Autometer made in China!
Short and sweet of this is that I just bought a set of gauges from Marshall Instruments. Now the only reason I bought from them is that they are a well-respected maker of industrial gauges found in our chiller plants and such at Microsoft. I looked online for them and imagine my surprise when I discovered they make auto & marine stuff!
Today I called down to their offices in California and ended up talking to one of their tech guys. I mentioned how & why I found them and that I was pleasantly surprised that 'apples-to-apples' Marshall Instruments were less expensive than Autometer.
He then dropped a bombshell- he asked me "where do you think they are made?" I said Indiana or Illinois last I knew. Dead wrong- they might assemble some stuff here in NA, but everything comes from China. Also, Autogauge is the cheaper priced/lower line but the quality between the two lines is not there any longer. Essentially, they have cut their cost to produce their product as well as the quality, but charge as much as ever...makes me laugh like I do when I hear people talk about the reason they buy german/european cars is because they are of such high quality and engineering (sorry, they are nightmares. I have friends with shops and the **** I see in those cars is laughable)
So, if you want to support a less expensive, higher quality product made in the USA...
http://www.marshallinstruments.com/