Was Original Speedo Auto-Lite or Stewart Warner ?

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Here's one of those annoying detail freak questions. Did M37s roll out of Chrysler with an Auto-Lite or Stewart Warner speed-o-meter? I think the speedo is original in my AF M, as the rest of the gauges are, but it's a Stewart Warner. The ORD lists 3 vendors for the speedo, both Auto-Lite and SW being two of them. I never saw an Auto-Lite speedo until the other day.....and now I'm wondering why Chrysler would have put SW speedos in on the assembly line when their own sub-division made them. Do any of you guys with original gauges have an Auto-Lite speedo.....or are they all SW?

thanks,
bob

[Hawk101]

I was working on my dials at the weekend (just connectors) all my gauges are Stewart Warner including the speedo and are the originals.

[w30bob]

Hi Hawk,

Thanks for the info. Seems it's a bit of a puzzle......Electric Auto-Lite was under contract to Chrysler from the late 40's thru the late 50's to supply the electrical components for all their automobiles....so I'm not understanding why M37's made in that time frame had Stewart Warner gauges.....because if they did come from the factory with SW speedos.....why did I find one made by Electric Auto-Lite with the correct ORD part number on it? Here's a pic of the Auto-Lite speedo I picked up.....it reads "AL EO-10019".

regards,
bob

[MSeriesRebuild]

I can't say how they may have been mixed and matched when they rolled out of the factory; but after they got delivered to the military, they would have gotten whatever brand they had on contract to build spare gauges for military stock. Most I've seen are SW, but we have had a few pass through here that did have auto-lite speedometers.