The Dick Marchant 1931 Ford was a wonder of ingenuity. He states in this feature that he didn't have the cash to pay for the work done, so he did it himself.
Spectacularly.
He chopped the roof, transplanted a Mercury flathead, and above all, went outside the coloring book lines with his unique dash.
As the label says, it's a 1933 Packard set. These were made by Stewart Warner, and were the traditional 2-5/8" size for the accessory gauges.
They didn't come with a tachometer in that other big opening, they had a clock, and also one option was the radio dial in the middle instead of the radio delete plug.
Here's a great illustration of this Werner Gubitz design...
1933 Packard Dash with Stewart Warner Gauges |
You can see the radio controls smack in the middle. Also the switch to the right is the cigarette lighter (which Dick Marchant converted to the ignition switch in his Ford) and the left is the choke (or throttle).
Harry Steightner had a similar brainstorm for his hand-made roadster built from 1939 Ford parts. He went with the same Packard dash, but slipped in a tachometer where the delete panel was, and used the original Packard speedo.
From Rodding and Restyling magazine, November, 1955 |
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