ZENITH MILEAGE TESTER
Many Model A Ford owners are interested in how many
miles per gallon their vehicle gets. The usual method of determining fuel mileage is
to fill the fuel tank, record the miles driven until near empty, refill the fuel tank, and
calculate the mileage from the miles driven and the amount of fuel needed to refill the
tank.
However, the Zenith Carburetor Company of Detroit, Michigan
manufactured a device that was used by garages for determining a vehicle's fuel mileage.
Zenith manufactured carburetors for early automobiles and is well known as the
standard carburetor used on the Model A Ford from the factory.
Below is a photograph of the mileage tester
manufactured by Zenith with the original instruction booklet. The unit was spotted
on Ebay by fellow Model A owner Jim Mason from Michigan's upper peninsula, who provided
the following pictures. The owner of the tester is Christopher Horvaith of New York.
Chris is a collector of vintage garage equipment from the 1930s through the 1950s
and gave us permission to display the mileage tester.
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The unit is designed to hang from the driver's window with hooks. Rubber covers on the hooks prevents damage to the car. A top view of the unit shows the mounting hooks, electrical leads, pump unit, fuel hose and the measuring portion of the tester. When not in use, the rubber fuel hose is coiled against the unit and held in place with a leather strap.
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Using the tester involved plumbing
gasoline from the gas tank into the unit and driving until a measured gallon of gasoline
was used. The gasoline was measured in a graduated glass measuring tube on the side
of the unit. Because the unit hung inside the car, it meant that gasoline was
flowing inside the passenger compartment as it operated.
The picture below shows the side of the unit, which contains an
information plate and the graduated measuring tube. On the glass cylinder are the
words "US GALLON".
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Below is a close-up of the side plate that contains instructions for using the tester.
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The original box containing the fuel mileage tester is shown below. Illustrations on the label show that Zenith made carburetor parts for cars, trucks, tractors, planes and boats.
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