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So, we all know there was no factory installed tach in the 73-79 pickups, right?
That's what I've thought, but a Ford issued 1978 manual I picked up at a swap meet yesterday has me wondering if there was a factory installed tach available for the 73-79 pickups. Maybe not marketed to the general public, but available if you knew where to look, & had a savvy dealer.
I'm going to guess that if you saw one of these tachs in a truck you came across you would think it was aftermarket.
Check out the pages from the manual. Unfortunately the manual I picked up doesn't have the price sheet or part # sheet that would provide evidence that these parts actually existed.
I believe there were dealer offered options that included the tach. The tachometer wasn’t produced by Ford so not really a factory thing. Similar to the rear step bumpers.
Construction and fleet vehicles are sometimes considered 'equipment' just like farm use or even mining.
Hand throttles, hour meter, sounds more like operating a tractor rather than driving a passenger car.
You might even expect to find these vehicles equipped with PTO's, winches etc. by a savvy dealer.
But yeah, i would agree:
I'm going to guess that if you saw one of these tachs in a truck you came across you would think it was aftermarket.
A very cool swap meet treasure, and a very good spot by you.
I bought a Ford accessory tach way back when over the parts counter, says it's made by Faria, has small Ford oval on face. The 70 Ford school bus I had to ride had same style, but it had a Shelby snake instead of a Ford oval, go figure. Wonder if the in dash without AC was supplied by SW like the in dash custom cab F600 or bigger? Sure was better in the old days when you could order things you wanted and delete things you didn't. Thanks for sharing.
didn't someone just last week mention an additional hole in their dash at just about that position? It was empty, so there was some small discussion of what it might have been for, but I don't remember if tach came up.
I have never seen or heard of a factory installed one. if the Marti report doesn't show it nobody will or should consider it factory installed.
Factory options will show up on the window sticker even if it's dealer installed. just like the Warn winch on my new super duty even though the dealer installed it. and Marti would have that.
somethingclever, That is really cool! The tach is in the spot the factory says it should be, & is the brand & type the factory says they would install at the assembly plant. I would think the tach would fall under the SPO, Special Plant Option that is referenced in the Ford manual posted above. But 50 years after the fact who knows?
I wonder if the tach wiring harness has a Ford part # tag on it.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/zyQAA...HlW/s-l500.jpg This is what the otc one I have looks like. It did come with an adapter harness with a built-in firewall grommet. all bullet type connectors. Wiring travels out to coil positive wire and into it and other wire takes it's place at coil so your coil feed passes through the tach and then back to coil. Same as mid/late 60's Cyclone factory dash tachs. I doubt they would work well with any electronic ignitions.
The marti reports on trucks seem pretty unimpressive. Maybe they are better on other vehicles. From custom rangers to standard deluxe two tones. But yeah dealer installed options aren’t factory.
somethingclever, That is really cool! The tach is in the spot the factory says it should be, & is the brand & type the factory says they would install at the assembly plant. I would think the tach would fall under the SPO, Special Plant Option that is referenced in the Ford manual posted above. But 50 years after the fact who knows?
I wonder if the tach wiring harness has a Ford part # tag on it.
Where are you in SW Pa?
Yes i don't think it's any coincidence it's the same tach, in the same spot, on a DSO/SPO optioned truck.
I will see if I can see the wiring harness from underneath the dash.
I think the truck was outfitted as part of the order through the original dealer. It is an original cab/chassis since they were fitting the aluminum service box on it.
somethingclever, I got the manual at the Canfield Ohio swap meet. I was buying a bunch of vintage Mopar service manuals & the vendor told me to look in his trailer, there were more manuals inside. The Ford manual was on top of the pile. If I had known what was in the manual I would have looked thru everything to see if there was a Special Equipment price list too. I'll bet it was there, but I was focused on manuals.
If I am decode the date code correctly on the V8 tachs for sale, it is August 1974.
5851a mentioned that these may be current sensing tachs, installed inline on the + side of the coil, & wondered if they would work with electronic ignition. Jeep used the Faria current sensing tach thru the 1980's, at the same time they used the Motorcraft ignition system. So I guess they work OK. From the eBay pictures, I think they are current sensing, but hard to tell.
The bad thing about the current sensing tachs is that when they fail, the ignition system goes down. Not like a tach that connects to the - side of the coil.
I'm wondering if the dash location for the tachometer is the same as was proposed for the clock. I'm assuming that would be an unused vent on vehicles without factory A/C.
05-01-2022, 11:25 AM
