Using old gauges?

[79BIG10]

I know a few guys here are going back to factory gauges on their trucks including factory style tachs. I'm just curious to the reliability of these older gauges. I've kicked around an idea on going back with a factory style gauges until I can get Autometer gauges in a few years. The volt, oil and water ones I have now are nothing special aftermarket ones and hard to read at night which makes me want a older style again. But if the guages are not going to read good for me then I want to wait. I still have the factory speedo and fuel there which is no problem to change out to the tach style cluster but if the gauges I were to find were bad how hard are they to get fixed? I know I can buy new ones of course but that is more $$$ than I would want to spend.

[78SilveradoSWB]

FYI:

If you plan to buy Autometer gauges now, you better do it soon. The holding company ( The Harbour Group) recently purchased Autometer to add to their portfolio of aftermarket automotive companies. They also recently purchased Ecklers and Classic Chevy, one catering to Corvettes and the other, vintage Chevys.

The Harbour Group purchased my former employer, the #1 maker of pressure washers in America to add to their industrial cleaning portfolio and started to make changes such as finding cheaper components to lower manufacturing costs to increase profits. They also closed several plants and consolidated operations, laying hundreds of experienced employees.

Quality has been steadly declining since I left 2 years ago and so far they have been losing their marketshare to the competition. They recently lost a $5 million dollar contract with Graingers and you don't see their pressure washers at Home Depot either. Bad quality were their reason.

Autometer are great gauges now, but it scares me to think who their new owners are and what their future plans are. I know the new owners speak quality, but their actions speak profit at any cost.

[79BIG10]

Thanks for the info Mitch. That makes me rethink that for sure. Maybe I could get a couple gauges from them for now.

[78SilveradoSWB]

It will take at least a year before the decline in quality I believe. Seems like their practice is to buy the company, leave management intact during the transistion, then one by one management is replace by one of their choosing. One of their key strategies is to leverage suppliers in reducing prices. When they won't they go somewheres else, usually a cheaper part. For example, pulleys used to be high quality American made Browning pulleys, when they wouldn't drop their prices, they went to China, and to a cheap casting.