Trent said:
At least once a week I have people touring the shop looking at the cars and they ALWAYS look at the speedometer of say an E-type and say something like "Wow, this will go 160!" or an Austin Healey "120, that's fast!"
It had never occurred to me that people really thought the speedometer was an accurate representation of a cars top speed.
When i was maybe 10 or so, my buddy caught me checking out the speedo's on cars at shows. I had been assuming that the speedo was an indication of the performance. Of course he told me that the speedo was not exactly what the car can do.
so, kinda "marketing". They arent saying the vehicle can do that, but they arent not saying it either.
Ranger50 said:
Tyler H said:
Ranger50 said:
Ex wife's explorer st has a digital and sweep speedo that says it goes to 160 even tho it's governed to 146.
I just want to take a moment to reflect on the fact that we live in a time when an Explorer needs a 146mph governor.
It gets to 100 from even like 40 reasonably quickly on the street. It traps 97-99 at the end of the 1/4 mile. 400fhp at 4800#.
it will go faster once I start putting mods in it. Intercooler, tune, downpipes, exhaust, turbos, nitrous.. Nothing tooo serious. 
Hopefully it doesn't come with those exploding Firestone tires ;)
Presentation is important also. The stock Corvair Corsa speedo goes to 140, and the car stock will maybe do just over 100. It might be there for potential racing versions or just marketing, but as it is it is rather easy to read because it uses almost all the sweep of the speedo, so the most used portion (at least on the freeway) is near the top of the speedo.
wspohn
SuperDork
8/4/23 3:06 p.m.
My most laughable speedo moment came when a couple of young kids went over to look at my Lamborghini Islero S and I heard "Hey - this thing can do 300 mph!" I didn't burst their balloon and tell them that it was kph and not mph, nor that in reality they were rated to do just over 160 mph (around 260 kph)
Trent
PowerDork
8/4/23 3:08 p.m.
OK, since we are talking speedos.
In the mid 80's the US government mandated that the 55mph mark be super easy to see. I remember at least one car had all the numbers blank after 55mph but I don't remember which car it was.
I managed to bury the Seedometer (160) on my XKE one night ( 1971) on California 99. The fact that is was down hill slightly and the speedometer was 4 mph optimistic at that speed Doesn't take away the joy.
aircooled said:
Presentation is important also. The stock Corvair Corsa speedo goes to 140, and the car stock will maybe do just over 100. It might be there for potential racing versions or just marketing, but as it is it is rather easy to read because it uses almost all the sweep of the speedo, so the most used portion (at least on the freeway) is near the top of the speedo.
Now that is a proper instrument panel! Nice long gauge sweeps with easy to see markings. Not all crammed together like modern cars.
Trent said:
OK, since we are talking speedos.
In the mid 80's the US government mandated that the 55mph mark be super easy to see. I remember at least one car had all the numbers blank after 55mph but I don't remember which car it was.
Mustang SVO was sort of like that, but went further than 55mph.
Tom1200 said:
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:
Digital speedometers are just better. Fight me.
Mmmm no; with an analog needle you don't actually have to read it to know what your speed is. Much like aircraft have all the gauges set so that all of the needle on the gauges point straight up if everything is normal.
It strikes me that that is a potential reason for a 160mph speedo. Assuming the middle is pointing straight up, that would be 80mph which would be useful to know. But you really only have to process the first digit of a digital display to have similar precision.
It's all that hit song's fault, "My Maserati goes 185." I don't think that any Maserati ever went that fast.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
that is highway speeds in atlanta, especially if you drive an altima
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
That looks like it's supposed to mirror the steering wheel curve. You can't see it, you're going too fast.
If anyone's curious, the current-gen Nissan Altima's speedometer goes to 180 mph. It's not for kph, that is marked separately:
Ranger50 said:
Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:
I get the idea of using 1 for all models, but which Mazda 3 (2013 or newer) gets close to 160?
One dropped out of an airplane?
I had a buddy in college who had a Dodge Omni with a 125 mph speedo at a time when most everything else was 85. It wasn't a GLHS, or a GLH, or even a turbo. Just a base car with a stick. And he swore up and down that it'd do every bit of it. I incredulous until he proved it one day. There was a section of interstate highway with about a 7 mile grade. He went down that in 5th and just wound it until the needle was well past the 125. I had just assumed he meant it was that fast on level ground.
wspohn
SuperDork
8/5/23 11:54 a.m.
frenchyd said:
I managed to bury the Seedometer (160) on my XKE one night ( 1971) on California 99. The fact that is was down hill slightly and the speedometer was 4 mph optimistic at that speed Doesn't take away the joy.
According to a factory guy that came to one of our MG/Jag club meetings, the original XKEs they submitted to the magazines had been ....fiddled. Even so they almost reached 150 mph. IIRC, the 4.2 cars slightly exceeded that figure.
Well written first review here
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a15112090/1961-jaguar-e-type-road-test-review/
In reply to wspohn :
The early 3.8 liter with the non syncro transmission that served as a Proving ground for the media was super tuned by the factory to exceed 150 mph in testing. And actually indicated over 160 in Belgium
The later 4.2 would on a high air density day actually top 160 indicated but everything had to be spot on.
Growing up driving 70s cars where the speedo only went to 85, I remember us trying to see how far we could get the needle to go around and hit the P mark for the auto transmission
Because the blinking 88s that Cadillac used to use are frowned upon for some reason?
I don't remember the year it was, my high school friends Eldorado just had the clock radio looking numbers for a Speedo, but they capped at 88. The faster you went above 88, the faster they would flash.
In reply to VolvoHeretic :
He never said 185 what......Klicks, Miles, decibels.....
Growing up a friend's mom had a Mercury Cougar with the digital dash. I don't even remember if it had a sweep speedo or just the numbers. But the numbers, well, I'd wager it could go at least 100 mph. And thus, it could also go 88 mph. So on startup, it did the "turn on all digital elements" thing and indicated 188 mph briefly. My friend swore this was how fast it could go.
They're silly and I have fallen for the hype, too. I always drove 80s cars with 85 mph speedometers. Then one time I drove a 90ish GTA pretty hard down a rural road. I glanced down at the speedo and figured I had room to go since I was only halfway there - then I did a double take when I realized it was a 140 mph speedo
Dunno if it had the breath for 140 but I remember fully expecting it would just because they printed that on it. Oh well.
And then there was the time I met a Texas highway patrolman after trying to bend the needle on my "85 mph" 3.8 Series 1 Olds Delta 88. Found out later that it could do 118 on a flat. Ticket was only for 104
Why? Because they're cool
