Unusual Oval Speedometer - Ft. Wayne Drive-Away
- Thread starter BRENT in 10-uh-C
- Start date
Ernie Vitucci
Well-known member
Hi Brent...DAMFINO!...Ernie
alexiskai
Well-known member
"Drive-Away" companies were widespread in the '30s and '40s. They were long-distance hauling companies. They often handled the shipping of cars from one city to another. Morgan Drive-Away, headquartered not far from Ft. Wayne, got its start delivering manufactured houses (i.e., trailer homes). So this speedometer almost certainly would have been used in an AA truck.
The Ft Wayne phone book lists Ft Wayne Drive-Away Co in 1933 but not in 1937, so it seems to have been a short-lived enterprise.
The Ft Wayne phone book lists Ft Wayne Drive-Away Co in 1933 but not in 1937, so it seems to have been a short-lived enterprise.
updraught
Well-known member
Our phone numbers have recently been taken off the Web.
To look up someone you now have to look up a phone book.
Makes it harder for scammers I guess.
BRENT in 10-uh-C
Well-known member
Yes, -and actually Drive-Away companies are still very prevalent today delivering big specialty trucks (i.e.: Firetrucks, Wreckers, Garbage Trucks, Class 8 Trucks, etc.), Busses & and Motorhomes that are driven from the manufacturer to the Dealership because trailering would be too difficult or costly.
Ford Motor Company generally used their own in-house transporters (pix below) to move vehicles from the Branches to the Agencies (Dealers) along with using Ford's rail cars, and some private transportation companies. Depending on proximity, some Agencies retrieved their own vehicles from the Branch and drove them back to the store. Likely Ft Wayne Drive-Away was a subcontractor for Ford during the Model-A era doing this very service.
So this begs my initial question, ...why did Ft. Wayne Drive-Away need to have a personalized Speedometer? If one of their trucks was hauling new vehicles, a standard O.E. Speedometer would have sufficed. Lettering the haul-truck's Door would have been a better way to advertise IMO. Maybe the company used a Fordor Sedan with this logo-ed Speedometer to transport employees to the Branch to be drivers of the new vehicle being driven (delivered) to the Agency?? If so, this still begs the question of 'why'? Surely this was not a Speedometer that was temporarily installed into the new vehicle for the transportation to keep miles off of the new vehicle's speedometer? Maybe the company had so many different drivers and employees that theft of their own vehicles was a problem? If so, could that have been a theft deterrent -or easy proof of ownership to local law enforcement officials??
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alexiskai
Well-known member
My guess is that this speedo has been customized in some way, beyond the branding. I've seen commercial speedos that had the odometer reset pin removed. That doesn't seem to be true here, but maybe it's been disabled internally? Or maybe it's been calibrated in a particular way to account for a change in the rear end ratio?
The drivers of these trucks would have been operating without close oversight, quite a ways from their HQ, transporting customer property. It wouldn't surprise me if the company did something to its speedos as a form of control.
The drivers of these trucks would have been operating without close oversight, quite a ways from their HQ, transporting customer property. It wouldn't surprise me if the company did something to its speedos as a form of control.
Jim/GA
Well-known member
You are correct. It probably had a GPS tracker built into it so that they could track the vehicle from the home office.
rotorwrench
Well-known member
The speedomters were relatively easy to disassemble for testing and calibration and it used to be common to have a speedometer repair shop in most fair sized cities. This could have been done in house for larger fleet opperators. The face could easily be rubber stamped by a resourceful technician.
Fullraceflathead
Well-known member
I've heard it been told that those early GPS units were mechanical in nature and had an overworked clock spring in them that was known to break on a moment's notice!!!