Thread: 1963 Corvette Gauge Cluster -- An inquiring mind has to know.

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Title: 1963 corvette gauge cluster front
Description: 1963 corvette gauge cluster
1963 corvette gauge cluster front - Club Hot Rod Photo Gallery


Title: 1963 corvette gauge cluster bottom
Description: 1963 corvette gauge cluster
1963 corvette gauge cluster bottom - Club Hot Rod Photo Gallery

Hey All!

I came across a corvette gauge cluster in 30 year old newspaper that has my curiosity peaked, so I figured I might find an answer here. Its dated June of '63. What has my curiosity peaked is that the oil press gauge is 80 psi and the tach is red lined at 5,500 rpm. It is my understanding that 80 psi oil pressure gauges were only in H.P. Vets and 5.5k seems low. So my questions are:

Is this a very item?
What kind of car did it come from?
What is its realistic value?




....please note that the potatoes are for the purposes of scale only.

Worth a lot to a guy restoring a car that needs it! As to it's value, who knows? Look through some of the ads in Hemmings, etc for like ads and see what the trend is on pricing.... To the average guy it would also make a heck of a kewl wall art piece!!!!

You could also check with some of the Corvette forums such as the one at ChevyTalk.

That panel probably came from one of the cars with the lower performance engine in it - seems to me that there was a 270 or 290 on the low end in '63, with the fuel injected top end one at 350. In '64 the high end went to 375 for the fuel injected engine, with a carbureted version of the same engine at 365; that's what I had, and the tach on mine went to 10K with the red line at 7200 - the rest of the panel was exactly like the one you show, and they were essentially the same all the way through '67. The oil pressure gauge is standard, and in my experience any Chevy small block I have ever had ran the oil pressure at 40 to as high as 70 at cruising to high acceleration, and would drop to 15 to 25 at idle. As to rarity or value, I couldn't say; the tach might make it desirable to someone doing a high level, correct restoration, but not to a guy who just wants impress the unwashed masses. As I remember things, that 7200 RPM red line was quite impressive in those days, and many who didn't dabble in real high performance were very smitten by it; it was always one of the first things almost anyone commented on when they saw our car for the first time.

all 250-300 hp had 60lb oil and 5300 redline.

early-mid production 340 and 360 hp had 60# oil and 6500 tach.
later production used 80# oil and 6500 tach.
very early hp cars had a buzzer that sounded (if you could hear it over the engine) at 6500 rpm

your oil gauge has been replaced with an incorrect unit (no alum center disk). it's worth what someone will pay for it. looks to be in nice driver condition but 63 gauges are one year only, so I'm guessing 700-1000 even with the mismatch, if they all work.

Thanks for the help!

You know I never noticed the center of the oil pressure gauge, proof once again that a second set of eyes is invaluable. I was convinced something was off just didn't think it was that simple...
Guess I can put it up for sale and not feel so bad now that I know.