1960 Tach Face

[Donald H.]

I have my gauges out for restoration and have a somewhat urgent request. My car is a 270 HP 1960 with 6500 redline tach. The Tach that was in the car has green numbers. I have no idea if this is the original Tach.

The TIM & JG say that 1960 Tachs should have white face characters and needle.

Corvette Central and other vendors have two different faces for 1960, Early '60 faces with white numbers and Late '60 faces with green numbers

My car is serial/vin 101322, so according to Nolan Adams book, it was a November 1959 car, which I assume an early production.

Should I have the restorer change the face to one with white numbers?

Second questions, Is there a easy way to make sure this is a generator drive Tach or a distributor drive tach? I know it should be a generator drive but I want to make sure.

Thanks,

[William C.]

Re: 1960 Tach Face

I can't get into the white vs green issue, but stamped on the back of an original tach it will say "registers cable speed" for a gen driven tach or "registers twice cable speed" for a distributor driven tach.

[Jack H.]

Re: 1960 Tach Face

Before you panic, remember the terms 'early' and 'late' refer to specific running changes made during a given model year. Each is based on when this/that change was made. Sometimes 'early' might be as late in the model year as, say, June for a specific item...

Typically, the AIM sheet where the specific part is called out for installation will have a note in the ECR block of the drawing that tells when a given PN went from X to Y. But, in this case, there may not have been a specific PN change for the tach as this was simply a cosmetic issue...

Also, there are some parts that came to the final line as an 'assembly' (e.g. the fuel and temp gauge cluster) and no change/date info is provided at the finished assy level.

So, you look to the Judging Guide for any guidance that might be given as to when this/that specific change is thought to have been made. Also, you might want to check non-NCRS sources (like Noland Adams) for what's known about the change. It may well be that your existing part is actually correct for your car/VIN...

[Dick W.]

Re: 1960 Tach Face

Why not give Tim Mickey, the 58-60 Team Leader a call. His contact information is under contacts at the top of this page.