German Speedo from 1947, where does it fit?

[Stefan3C]

Hi, and a happy new year to all of you!,
My name is Stefan, I'm from Germany, new to this forum, and I'm kindly asking for your help.

I own a NOS Ford Speedo, stamped 6.47, see pics below, which is a bit of a mystery to me. Even after some research, I still don't know which model it is intended for.
BTW, speedo is NOT for sale, I'm just curious about the history of this part.

The speedo has been build by German manufacturer VDO, showing metric readings. I'd consider "6.47" as June 1947 production date, the speedo shows all signs of 1947 postwar misery, when depressing levels of material/food/fuel shortages have been the norm. The dial is printed on cardboard, none of the parts is plated, only dull black paint or bare metal.
There is a "W 0,71" stamping for the ratio, too. Read 0.71 speedo driveshaft revs for each meter of vehicle travel (or 710 revs per km).
I have inherited this speedo from my grandfather, which never had a driving license, not to speak of a car. It seems a relict of grandpa's postwar activities on the black market. There have been large concentrations of motorized British units in his area after the war, not an unlikely source at least.
What I have found by myself so far:
In 1947, Ford works in Cologone, Germany had returned to manufacturing of 3(5?)ton-trucks as their only product. They restarted building passenger cars in 1948, but nothing this speedo would fit into.

First postwar European assembled V8 Sedan seem to have left Ford Netherlands assembly lines in Amsterdam in May 1947, but guessing at dashboards/speedos of 1947 sedans, it looks like my speedo won't fit. Fixing lugs/back light openings seem to be at the wrong places IMHO.

So back to square 1.

Do those mounting lugs look familiar to anyone of you? To which model of the 1940ties range could it possibly fit?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Cheers from Germany,
Stefan

[deuce lover]

Looks like it fits 1935-1939

[Brian]

Actually looks like 35-36 because of the mounts for dash lites. Interestingly, I owed a few years back, a German Ford 35-36 style temp/ammeter gauge that had the same color face as your speedo. I never did find out the exact model it came from.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

Looks more 30s to me .........perhaps a Koln Ford car ( with aumlauts over the o)?

GB

[Grassman]

Welcome Stefan, Happy New Year.

[rockfla]

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Stefan
As the owner of and affectionato of German Fords, my guess is for the mid 30's truck....the outer ring doesn't appear to be chromed. Maybe one of the "truck" experts here on the barn can speak more educated about it? Sands the face color, it is the same as in our German 35. Welcome to the Barn...look forward to some Deutsch input.

[Stefan3C]

Thanks for your kind response, guys.
That this speedo is intended for a pre-war design gives it an entirely different view. Given that, it's 6.47 production date seems even more obscure to me. June 1947, that is Germany in ruins, the entire economy defunct, no passenger car production, widespread starvation due to food shortages. Most of the pre-war fleet of German-build Ford-V8 passenger cars had been recruited by the Wehrmacht to be left broken around battlefields. The handful of survivors being still in private hands after the war were running on wood gas instead of gasoline, if at all. No one would have given a damn on a broken speedo. In other words, there was zero demand for this speedo on the German private sector in 1947.
However, still someone had ordered in 1947 VDO (which have been themselves in ruins, with 80% of their factories and equipment destroyed) to manufacture this speedo, and probably a few more of the same kind. That must have been the authorities then, aka the US and/or British Military Government.

This starts to become interesting. I already have an idea where to look further. Will keep you updated on the results.

Regards,
Stefan

[rotorwrench]

I would seriously question whether that is a date or not. Most of the VDO production facilities were destroyed by bombing during the war. It really didn't start to make a comeback until 1949 but it came back in solid fashion progressing with each year after that. Small vehicles & motor bikes came on strong as soon as production started to reemerge. I can't assume when that unit was manufactured but it is more likely to have been before the war. It does look like a truck type unit with a painted bezel like that. Ford Koln built a lot of trucks before the war.

Ford Koln did start manufacturing trucks relatively quickly after the war but car production was a few years later. If it is post war then it could have been for that. VDO would have been building stuff out of the rubble that was left after the war. They had to start somewhere though.

[rockfla]

The back mechanism is thinner than the one in our 35, even if it is a 6-47 production I would think that possible given the devastation of the manufacturing facilities I can't Imagine that the "most" up to date items, dies, patterns etc etc would be in production even into 1947 SO use what they had to use from "prior" to or during WWII.

[Stefan3C]

Hmm, VDO used that same format of date stamping throughout most of it's history, at least until the 1980ies, so I would consider VDO origin, production date, Ford branding and W-number of 0.71 as confirmed. And it certainly looks like build out of the rubble, with cardboard dial, crude bezel stamping and the like.
Rotorwrench and rockfla, I think you are both right. They surely used at VDO what ever was at hands from prior production, and probably closest option for demand side is the Ford cologne truck production of that time. So I'll try first to fully confirm/close out whether this kind of speedo with respect to size, ratio and fixtures went into the 3-ton trucks build by Ford Cologne during the years right after the war https://www.walter-dick-archiv.de/wda168-009.
As expected, there are not many survivors, so that won't be an easy task. Seems there is one in a museum 50kms south of me. Unfortunately, that museum is actually closed, but will reopen in March. My local library hosts a book on the 1945-1970 history of the Ford Works in Cologne written by Peter Rosellen, let's see what I can find in there.

Regards,
Stefan