Metric speedometer

[Billy Shears]

Has anybody got any idea how rare the metric speedometer is? I've got one in my 1963 Avanti (marked up to 280kmh), which I thought was installed aftermarket, since I have paperwork that came with the car when I bought it that documents an owner taking it from the States to West Germany in 1975. I ordered the build sheet from the Studebaker National Museum, however, and it says the car's destination when ordered was Trieste, Italy, and it was ordered from the factory with a metric speedometer. I've never seen another one of these. Dan Booth, at Nostalgic Motor Cars, had never heard of one either, and he probably knows as much about these cars as anybody.

I don't know whether the car ever made it to Italy or not (I know a lot of people placed orders which they later canceled, because of production delays, so this one might not have got to its intended buyer), though I do know it was in Germany (and it had side marker lights installed just above the rear ends of the front bumpers -- probably to comply with European safety regs). It made it's way back across the Atlantic some years ago (don't know when), and had a California title, even though I bought it in New York City. I'm restoring it, and all the gauge bezels have rust, but the faces are okay. I want to take care of the rust, but I'd like to keep the metric speedometer, just because it's so unusual.

[Gunslinger]

Metric speedometers were listed in the parts manual, so they were inventoried for at least the potential of overseas sales. How many were actually factory installed would be difficult to determine without someone going over the production sheet for every Avanti Studebaker built and making a database to draw from. That would be quite the project, to say the least.

I would expect the number of metric speedometers Studebaker ordered (presumably from Stewart Warner) would be unknown short of someone finding documents such as purchase orders, invoices and inventory sheets...either Studebaker or Stewart Warner. It's possible Studebaker only ordered them when they had a firm order for a car to be exported to a country that required metric. That's sounds unlikely as I would think they wanted a supply in inventory, but who knows? They must have kept some in inventory or they wouldn't have assigned a part number to standardize one.

I can't think of ever seeing an Avanti with a metric speedometer installed, but obviously there was at least one (yours) and possibly more. Outside of any that might have gone to parts depots, I would expect any metric speedometers would have been sold to Avanti Motor Corporation when they purchased all rights and tooling for the Avanti plus all spare parts. Dan Booth purchased the supposedly entire inventory of pre-1987 Avanti parts in the late 1980's. If he never found any of these speedometers than it's likely the supply of them was exhausted prior to that date...if they ever existed at all in any numbers.

[Billy Shears]

Thanks for the reply. I may never know how many of these metric speedometers there were, but at least the build sheet tells me one thing: the mileage (kilometerage?) on my speedometer is probably actual. Prior to getting the build sheet, I had assumed the most likely circumstance was that the owner who shipped it to Germany simply had the speedometer refaced to indicate kilometers rather than miles (there are places that offer such services) -- and the odometer was likely unaltered so it might actually indicate miles. But if this came from the factory that way, the odometer is almost certainly also calibrated in kilometers.

An interesting side effect of this was that I had to explain the history of this car in some detail to a kid I saw admiring it, in order to convince him that it was actually an American vehicle. He had looked through the window at the gauges and saw that speedometer, and what with his never having heard of Studebaker, and the unique appearance of the Avanti, he thought it was a European car.

[1963r2]

I have a NOS metric speedo which I was going to install in my Avanti. Living in Australia it makes sense. I bought it off a friend after he sold his Avanti. He never installed it.

I haven't heard of any others but I'm sure they are around.

pb

[lschuc]

Billy, I was at the SDC & AOAI meet last week in Glendale, Arizona, and saw a 1963 Avanti that an owner brought to the meet from Canada. It had a metric speedometer, so that confirms that there is more than one with a speedometer marked in kilometers. Try calling Andy Beckman at the Studebaker National Museum to see if he can research your car further.

Lew

[mox]

I have a metric speedometer in my 63 Avanti. I have had the car since 1970 and when I got it there was a 140 mph in it as it was originally sold in the U.S. I live in Canada and when we switched to metric here in 1976 I noticed there was a part # for a metric speedometer in the parts book. On a trip to Avanti Motors around 1978 I inquired if the part was available and it was in their inventory so I bought one and installed it a few years later. I have never seen another Avanti with one installed but it sounds like there are others out there. The speedo must have come over from Studebaker when all the parts were sold but who knows how many there were. It is identical to the mph speedo face and registers up to 280 kph. I can't remember how much I paid but I know it could not have been expensive or I would not have bought it. I'm sure Avanti motors were happy to sell these as they must have considered them a slow moving item.

[mox]

I looked up a 1974 Avanti Motors price book I still had and it lists the metric speedometer available at $28.15. Part # is 1557108.

[1963r2]

To add to the metric speedo topic, I was looking at some photo's yesterday and noticed another friend of mine has a metric speedo in his 63.

I haven't seen him to ask about it's originality but it looks to be an older installation. The car was converted to RHD some time ago and may have been installed then, however the car was purchased out of Hong Kong so maybe it has been there for some time.

pb

[1963r2]

FYI Billy

There is currently an Avanti on ebay that has a metric speedo and was also delivered to Italy.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Studebaker-Avanti-R2-1963-STUDEBAKER-AVANTI-R2-SUPERCHARGED-STICK-SHIFT-/250666502193?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a5ce34831

pb