VDO gauges are disapearring

[Greg Mierz]

It appears as the VDO cockpit line of 52mm gauges is over. I tried to clean the glass of my old VDO gauges, I got them off and cleaned but in putting them back together I broke them. They have been in the car since purchase in Jan. 1974. In searching for replacements for oil pressure and oil temp gauges that I broke, I found them out of stock and non available from many sources. It appears they are no longer being made. I found clones on ebay that look exactly the same except for lack of the vdo font below needle. They are cheap and I ordered them to see if they are any good. I will give a review once I get them. My order for them with Jegs is on backorder, we’ll see if they become available. The moral here is Don’t take them apart, they are fragile.

[Schnellvintage]

Check with North Hollywood Speedometer.  They can fix almost any VDO gauge, among other brands.  There is also Palo Alto Speedometer.

 

Matt

[markmac]

+ 1 on schnellvintage suggested.  I had ALL of my VDO gauges + Smiths Chronometric tacho restored by Palo Alto Speedometer (only because PA is next door, I am sure its the same deal with N Hollywood).  The gauges had this special reflective glass that was a little jenky (and unobtainable apparently), this is a look at my gauge cluster for my Alpina Gr 2 car, after PA Speedo restoration.  I assembled, the gauges really came out nicely, bezels on the critical gauges painted day glo yellow just like they were back in the day.  Cheers.

[Mike Self]

Unfortunately they're not very common in salvage yards any more, but VW Rabbit GTIs and Siroccos used 52mm VDO gauges for both volts and oil temperature.   Checking on their version of  the FAQ might score some...

 

And if you only want a single gauge--like oil pressure, a VDO "Top Cockpit" (out of production even longer) gauge works nicely in the little cubby to the left of the instrument binnacle...

 

mike

[SydneyTii]

I found all my VDO gauges in a Marine boating store, lots of high quality electrical bits and bobs as needed on a boat, don’t want to be stranded out at sea!

[2002iii]

I have some of those guages for sale, pm for details.

[mccusername]

+1 for Palo Alto Speedometer. I found them to be much, much better than North Hollywood Speed. This should be an easy fix and you get the gauges cleaned and calibrated if you want.

[Greg Mierz]

I may end up trying to have them serviced by a pro but it can't be cheaper than new, but for nostalgia I may do that. I'm very curious about the Ebay Indian sourced gauge are like. It wasn't much to see and I've still a line on an oil temp old style vdo gauge new if not out of stock.

[Tommy]

10 hours ago, Greg Mierz said:

It appears as the VDO cockpit line of 52mm gauges is over.

That's a shame if true. Only real option for a classic (european) car. 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Tommy

[uai]

1 hour ago, Greg Mierz said:

I may end up trying to have them serviced by a pro but it can't be cheaper than new, but for nostalgia I may do that. I'm very curious about the Ebay Indian sourced gauge are like. It wasn't much to see and I've still a line on an oil temp old style vdo gauge new if not out of stock.

But the "old" style isn't old style you can easily see what's old and what's new. Especially if it's pre 71 and post 71 that was when the color change of the white letters took part

[visionaut]

I’ve just spent a few minutes on the VDO website, looking at the availability of their instruments. From what I’m seeing the Cockpit and Vision series gauges look to be plentiful. Where’d you get the info they’re being phased out?

 

https://www.vdo-instruments.com/product-category/instruments-displays-and-clusters/

[Greg Mierz]

Patrick O'neill at Midnightmotorsports  spoke with VDO headquarters and they told him that they are phasing them out. They show on catalog but aren't really available.

[Russell74Fjord]

 

I hope all mine continue to work,, 

[Greg Mierz]

You have the newer style face and those seem to be available. It's the old classic look that is getting very hard to find.

 

[markmac]

A.  Snap pics of damaged gauges and send to PA Speedometer.  They should be able to give you a quote to repair them (they can pretty much fix anyone's f*ck ups). 

B.  Go on to Ebay or Ebay.de and search ' Volkswagen GTI Mark 1 (Mk1) VDO Gauges ' or some such and see what you might find. 

C.  Compare prices. 

D.  Move forward with best economics and finished product. 

E.  Have fun with your project.