NC-car-guy Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 Were these an option in 55? . I see lots on Caddys and a few on Olds. I feel like back in the 90's I saw an early 50's roadmaster with one.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted April 21, 2016 Share Posted April 21, 2016 (edited) Retracting my comment from below, since I cannot back this up with factory literature and I believe that I may be incorrect. Retracted: Matthew, the Autronic Eye was offered on Buick from 1953 - 1959. Beginning with the 1960 models, the system changed to the "Guidematic" with its smaller, more slender dash-top unit. Edited April 24, 2016 by Centurion Correction needed. (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fr. Buick Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 I don't think I've ever seen one on the mid-50s Buicks. After a quick look through my '54 sales literature, and I don't even see it listed. One reason comes to mind: Where in the word would that big relay box go on the left inner fender? Maybe there just wasn't any room!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1953mack Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 (edited) On 4/21/2016 at 11:38 AM, Centurion said: ...the Autronic Eye was offered on Buick from 1953 - 1959. Beginning with the 1960 models, the system changed to the "Guidematic" with its smaller, more slender dash-top unit. #1. I would be interested in finding out what Buick document (not a GUIDE LAMP advertisement) you got your information from that Buick offered the Autronic-Eye accessory starting in 1953. #2. How do you explain the fact that Buick advertised that 1953-1954 Buick Skylarks came completely equipped at no extra charge and there are probably less than five Skylarks that I know of and are listed in my recently-published 1953-1954 BUICK SKYLARK OWNERS REGISTRY that have the Autronic-Eye? The Autronic-Eye was introduced on select Oldsmobile and Cadillac Models starting in 1952. The reason why the problematic Autronic-Eye was discontinued and the "system" was improved to the Guidematic is because they had continual erratic problems and no way to manually adjust the photocell sensitivity. Al Malachowski BCA #8965 "500 Miles West of Flint" Edited April 23, 2016 by 1953mack (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 Having grown up driving Dad's '64 Caddy with Autronic Eye I have to say I wasn't impressed. Generally more trouble than it was worth, even with the adjusting knob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RivNut Posted April 23, 2016 Share Posted April 23, 2016 I have the GuideMatic on my '63 Riviera. I turned it off because I couldn't adjust it so that it was sensitive enough to pick up the headlights of the oncoming cars at a good distance but not so sensitive that driving under street lamps would cause it to function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted April 24, 2016 Share Posted April 24, 2016 Fr. Buick and 1953Mack, I will retract my statement above. I cannot base my comment on factory literature. This is simply what I had been told at some point, and I thought I had seen the Autronic Eye on Buicks as far back as 1953. But you are correct that they are simply not seen on Buicks from at least the 1954 - 1956 time period. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBulldogMiller55Buick Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 On 4/21/2016 at 9:27 AM, wndsofchng06 said: Were these an option in 55? . no 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fr. Buick Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Wow, look what I just found... A very late 1954 add, that mentions only Olds and Caddy. It certainly confirms the issue for Buicks in 1954, and weren't the 55s already out by November of 1954? It continues to amaze me how much advertising and promotion GM did in this era... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 Good find Monsignor! I sure wish there was an equivalent of this system today on all cars, especially on the pickup trucks, which all seem to have extra lights in every corner and fools showing them all off every night. I apologize for the digression from the original intent of this thread. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1953mack Posted April 25, 2016 Share Posted April 25, 2016 10 hours ago, Fr. Buick said: Wow, look what I just found... A very late 1954 add, that mentions only Olds and Caddy. It certainly confirms the issue for Buicks in 1954, and weren't the 55s already out by November of 1954? It continues to amaze me how much advertising and promotion GM did in this era... The story-line in the above ad is outdated. It only mentions Cadillac and Oldsmobile. If you GOOGLE Autronic-Eye, you might run across conflicting General Motors ads vs. Guide Lamp Division Ads for this accessory. I have a fold-out GM 11"x19" document that shows pictures of all of the five GM marques for 1953...Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. In the descriptive, four of the five marques (Buick was excluded) specifically state that the Autronic-Eye was available as optional equipment. I also have a copy of a GUIDE LAMP ad that concurs with that information; however, I do have a GUIDE LAMP ad that mentions that the Autronic-Eye was available on 1953 Buicks. I'm still looking for a BUICK document confirming when the Autronic-Eye was first offered to prospective customers. Al Malachowski BCA #8965 "500 Miles West of Flint" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBulldogMiller55Buick Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBulldogMiller55Buick Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 The ad says "See your Oldsmobile and Cadillac dealer" That leads me to believe that only Cadillac and Olds offered the item Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancemb Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 On 4/25/2016 at 11:10 AM, 1953mack said: The story-line in the above ad is outdated. It only mentions Cadillac and Oldsmobile. If you GOOGLE Autronic-Eye, you might run across conflicting General Motors ads vs. Guide Lamp Division Ads for this accessory. I have a fold-out GM 11"x19" document that shows pictures of all of the five GM marques for 1953...Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac. In the descriptive, four of the five marques (Buick was excluded) specifically state that the Autronic-Eye was available as optional equipment. I also have a copy of a GUIDE LAMP ad that concurs with that information; however, I do have a GUIDE LAMP ad that mentions that the Autronic-Eye was available on 1953 Buicks. I'm still looking for a BUICK document confirming when the Autronic-Eye was first offered to prospective customers. Al Malachowski BCA #8965 "500 Miles West of Flint" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 This accessory was also offered by Ford's Lincoln division. It was one of the few instances where Henry had to borrow an innovation from 'The General' to keep his Lincoln Motor Car division competitive with Cadillac. Besides the Autronic Eye, Henry also bought Hydromatic transmissions, AM-FM radios, and the Comfortron fully automatic HVAC system from GM's various divisions. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 The Autronic Eye had been factory installed on my 1954 and 1952 Cadillacs, as well as my '54 Bel-air and 1958 Impala, but have not seen one on a '55 Buick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 On 11/16/2019 at 7:50 PM, 8E45E said: This accessory was also offered by Ford's Lincoln division. It was one of the few instances where Henry had to borrow an innovation from 'The General' to keep his Lincoln Motor Car division competitive with Cadillac. Besides the Autronic Eye, Henry also bought Hydromatic transmissions, AM-FM radios, and the Comfortron fully automatic HVAC system from GM's various divisions. Craig Lincoln then used the Guide-matic for years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beemon Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 On 11/16/2019 at 3:59 PM, lancemb said: Interesting to see how it looks on the dash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancemb Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 2 hours ago, Beemon said: Interesting to see how it looks on the dash! If all goes as hoped you can come to the 2022 BCA National meet in Lisle, IL to find out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PONTIAC1953 Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 (edited) cadillac and oldsmobile had autronic eye option starting in 1952, pontiac and chevrolet in 1953, no mention of autronic eye in 1955 buick shop manual. here's my 1953 pontiac chieftain custom catalina's dash with the autronic eye. Edited November 19, 2019 by pontiac1953 (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1953mack Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 On 4/24/2016 at 2:14 PM, Centurion said: . . . I thought I had seen the Autronic Eye on Buicks as far back as 1953 . . . You might have if you recall reading the articles in the shiny-paper collector-car magazines on the one-off 1953 Buick Skylark Hardtop that rolled off the assembly line as a 1953 Buick Roadmaster 76R two-door hardtop and was later customized by Buick to test the concept of marketing a 1953 Buick Skylark Hardtop. The following link shows three of the four components that made up a complete installation: (1) the photo eye mounted on top of the instrument panel in front of the driver; (2) a "black-box" power unit amplifier that was mounted on the topside of the left-front inner-fender, and (3) an electrical relay located nearby. The fourth component was a foot switch that over-rode the automatic headlight controller. Check out the 5th and 7th pictures here: https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0109-77220/ Here are two more pics of another installation, this one on a 1953 Buick Skylark 76X convertible, that was advertised for sale on this BCA Forum years ago. Who knows, it might still be for sale. Note the relay below the "black box" that is mounted on the firewall this time, near the removable inspection panel above the steering column. Yea, it would be tight trying to work in this area. The location of the photo eye was moved on the "improved" Guide-Matic installation to the center of the instrument panel. The photo eye now had an added switch for drivers to adjust when the headlights dimmed. The possibility of knowing and ordering one of these un-announced accessories on a 1953-195? Buick was probably greater if you bought your Buick from a multi-marque Dealership (like BOP or Buick-Chevrolet) where the Autronic-Eye was an available option on their other marque(s). One question remains: why would you want to spend the money and install an Autronic-Eye or Guide-Matic on your Buick when you know there were problems with them plus the fact of trying to find someone in the know on how to repair them? Just my two cents worth. Al Malachowski BCA #8965 "500 Miles West of Flint" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted November 19, 2019 Share Posted November 19, 2019 Regarding your question about why a collector would spend the money and install an Autronic-Eye or Guide-Matic on his Buick, I will note that I located an original Autronic-Eye set-up from a '59 Buick to install in my '59 Electra. There are some companies out there that specialize in rebuilding these units. For me, I am not particularly concerned about whether it works properly. I love the look of the photo unit that sits atop the dash. They make me think of some sort of miniature flying saucer! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 On 11/19/2019 at 7:50 AM, 1953mack said: One question remains: why would you want to spend the money and install an Autronic-Eye or Guide-Matic on your Buick when you know there were problems with them plus the fact of trying to find someone in the know on how to repair them? Just my two cents worth. Not sure about small-town GM dealers, but Ford did not want their dealers to order cars with expensive-to-repair options like this. The selling dealer would have had to invest in all the diagnostic and repair equipment for his shop where he would be lucky to sell only one or two cars a year with it. The old Cars & Parts magazine published a former small-town Texas Mercury dealer's autobiography, and he stated there were car options he was not allowed to order, and in turn, to strongly discourage a prospective customer from ordering it. One exception was a 1955 Mercury with the Autronic Eye a long-term customer of his insisted on ordering, even though he explained the closest dealer to service it was in Dallas, over 250 miles away. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y-JobFan Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 Your average Ford buyer and Buick buyer were totally different, if a Buick buyer wanted an accessory or option all the better, Buick buyers could afford the niceties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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