It’s a fully digital world we live in. While the physical appearance of a timeless analog gauge mounted in the dash or along the A-pillar still has its place in the high-performance world for those seeking that old-school look, the market has also gravitated to digital dashes en masse.
While you might be foregoing that classic in-car look with a digital dash, you gain simplicity, with all of your sensor data and information displayed in one place. Everything is in one fully customizable package, that’s easy to install and wire compared to an array of gauges all over the cockpit. Among those leading this charge is the iconic Autometer brand, which offers more gauges than we could possibly ever list here.
At SEMA, Autometer is showing off digital dashes for square-body 1973-’87 GM trucks and G-body applications, along with a universal model, priced at $799 for the universal version and $899 for the two vehicle-specific variants. The digital interface displays your typical array of values, including of course the speedometer, tachometer, battery voltage, fuel level, water temperature and oil pressure (of which the sensors are included in the kit), and your odometer.
“What we’ve seen is, as people use cell phones and computers and technology and become more digitally-savvy, there are a lot of people looking to go the route of moving from analog to digital gauges in their cars,” says Mike Lovro, Autometer’s Senior Sales Manager.
In addition to the odometer and trip-meter, the gauges feature the ability to program warnings for all of the instruments, along with audible warning integration and check-engine lights.