Dashboard clock

[Booger]

Ive been looking for a dashboard clock for Booger. P18 special De. recently a NOS has shown up on Ebay for 300 clams. If I wanted a Rolex I would buy a Rolex. Yes they are rare.

A 3 part question I guess. is there a quartz rip off out there?  Does this clock drain your battery? It sure will drain your wallet. Get it or screw it?

[TravisL17]

I found one on Ebay last winter for my car sold as untested. I got lucky, not knowing anything about clocks, I was able to repair it and get it working. I ran it on the bench hooked up to the battery out of my car and ran it through my Fluke DVOM. It ran for several days averaging only 1ma of current. Its been in my car all this season and have not had any issue with battery drain. 

[desoto1939]

2 hours ago, Booger said:

Ive been looking for a dashboard clock for Booger. P18 special De. recently a NOS has shown up on Ebay for 300 clams. If I wanted a Rolex I would buy a Rolex. Yes they are rare.

A 3 part question I guess. is there a quartz rip off out there?  Does this clock drain your battery? It sure will drain your wallet. Get it or screw it?

Antique car clocks are expensive especially if NOS.  Try finding one for a 1939 Desoto next to impossible, but after 35 years of searching at Hershey i found one in the glove box door and also complete with the glass, decal, clock and wiring harnes, but used.  Cost me $150  then went down the same isle and found another clock by itself and the guy had $25 onthe clock you know I purchased that one also.  Just a lucky find.  Have never found another one since and this around 1995 and I have been going to Hershey for 35 years.

 

If you want the item and its the only game in town than you have to pay the band leader to play your favorite song so you can dance with your partner or go and sit down at your table and just listen to the music.

 

 

Rich Hartung

[Bryan G]

I've had a couple old cars where the clock sprang to life with cleaning and oil, and I never had trouble with the battery draining. I did read an article recently which suggested unhooking the battery (or at least the clock) when not needed. The reasoning is that these things were never designed to run all that long even when new, and letting them run 24/7 just uses them up. I don't know. I pulled the clock out of my car figuring I could just do the clean & oil but found it was in need of surgery like only a watchmaker can do. Others for my model aren't too expensive on eBay, but they're advertised as non-working and might be just what I've already got.

[allbizz49]

Big swap meet here next month.  I'll find you one cheap and ship it!

[Loren]

You might take a look at my experience under the topic frustration in getting the right part.

I finally got an NOS clock for my 49 and being that it came with the wiring and lamp I think the extra money was well spent.

Not every car of that era had a clock, so there’s no shame in not having one.

Besides they are asking as much for a delete plate as you’d expect to pay for a clock.

It’s surprising how well made such a primitive piece of technology they are.

”Electrically wound mechanical clock” is what it says on the box.

[Wes Flippen]

One idea is to do what I did, assuming you have a clock for your car that doesn't work. Bought a cheap battery clock that uses a AA battery. Gutted the clock and used the mechanism out of the battery operated clock. From the exterior, you can't tell the difference, and only need to change the battery about once a year or so.

Wes

[Eneto-55]

Back when I bought my 46 I always wore a watch, and now I haven't worn one for years, even before I got my first cell phone back in December of 2010.  But now that they are scarce as hen's teeth, I kinda' want one.  But not bad enough yet.  (My Special DeLuxe just has the 'delete plate'.)  Have a radio, but now that AM is pretty much just radio talk shows with angry old men yacking & sports, I don't really care that much anymore.  (And I'm sticking with 6 volts, so a modern one is not an option, plus I still like the mechanical type with an actual dial and the 6 or so memory buttons.)

Edited August 25, 2021 by Eneto-55

[Dan Hiebert]

Personally, I think $300 is a good price nowadays for a NOS clock...that works.  The older this stuff gets, the less we'll find.  Only so many were made.  If you don't get it now, it'll become $400, then $500, etc.  There may be less expensive ones out there, but there is no telling when and if you'll find one.  I'd say whether you get it or not depends on how bad you want one in your car.  As far as power drain, our D24 has its original dash clock, which works well, and uses no power because I keep it unplugged, and give it some PMCS every once in a while -  at the same time I do all the dash stuff.  (Preventive Maintenance Checks & Services, you Army guys may remember that one.)  If we go to a show or something where I think having a working clock is beneficial, I'll just hook it up and set it.

[Skrambler]

I started collecting old MoPar clocks over 30 years ago. They were not common back then nor cheap if I recall either.

