Locomobile Instrument Cluster?

[AZN405]

Greetings to All,

 

I hope that I'm not breaking any code of conduct or putting the cart before the horse with this being my first post, so I apologize if I have broken etiquette. 

 

I literally bought this cluster at a local auction combined with a miscellaneous lot of "scap". I'm a car guy so I knew it wasn't junk, but using google's image detection system and my curiosity led me to here.  I know nothing about Locomobile's, I just know this looks to have possibly come out of one.  

 

I am welcome to an education if anyone would care to tell me if this is cool, rare, or just space junk.  I'm grateful ya'll have a forum in general. 

 

I live in Oklahoma and if inquiring minds would like to know, there were no other car parts at the auction........or were there?....kidding it was mostly junk. 

 

AZN

Edited April 12 by AZN405
incorrect model guess (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

Don't give up! It is a very unusual piece, and may take a bit for someone who would recognize it to see it. Warner Auto Meters were a fairly early and high end type of speedometer, used by several expensive automobiles. I do not recognize this one, and really cannot be much help this time.

I doubt it is very valuable in a dollars sense, but I could be wrong there. And condition, especially internally, is very important to value. They tend to be fragile (pot metal inside most such things). So best to not mess with it.

Good luck! I hope it finds its way onto the right sort of car.

 

[AZN405]

I appreciate your insight Wayne, this helps me along further than where I was!

[DFeeney]

You will be amazed by the collective knowledge of this Forum.

[Walt G]

AZN405 you did well to take the photos you did, makes it much easier to look at to determine what it fit. If anyone here reading this has an instruction book for a Locomobile of the teens era perhaps it shows a photo of the dash board and will let us see what is there. I have sales literature on that era Locomobile as well as a dealership photo album but it just shows body types/styles.

[Henry Holt]

I think it maybe aircraft. 

 

Thank you

Henry

[John E. Guitar]

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/370400-the-20th-century-fox-locomobile-sedan/

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

And John E G comes through again! Fantastic link to a wonderful Locomobile thread I had not seen before.

 

 

1 hour ago, Henry Holt said:

I think it maybe aircraft. 

 

Thank you

Henry

 

That thought did cross my mind when I first looked at the pictures. But it quickly left when I looked closer. While the simple "all business" look of the Locomobile's gauges does have a 1930s into 1950s aircraft look to them? Aircraft do not measure speed or distance in "miles" per se. "Speed" may be measured as "wind speed"? But there is no mechanical connection to the ground to measure actual speed or distance.

The other key clue is in the name. Warner Auto Meters was one of dozens of companies making speedometers for automobiles in the early couple decades of the automobile. Warner Auto Meters was in fact one of the highest quality and fancy designs companies in those earlier years. Stewart was another business, and expanding. I had to google for the year the two businesses were merged, it was 1912. I knew they continued to do business under both (and other) names for quite some time. Hence, speedometers were manufactured and sold under both the Warner and Stewart names into the early to mid 1920s. During the 1920s, some speedometers were sold under the combined name of "Stewart Warner". By that time, the "Auto Meters" was largely dropped from the faces of speedometers and odometers.

Also interesting to note. In the earlier days of automobiles, odometers and speedometers were often sold singly and separately. That in part was due to the high cost of the devices, and the fact that most automobile owners did not travel very far. Speed limits were low, and some cities strictly enforced things like 8 1/2 miles per hour! Depending on where one lived, and how far they themselves drove, one or the other might be much more valuable. If your driving was mostly in town? You might really need that speedometer to make certain you did not exceed that last half a mile per hour speed! (SERIOUSLY!) On the other hand, if one drove out away from the town, given the terrible maps available in those days, you might really need the odometer more to keep track of how far you had gone, and whether it was time to oil the shackles or valves now? Every car's "owner's manual" had a list of things and how often one should oil them.

Warner Auto Meter often sold high end units that were in fact two separate meters mounted together.

 

So much stuff that to me makes automobile history so fascinating!

[AZN405]

Plethora of information! Thank you guys, this is all definitely narrowing it down.  I love imagining stuff like this once being someone's dream.  At some point in time, the previous owners were proud to look down at this cluster and to drive whatever it rested in. 

[John Bloom]

 mystery has already been solved, but I just read this and I remembered I have a couple books that could be helpful. Posting just for others in case they find it interesting.

 

Page 59 of this book:

[AZN405]

Just now, John Bloom said:

 mystery has already been solved, but I just read this and I remembered I have a couple books that could be helpful. Posting just for others in case they find it interesting.

 

Page 59 of this book:

That's gotta be it right?!

 

Any clue to how many recorded Locomobiles exist on the planet today?  Running or not driving. 

[John Bloom]

1 minute ago, AZN405 said:

That's gotta be it right?!

 

Any clue to how many recorded Locomobiles exist on the planet today?  Running or not driving. 

I'm not sure how many, others on here may have a better answer for you.  The early stuff is rare as hen's teeth, the 38 and 48 were not produced in large numbers but were very expensive so have a reasonable survival rate.  the series 90's were also large expensive cars as Locomobile was in decline and they produced a jr series at the end as well, similar to Marmon, Franklin, and other makes of expensive classics.  The AACA forum on Locomobiles is impressively active for how few cars there are.  Tons of great stuff on that forum topic, dig in on it, you will enjoy it and get an education.