'The times they are a-changing'

DETROIT – Time flies. A clock in the middle of the steering wheel, offered as an accessory on Chrysler cars in the 1950s, was a state-of-the-art innovation.

It was cool, to be sure, but its fat price – $49.95 compared with $12 for a dash clock – probably assured that it wouldn’t last long. Neither was it very practical. For one thing, the unit was not driven by electric power, so the face was not illuminated at night. Sure, the hands and primary numbers were painted with a "glow-in-the-dark" radium mixture, but the glow wasn’t very bright and faded after a while. Moreover, when you were taking a corner, telling the time could be a challenge.

Not electric? So how did it work?

Remember the self-winding wristwatches that were popular around the same time? They used the same technology. As you drove the car, turning the wheel moved a counterweighted pendulum which, connected through a gear mechanism, would wind the main spring. On the earliest versions, rotating the face also could wind the main spring.

The clock was introduced on Feb. 3, 1954, but also fit 1953 models. It went under five different names: Moparmatic, Chryslermatic, Desotomatic, Dodgematic and Plymouthmatic.

The first style offered was a Benrus 15-jewel, eight-day unit. The face could be turned to wind the watch, and there also was a red pointer on the face of the crystal that could be used to monitor elapsed driving time. To set the time, you pressed a small button and rotated the face.

Later models featured some improvements, but by 1957, their identification with Chrysler and Mopar had disappeared, and by the end of the 1950s, the steering wheel clock had pretty much gone the way of the buggy whip.