Some trivia for you guys....do you recognize this character

[Dr. Radio]

This is pretty obscure, but there are some smart cookies here that have been around.

This is "Blinky". He was an advertising character for what?


I'll reveal the answer in a day or two.

*HINT* Think about what section of the forum I posted this in.

*HINT* Blinky is from the 1950s.

[TC Chris]

I have no idea at all.... So I decided to seek the aid of Google, and Google didn't know either.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have no idea at all. I asked Bing and they didn't know. And, just to make sure I covered all my bases, I asked the frau. She thinks she knows everything. She didn't know either.......

You may have stumped at least two guys who are pretty fair at trivia, Doc.....

[Conelrad]

Can't say the last time I've seen an owl in a top hat anywhere, and I'm 70...

[electra225]

Signal-Stat, perhaps?

[hermitcrab]

I don't think I have ever seen this before

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

Stumped here, tambien.

[Dr. Radio]

Ok, drum roll please....

"Blinky" was an owl of many hats....literally..... Check out the ads....

It was the 1950s and GM's advertising people needed a whimsical character to promote GM's Guide Division's latest innovation. The Automatic Electronic headlamp dimming device. We're talking about automobile features, so I posted this in this section of the forum.


Yes, "Blinky" being an owl (fitting for the night theme) with one eye closed (to represent the the single AUTRONIC EYE) blinking to show the high-low-high action of the device that automated dimming your high beam headlamps for oncoming vehicles as they approached.

Hey, I told you this was obscure!

The original Autronic "Eye" mounted on the dashboard. Later, as technology improved, especially with the shift to transistors from tubes, the photodetector device was mounted in the grill of the vehicle. Later, the sales name was changed to "Guidematic" to pay homage to the Guide division that developed the device. Blinky was all but a memory by the time the 1960s rolled on. Maybe he was "fired" after the 'Safety Salute' feature proved to be a dismal failure. The Safety Salute feature on later units was supposed to provide an automated flash to other driver's as they approached to remind them to dim their headlights as well for the oncoming car. From my reading, it seems this never worked properly from the very beginning and was disabled on the units that were already out in the field.

I always thought this was a cool feature, even though it had its limitations and may have seen "kludgy" at the time.

Here's an article that Hagerty wrote (I haven't checked it for 100% accuracy though):

https://www.hagerty.com/media/archived/ ... echnology/


And here are some ads with Blinky the owl:

[William]

Thanks, Doc, for the trip down memory lane. Now that I see the ads I remember "Blinky" the owl in ads in magazines. The local car dealer has a 1962 Buick Electra 225 in his collection that has a "Blinky" on the dash. I wonder if it still works.

Bill

[electra225]

Thanks, Doc. You'd think I would have seen Blinky before. I have a Blinky in my Buick and it works pretty good, generally. These new cars with their really bright lights keep the Guidematic on low beams most of the time. In the good old days, the system would lower the beams for road signs and put them on high beam when a car approached. It had to be set just right, but, then, it would work pretty well. The Twilight Sentinel would run the battery down by turning the lights on at dusk if you left the system on and the headlights on. You have to remember to turn the headlight switch off when you got out of the car. Both the Guidematic and the Twilight Sentinel were powered by the headlight switch.

[walyfd]

Guidematic was the upgrade of Autronic Eye in 1960. It was more transistorized and had a 2 stage dimmer called "safety salute" that held all 4 beams for a second before dimming. It was so problematic they told dealers how to disconnect the feature.

I swear I saw an old RCA ad that said they developed the technology for Autronic Eye, not delco.

I had it on the 57 and it was excellent. One thing that always worked on the car with the original tubes and vibrator. I have Guidematic on the 62 that I had redone and haven't had the opportunity to drive the car at night.

[Firedome]

Our next-door neighbor, Kathryn Black (divorced ex-wife of the Black in Black & Decker, which was H-Q'd in our town in MD) had an Autronic-Eye on the dash of her baby-blue '56 Sedan deVille. I thought it looked really cool, like a spaceship or an alien eye, but had no idea what it did. The first ones were rather large-ish but definitely looked the coolest... a ray gun in reverse!

[Dr. Radio]

Our next-door neighbor, Kathryn Black (divorced ex-wife of the Black in Black & Decker, which was H-Q'd in our town in MD) had an Autronic-Eye on the dash of her baby-blue '56 Sedan deVille. I thought it looked really cool, like a spaceship or an alien eye, but had no idea what it did. The first ones were rather large-ish but definitely looked the coolest... a ray gun in reverse!

That's a really cool story. Thanks for sharing.

[walyfd]

I posted a little something about the latest issue with the 62 cadillac... I finally got everything working in the dash including remagnetizing the speedometer so it reads right (YouTube is your friend). I called a repair shop who wanted to install different gears... um, no...

Anyway... Blinky works fine if the car is off. Cover the eye and it goes to high beam, uncover and goes to low. 1962 was the first year they had an "off" position on the dash unit. Shutting it off, it stays on high which is correct.

Once I start and run the car for 5 minutes, it locks on high beam. I guess it needs to be adjusted for DIM and HOLD. The increased voltage must be too much. Like a voltage regulator, it needs to be set on the car while it's running.

Again... the Autronic Eye in my 57 was never touched. You'd hear the vibrator buzz and it worked PERFECTLY. The few times I drove the car at night in the country, I'd be ready to hit the foot switch and the lights would dim automatically.

I had guidematic on a 77 and an 82 and they both worked well after adjusting the manual sensitivity but nothing was better than that factory set Autronic Eye.

[walyfd]

So I decided to pull the footswitch and clean it. Seems to have done the trick. The switches are cad plated metal and picked up road salt or cinders and dirt and corrode. They have a rubber grommet but stuff still gets past the contacts.

[William]

Great news, Walter. Sometimes it's the simple things, and sometimes it's the stuff that makes one think they chose the wrong hobby.

Bill