It's a fact that first-generation Mustangs came off the assembly line without a tachometer. Mustangs equipped with the optional Rally-Pac had a small sweep-style tach and clock, but the package was directly behind the steering wheel and difficult to see. The perfect solution for the Shelby GT350 Mustang was a teardrop-shaped pod, which attached to the dash above the radio. A large tach and one smaller gauge were placed directly where a busy driver could see them. It was an arrangement that worked well and looked good.
What's It Cost?
1 Shelby-style gauge pod: $60
Tach and boost gauge: $185
Total: $245
Our buddy Brian has a new Paxton supercharger on his car, but he still has no tachometer. Naturally, he was game when this story came up because the need to know what was going on under his hood was clearly there. A 2-inch-diameter boost gauge was chosen to go along with the 3-3/8-inch-diameter tach. We got our dash-mounted Shelby gauge pod from the Mustang parts experts at National Parts Depot. Brian had just bought his Auto Meter tach and boost gauges, so let's head out to his garage and look at what it took to get this cool instrumentation into the car--a '65 Mustang hardtop with a blown 289.
 1 Here's our Shelby-style...  1 Here's our Shelby-style gauge pod we got at National PartsDepot. We stopped by the Ventura, California, outlet to pick it up. Ithas the same grain as the dashpad and is made of extremely toughmaterial. |
 2 This Auto Meter tachometer...  2 This Auto Meter tachometer is one of the Sport Comp series andit will perfectly match the other Auto Meter gauges that Brian alreadyhas. It's illuminated for night visibility and shows revs to 8,000 rpm. |
 3 This Auto Meter boost and...  3 This Auto Meter boost and vacuum gauge will be used instead ofan oil-pressure or temperature gauge. Brian has been interested inmonitoring his supercharger output as well as his rpm. This mechanicalboost and vacuum gauge is only 2 inches in diameter, and gets its signaldirectly from a hose to the engine. |