I posted this a while ago but it was lost in the meltdown.
Earl Scheib for those not familiar innovated, for lack of a more appropriate word, the concept of a fast, cheap paint job. He started in the 30's with the slogan I'll paint any car any color for $19.95. Over the years that grew to 29, 39, 99 and above but in and out the same day it was fast and cheap. His paint jobs were the butt of many jokes and the quality of the paint jobs best described as 20 footers. Sometimes 30. Overspray, poor masking, orange peel, stuff not masked at all and the quickest minimal sanding job were hallmarks. But he was popular and for decades the Earl Scheib location that was the busiest and made the most money was his Beverly Hills shop. Each location was a company owned business and each was a separate business entity. He also manufactured his own paints in a separate subsidiary. He also did body work and the standards employed were equal to the paint that went over it.
He passed away in the early 90's and the business was sold a couple times finally going bankrupt in the early teens. The shop managers were given the opportunity to take over the shops and the name in some cases so there are still some locations around but today they are privately owned and there are many doing quality work under the name.
Back to the Estometer. This was a device to give the customer an estimate of cost to repair dents and rust or holes. It was based on area and did not account for understructure or parts. The device was run vertically across the tallest part of the damage and horizontally across the widest part of the damage and the cost shown on the appropriate scale.
The meter was actually a device to measure distances on a map if you wanted to see how far part things were or the length of a piece of roadway. He had his own scales put on and adapted it to his own use.
For normal collision damage this scale was used.
For rust and holes this scale was used.
This is the wheel that rides along the car body. As you would think it tends to skip in places.
If the damage was large the needle could make multiple rotations and there is a counter to keep track of that.