Gauges for Project 707

707's gauge cluster.

707’s gauge cluster.

Flyin’ Miata fans will recognize the name “Project 707.” It’s the car that Keith built for his buddy Eric with lots of Porsche inspired details. It’s a great project. I was a faithful reader when it was being built.

Like all good projects, it was never really finished.

Tach

Tach

Speed

Speed

I was super excited when Keith contacted me and asked to me to make some gauges for the car. He sent several dozen Porsche gauges to be used as inspiration and had some favorites picked out. That gave me a great starting point from which to design.

This is my version of the original VDO gauges. I think I did a pretty faithful recreation.

Maybe my favorite fuel gauge ever.

Maybe my favorite fuel gauge ever.

Temp gauge doodle.

Temp gauge doodle.

You might not immediately realize that Project 707 is Canadian, though the speedometer might give it away. An interesting thing about Canadian cars – the temp gauge is set to point at about 12:30. Just above warm. Keith shared this factoid. It was one I’d never heard.

So, taking this info, I designed the temp gauge. The important thing about a Miata water temperature gauge is the ability to see it moving. Second guessing “was it always pointing like that??” is never a good thing. I copied the VDO gauge design and put the little red arc right around 1:00. That way, if the needle moves very much at all, you can see it in the red zone.

Tank. Druck. Temp.

Tank. Druck. Temp.

These turned out so well. So minimal. So simple. So right.

Night mode.

Night mode.

Incandescent white glow.

Incandescent white glow.

Ready for action.

Ready for action.

Night mode is very simple. The original VDO gauges used reflective lighting (where the light goes around the edge of the metal dial to illuminate the front) and the Miata uses through-the-dial lighting. I think if they had the technology, the original 911 gauges would have lit up like this.

The warm glow of the factory bulbs also duplicates the look of the original VDO gauges. I just love it. I nearly converted Sharka’s lighting over to white last time I changed gauges. I might have to follow through with that next time.

Thanks for letting me lend a hand on Project 707 Keith and Eric!!! Enjoy the dials.

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  • […] look – if Porsche had built this car, this is the gauge set they would have installed. Perfect. You can read Revlimiter's side of the story on his blog. And now, more images, shamelessly stolen from Adam's site. Naturally, we went for the white […]

    • Alec Pinard says:

      Adam!!! Man, you keep doing this! After months of wondering what I wanted, I finally picked a set of gauges and then you transformed it to another level of Wow!!! Then WHAMM, you create this incredible set of truly vintage 707 Gauges… REALLY beautiful!!! It’s pure art!!!

  • silvermazda says:

    That red arc is a noticeable improvement upon your gauges. I think it will become very important to future buyers.

  • firstgenerationmiata says:

    Wow, love these.

  • Leave a Reply to Alec Pinard