Name That Car Clock: Jeco Analog With Conical Cover

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

I’ve been pulling car clocks from junked cars for several years now, gathering them for a seriously unnecessary sculpture project, and now I’ve got 50 or so of the things in boxes in my office. We started this series with this 1980 Toyota Cressida fluorescent digital clock, made by Jeco, and now I’m going to make it a regular series. Today’s clock is also a Jeco, but this one is a handsome analog unit with a weird conical plastic faceplate. Before you make the jump and see the answer, guess what year/make/model car produced this clock!

1978 Toyota Corona Station Wagon

It was a red-letter day when I found a super-rare Corona clock in the junkyard; the lowly Corollas and trucks had a different, less snazzy unit (if they had the clock option at all). This one works, too— a rarity among analog junkyard clocks, even the Japanese ones. Be honest now and tell us what you though it was.



Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • AxMax AxMax on Feb 25, 2012

    The conical shape had a reason: To break-up the reflection. Much clearer than flat gauges. I saw this first in the original VW Golf (Rabbit).

  • Jasone Jasone on Mar 02, 2013

    Hey, Ive got this exact car that Im having trouble finding parts to. Can you let me know which salvage yard this is at so I can quit searching. PS I have the same clock so I knew exactly what it was. Of course mine doesnt work.

  • Merc190 I would say Civic Si all the way if it still revved to 8300 rpm with no turbo. But nowadays I would pick the Corolla because I think they have a more clear idea on their respective models identity and mission. I also believe Toyota has a higher standard for quality.
  • Dave Holzman I think we're mixing up a few things here. I won't swear to it, but I'd be damned surprised if they were putting fire retardant in the seats of any cars from the '50s, or even the '60s. I can't quite conjure up the new car smell of the '57 Chevy my parents bought on October 17th of that year... but I could do so--vividly--until the last five years or so. I loved that scent, and when I smelled it, I could see the snow on Hollis Street in Cambridge Mass, as one or the other parent got ready to drive me to nursery school, and I could remember staring up at the sky on Christmas Eve, 1957, wondering if I might see Santa Claus flying overhead in his sleigh. No, I don't think the fire retardant on the foam in the seats of 21st (and maybe late 20th) century cars has anything to do with new car smell. (That doesn't mean new car small lacked toxicity--it probably had some.)
  • ToolGuy Is this a website or a podcast with homework? You want me to answer the QOTD before I listen to the podcast? Last time I worked on one of our vehicles (2010 RAV4 2.5L L4) was this past week -- replaced the right front passenger window regulator (only problem turned out to be two loose screws, but went ahead and installed the new part), replaced a bulb in the dash, finally ordered new upper dash finishers (non-OEM) because I cracked one of them ~2 years ago.Looked at the mileage (157K) and scratched my head and proactively ordered plugs, coils, PCV valve, air filter and a spare oil filter, plus a new oil filter housing (for the weirdo cartridge-type filter). Those might go in tomorrow. Is this interesting to you? It ain't that interesting to me. 😉The more intriguing part to me, is I have noticed some 'blowby' (but is it) when the oil filler cap is removed which I don't think was there before. But of course I'm old and forgetful. Is it worth doing a compression test? Leakdown test? Perhaps if a guy were already replacing the plugs...
  • Crown No surprise there. The toxic chemical stew of outgassing.
  • Spamvw Seeing the gear indicator made me wonder when PRNDL was mandated.Anyone?Anyone?1971
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