What tacho did I buy?

[MIOB]

I went to a swap meet today. I'm hoping to start a new project bike soon and swap meets are always fun anyway.

I bought a speedo. It says 'British made' at the front and this code at the back: 7y 17255 a4 1577008

It's quite large (see the euro-coin for scale).

Even if I can't use it, it will look great at my desk, but I am still interested in what bike it came from. It's a bit of a long shot, but maybe someone here knows?

[caponerd]

errmm....

That's a speedometer.

The "font" used for the numbering resembles what Smith's used, but the 7 has a slash through it which suggests that it was made for a European vehicle. The mounting tabs suggest that it wasn't made for a motorcycle, but that's certainly not going to rule it out entirely.

I don't know if the Smith's Chronometric instruments were ever made with a crimped-on bezel, the ones I have (two speedos and a tach) all used a plated brass, screw-on bezel. Other than that, it looks a lot like some version of Chronometric speedometer.

If you could open it up without chewing up the bezel too badly, it would have a very complicated looking clockwork mechanism inside, which operates on a kind of "ratchet" principle. Very clever people, these Englishmen.

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by caponerd

errmm....

That's a speedometer.

I was going to say I can't think of anything british that revs up to 14k... nor have I seen an odometer on a tach.

[MIOB]

Sorry, speedo of course! It has been a long week :)

[east high]

You sure it's from a bike? Looks to me that it has mounts for attaching to the back side of a dashboard.

[MIOB]

Originally Posted by east high

You sure it's from a bike? Looks to me that it has mounts for attaching to the back side of a dashboard.

No I'm not. But the bracket on the right side of the speedo seems to suggest 'bike' to me, in a dashboard, there would not be a reason I can think off for that bracket.


I am hoping to use it on a scrambler project in the future.

[anonny]

Next question is, what units are they.... miles or kilometers?

Looks cool anyways.

[caponerd]

Originally Posted by anonny

Next question is, what units are they.... miles or kilometers?

Looks cool anyways.

Undoubtedly KPH.

That seven with the slash through it says that it was made for the European market, hence kilometers. Besides, when that thing was made (probably late 50's-early 60's, there weren't many vehicles that had any need at all for a speedometer capable of reading 140 mph.

[MODNROD]

A lot of speedo's from 60's and down were designed to bolt in to the dash board panel from behind, hence the little tabs on either side of the unit. If you look at the bezel (front chrome ring) it is stepped, to fit into a recess.

This is a cool game! Guess the car!

I'll have a go........
Plain looking numbers with Euro #7 - German, Czech, French?
140kph speedo, probably 120kph max speed vehicle - 4cyl from the 50's.
Thin stepped bezel - no timber dash, probably steel, so economy model.
No manufacturer stamp on faceplate - not Merc, BMW, Citroen, Peugoet.

Possible early 50's Audi?

(HAHA! I'm so full of crap sometimes!)

[MIOB]

Car or bike speedo, I think it looks great on my Beemer:








A 2 minute job, it is not intended to go on the beemer (and it wouldn't work).

I'll save the speedo for later, thanks for the input!

[caponerd]

You wasted no time fitting that on.

[bpeckm]

Dam!

I think it's worth making it work... sorta like the old Vincent speedos....very retro, very cool!