SAVING A RUSTY SAAB/VDO SPEEDOMETER

 What you see is the familiar Monte Carlo or Saab Deluxe instrument panel.  But wait! Take a closer look---this is from a VERY rusty car. In fact the steel instrument panel itself was rusted through in a number of places. I wanted to see what I could salvage from this mess....

 The back of the panel didn't look so hot either. Almost all the bolts are rusted beyond any hope of unscrewing. In fact, the clamps for the speedometer and tach have been removed, and the retaining bolts broke off.  THAT didn't bode well....

 Rust never sleeps, as you can see. At this point I wasn't feeling good about this....

 The speedometer case is toast.  But...hold on! The "innards" don't look too bad...maybe SOMEthing can be salvaged here, yet....

 Well, I'll be...! The innards look better than some I've seen that weren't rusted! The little tool is one [of 50 or more little speedo tools] that I've built. I use this one to operate the speedometer by hand. Turns out I was able to do a normal reconditioning of the speedometer--including replacing the odometer drive gear [which is normal]--and the sucker works like a champ!

 My spares stash yielded a good outer housing that cleaned up nicely....

And even the chrome ring and the glass cleaned up just fine. So a word to the wise--don't throw away a Saab speedometer or tachometer just because it has a bit of rust on the outside. It's what's INSIDE that counts! And if you have one you don't want---I DO!