I also used the excuse that "When I retire, I will work on these clocks!".  Well, now retired and it seems busier than I EVER was!  Still have not found the "time" to check them out! LOL!!!

 

[Stargrinder]

38 minutes ago, Skrambler said:

I started collecting old MoPar clocks over 30 years ago. They were not common back then nor cheap if I recall either.

I also used the excuse that "When I retire, I will work on these clocks!".  Well, now retired and it seems busier than I EVER was!  Still have not found the "time" to check them out! LOL!!!

 

How are you going to tempt the man with photos of your clock collection and not even offer to sell him one.  That is just wrong...  Hehehe.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Stargrinder

[plymjim]

Skrambler, what an ingenious plan! Out of such a large collection

at least one of those clocks must be displaying the right time

no matter what time of day it actually is.

[LazyK]

37 minutes ago, Skrambler said:

and the rest of us wonder why we cant find a clock or the price is so high.

[Young Ed]

1 hour ago, Skrambler said:

I started collecting old MoPar clocks over 30 years ago. They were not common back then nor cheap if I recall either.

I also used the excuse that "When I retire, I will work on these clocks!".  Well, now retired and it seems busier than I EVER was!  Still have not found the "time" to check them out! LOL!!!

 

Now we know who is hoarding all the p15 clocks

[Skrambler]

8 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Now we know who is hoarding all the p15 clocks

Hoarding? No... Far from it. With a half a dozen P-15 clocks over 33+ years, that is only coming across finding one every five or six years! Many foot miles, and far to many traveling miles to consider this a hoard. If someone is truly interested I might consider a sale. Till then they are badges from YEARS of hunting. Clocks of many styles automotive and otherwise have always attracted me. The way they were made during the time they were made is perplexing to me. History is of a time, and clocks are a time in history.  

[Young Ed]

I'll trade you the late 50s Chevy one I can't get rid of.....

[Andydodge]

Skrambler.........the orange/tan faced clock in your pic is what I think is a 1941 Plymouth clock..........here in Australia we were lucky if our new cars had air in the tyres let alone a clock.........I searched around for one for the 1941 Plymouth Coupe I had a few years ago....the final straw was seeing a NOS one on US ebay for something like $7-800 US.....at the time(?), lol.the exchange rate would have meant that the clock was around $1200 Australian and being of some Scotish ancestry and a tightwad I thought...nah.........but the listing did have some nice pics showing how good this NOS clock was..........so I downloaded a few pics, resized them to the correct size of the clock delete plate, printed one, stuck it behind a piece of clear plastic and using the delete plate exactly how I forget now, was able to install a nice clock in the dash of my 41 Plymouth.............worked great, it told the exact time twice a day, used no electricity and fooled a few people...........can't remember if I told the guy that bought the car about the clock but I'm sure he found out eventually............lol.........andyd 

[Eneto-55]

4 hours ago, Andydodge said:

Skrambler.........the orange/tan faced clock in your pic is what I think is a 1941 Plymouth clock..........here in Australia we were lucky if our new cars had air in the tyres let alone a clock.........I searched around for one for the 1941 Plymouth Coupe I had a few years ago....the final straw was seeing a NOS one on US ebay for something like $7-800 US.....at the time(?), lol.the exchange rate would have meant that the clock was around $1200 Australian and being of some Scotish ancestry and a tightwad I thought...nah.........but the listing did have some nice pics showing how good this NOS clock was..........so I downloaded a few pics, resized them to the correct size of the clock delete plate, printed one, stuck it behind a piece of clear plastic and using the delete plate exactly how I forget now, was able to install a nice clock in the dash of my 41 Plymouth.............worked great, it told the exact time twice a day, used no electricity and fooled a few people...........can't remember if I told the guy that bought the car about the clock but I'm sure he found out eventually............lol.........andyd 

If anyone has a scan of an actual P15 clock face, I'd like to have a copy.  I might try to put a clock together to install in my 46.

[ccudahy]

@Boogeryou gave yourself the green check for solving the problem. So, what did you decide?!

[Booger]

14 hours ago, ccudahy said:

@Boogeryou gave yourself the green check for solving the problem. So, what did you decide?!

Skrambler helped me out with my search

[Silverdome]

On 8/26/2021 at 7:02 AM, Eneto-55 said:

If anyone has a scan of an actual P15 clock face, I'd like to have a copy.  I might try to put a clock together to install in my 46.

If you don't mind, I might add also a matching paint code for the background and numbers.