Thursday, July 24, 2025

It took some time today, but I successfully mounted my Autometer 3-gauge panel below the glove compartment door on my 55 Chevy wagon.

The new Autometer gauge cluster — consisting of the water temp, oil pressure and voltmeter — looks great under the dash. I prefer the 2-5/8-inch gauges. I have both the oil pressure and water temp gauges hooked up and working; I only need to find a key-switched 12V line for the voltmeter.

I have an Autometer vacuum gauge I’ve considering putting in place of the voltmeter in the panel. Hell, I can generally tell if my voltage is low, especially with a modern alternator. The vacuum gauge is a handier addition to my engine gauges.

The original 2 inch gauges worked, but just never liked how small they are. The water temp never got about 180 degrees on that gauge, and I’m curious how well the newer gauge is going to track the temperature.

HELPFUL GAUGE-MOUNTING HINT. On the original SunPro gauge set,, there were four mounting holes in the bezel. If you had your holes drilled correctly, you could secure the bezel — with gauges installed — under the dash and leave all the gauges installed.

Fast forward to my Autometer bezel. There are three mounting holes — one on each end and one in the middle. The problem is that you can’t get a screwdriver on a fastener in either of the three attachment points. To mount the bezel, I had to remove all three gauges. Once that was done, I could line up the bezel with the first hole and sheet metal screw and then drill the two additional holes and complete attaching the bezel. Once that was accomplished, I had to run the water temp line thru the bezel and then out thru the firewall and ultimately, screwed into the cylinder head port.

The oil pressure line had to be disconnected and then threaded through the bezel and re-attached to the oil pressure gauge.

As I mentioned earlier, the only thing to connect now is the voltmeter. For that I need to locate a switched 12 v line. I also need to replace the mounting brackets on the back of each gauge and tighten them securely.

GAUGES ON MY 55 2DR HARDTOP CIRCA 1979. I’m not sure what brand the two gauge unit I had in my first 55 Chevy was, but the gauges were on the order of three inches. Water temp and oil pressure. The water temp line had been crimped and no longer worked; the oil pressure was just fine.

Eventually — about the time I had the car painted — I preplaced the existing gauges with a three-gauge cluster courtesy of J.C. Whitney. What made these gauges unique was that the bezel on each gauge had a built-in angle; the face of each gauge could be adjusted so it tilted toward the driver in a more straightforward manner.

The gauges were mounted under the glovebox, but with the adjustable angle, the face of each gauge could be adjust to better face the driver. It was a pretty cool setup. I think on my 55 Hardtop I had four gauges — oil pressure,, water temp, voltage and vacuum.

Just for kicks, I’ve purchased a couple of 1980s era J.C. Whitney catalogs. I bought a lot of parts for my 350 SBC, including gaskets, carpet, vinyl dye, and other items.

UPCOMING EVENTS. This Saturday, the Whiskey City Cruisers have been invited to the St. Thomas Picnic. Mass is at 4 p.m., and so my wife and I will likely try to get there about 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, the next day, is the Whiskey City Cruisers monthly cruise. It takes place in the parking lot of Buzicks Lumber and Home Center.

I feel like we could probably have more space at one of the local school’s parking lot on a Saturday or Sunday. The former site was the parking lot at Old Kentucky Home Shopping Center, but the owners told us we needed to leave after a car club for younger adults had their event there without even asking permission.

The Buzick’s site is good because its highly visible, but it doesn’t have the highest visibility. The downside is that we can only use the site on a Sunday — no Saturday access.

I’ve talked to Jim, who is one of the main promoters of the club on Facebook about invited a food truck. That idea’s pretty much been nixed.

Another thing we really could use is a large banner that we could place in front of Buzicks parking lot, letting people know we are there. Anyway, they’re just ideas.

A guy who owned a fine looking 55 Chevy, Paul Gritton, was the original engine that made things happen with the cruisers. Hell, they had a stage (flat bed trailer) and had 50/50 drawings, door prizes and more. We need another Paul, but no one wants to stick their neck out.

I’m basically a relative newcomer, I don’t have the reputation or the trust of other cruisers to make suggestions as radical as Paul made years ago.

WEATHER PLEASE COOPERATE! There’s something like a 40 percent chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, so I suppose I’ll play it by ear. I hope to make both events, but we’ll see. Have have video and pix from both events, Lord willing!

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