Dealer Installed Options

[bhanlon]

The build sheet of my 62 GT Hawk does not include a radio, Tach, or Clock. Would these have been installed by the dealer?

New to the Forum

Thank you,

Bill Hanlon

[bezhawk]

They Could have been, but most times they were factory options. You even had to pay extra for a heater back then. Many times dealers would add options as it was a source of income.

[SN-60]

These items certainly could have been dealer installed......but many, many, Hawks had the blank areas of their dashboards filled in much later, by the then-current owners of the cars.

[bhanlon]

I came across a dash with the full instruments would I detract from the value of the original car by installing them? The look would be improved, but to get there consist of a lot of labor under the dash.

Comments appreciated,

Bill Hanlon

[2R5]

Those 3 items you mentioned a lot of times get installed by todays owners finding these nos options at swap meets like York of Reedsville. Seems everyone likes a clock in their cars , maybe because most cars have them in today.

[SN-60]

I came across a dash with the full instruments would I detract from the value of the original car by installing them? The look would be improved, but to get there consist of a lot of labor under the dash.

Comments appreciated,

Bill Hanlon

GT Hawk dashboards not factory equipped with the clock or tach option look horrible!....Those blank areas just don't look good! A correct install of the extra gauges can only add to the value of your '62 Hawk. (In My opinion)

[stude1964]

Nothing like a GT with a FULL DASH!
Rob in PA

[jclary]

Funny thing about the passage of time and how those of the older generation tend to forget how it was, and the younger generation have an extremely difficult time grasping the reality of the history of the times.

Just as in today's times...folks still make purchases that are probably beyond or on the edge of their means. Scraping up enough money to make a down payment on a car was hard enough. An auto loan was usually for three years at best. A five year auto loan, no down payment, and low (or zero) interest loans was virtually unheard of.

Even in 1971, I was a 26 year-old Vietnam veteran, newly married, and a junior in college. My bride had finished Nursing school and was newly employed as a registered nurse. Our rent on a three-room duplex apartment was fifty bucks a month. It seemed to take every cent we earned with her entry level salary and my part time jobs to meet expenses. In spite of that, we decided to take the plunge and buy our first new car! It was a brand new 1971 VW Super Beetle. I think the price was a few dollars over two thousand. I recall the salesman trying to talk me into adding a radio. I told him that I was not going to add a factory radio because that would mean more interest to be paid in finance charges. Instead, a few weeks after we bought the car, I found a brand new aftermarket radio, for less than fifteen bucks. I installed it myself.

I suspect that lots of folks, "back in the day," ...living paycheck to paycheck...sacrificed options so that they could buy the car of their dreams. Now days, there seems to be an entire subculture of predatory sellers/lenders, and irresponsible buyers who play this endless "cat and mouse" game of buying and repossessing. Neither side seems to have much of a sense of decent public decorum or a capacity for shame.

Two years ago, we bought my wife a new car. We made our deal and worked out the financing. She wanted to add heated seats. True to my nature, I paid for that separate from the financing. Fortunately, it was not as much a financial hardship as the VW deal so many years ago.