle. Although, that does not matter, since the needle is at 0.

[Deleted User]

Ron , believe it or not you can get glow in the dark paint for those dial faces if you are so inclined. I forget who sells the stuff but most likely it's something like a hobby supplier.

RL Chilton

Lance-
Well, that makes sense as I have seen both kinds of the marbleized faces and thought the grayish one was bleached out from light. I have the darker with the light marbleizing for both my cars.

Ron-
Do a search on-line. Glow-in-the dark paint is readily available. We've used it to paint stars on the boys' bedroom ceiling. Personally, I've become fond of the green light.