Speedometers

[bunglebus]

1 hour ago, JimH said:

Here's an odd inner scale.

And in French...

What are those in?

[bunglebus]

Here's the "backwards" speedometer from an early vw van, they did 52 mph flat out so 80kmh is a pretty good max reading 

A better view of a similar era one showing markings for max speed in each gear - think my T3  had these 30 years later too

Split window Beetles, having far superior aerodynamics if not more BHP (25) were marked up to the dizzy heights of 120 KMH

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, bunglebus said:

Here's the "backwards" speedometer from an early vw van, they did 52 mph flat out so 80kmh is a pretty good max reading 

A better view of a similar era one showing markings for max speed in each gear - think my T3  had these 30 years later too

Split window Beetles, having far superior aerodynamics if not more BHP (25) were marked up to the dizzy heights of 120 KMH

AC also ran their speedos backwards for their Villiers and Electric machines

frustratingly never been able to figure out why (I mean I know it was popular on motorcycles so may have something to do with that, be Villiers engined and all that, but I still wonder why they ran backwards in the first place)

also the specific example given here is another example of an overly optimistic speedo on a machine with a 12Mph~ top speed! I think to reduce parts holdings they just re-used the same Villiers speedo on electric machines, but still amusing nonetheless!

[JimH]

35 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

What are those in?

Citroen SM and early Meraks. 

[iainrcz]

I drive a hybrid, which means I'm a prick. So I made a video instead of just taking a picture.

160mph apparently.

Even though they only do about 110/120.

Yes I drive a Corolla estate, and no, I'm not a taxi driver.

[JimH]

Later Meraks got this rather ambitious effort.

 

[JimH]

Scale overload!

Sorry Officer, I thought I was in third. 

[GrumpyCat]

7 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

I'd often* wondered about why the speedo on the Honda Sky went to 60 when the bike only did 30.

However a comparison with the foreign market variants leads to some explanation.

Where 60KMH is 37mph.

 

WTF? Roman numerals!

[warren t claim]

Does anyone else get a slight chubby over horizontal speeds? Either the ribbon or the needle variety. 

[tom13]

On 7/10/2022 at 9:21 PM, mat_the_cat said:

This is an annoyance with the LT.

What use is a 120mph speedo when it'll only do just over half that? 70mph is the geared maximum, so I'd much rather use more of the scale for readability. Is this shared with other VW models does anyone know?

Need pictures love an LT.

[Asimo]

Vincent Black Shadow - early '50s.  A warranted 125mph so not too ambitious a scale.

Also fitted to the 150mph Black lightning, but had to be removed, along with the riders clothes, to reduce aerodynamic drag enough for 150mph to be attained.

  Is he wearing Speedos?

These are "chronometric" -clockwork- speedometers. The pointer moves in little jerky increments about twice / second. 

Wonder what the last car sold with a chronometric speedo was?

[JimH]

1 hour ago, warren t claim said:

Does anyone else get a slight chubby over horizontal speeds? Either the ribbon or the needle variety. 

What about vertical? 

 

[JimH]

1 hour ago, Asimo said:

These are "chronometric" -clockwork- speedometers. The pointer moves in little jerky increments about twice / second. 

How they work: http://www.mg-tc.de/articles/JaegerChronometricInstruments.html

[Frogchod]

Scaled in fives and metric for I guess the Canadians. 

No bongs when you pass 85 

Unless it's the same bonger as the door open bong. That was the first thing in the bin 😡

[dozeydustman]

1 hour ago, warren t claim said:

Does anyone else get a slight chubby over horizontal speeds? Either the ribbon or the needle variety. 

I don't go as far as to get a chubby but I am quite fond of a horizontal letterbox speedo, especially the Vauxhall ones where the ribbon changes colour as you go faster (late PA & PB Crestas)

[warch]

Sorry to all the dial fans but my favourite speedometer of all time was this...

Still looks good decades later, and marked the ditch finding halo model of the Mk 2 Astra range out as something a bit spessh. My Triumph motorbike has a similar massive digital display. Of course there's no redundancy in these, no pointless range of numbers taking valuable dashboard space.

Also love the easy to read* and intuitive* tractor meter on 60s and 70s tractors.  Still none the wiser as to how you knew how fast you were going though.

 

R1.dib R1.dib

[adw1977]

On 11/07/2022 at 07:47, garbaldy said:

Not sure but this one is registered as 1256cc unless it's had engine upgrade or different clocks in its 50  years or so service,.  It does have drum brakes all round 🤔

According to Vauxpedia, the 1256cc engine was introduced in August 1971, so I suppose a car registered in October 1971 could have either engine.  The same site refers to the Firenza 2000 launched in October 1971 still having the 100mph speedometer from the Viva, so it seems yours would have always had the 100mph speedo.

Front disc brakes were an extra cost option on the smaller engined Vivas until the 1974 model year.

 

[Zelandeth]

24 minutes ago, warch said:

 

Also love the easy to read* and intuitive* tractor meter on 60s and 70s tractors.  Still none the wiser as to how you knew how fast you were going though.

 

R1.dib 464.12 kB · 0 downloads R1.dib 464.12 kB · 0 downloads

Pretty simple really, and not dissimilar to the ones Ford used definitely into the early 80s at least.

It's a rev counter, simple as that.

The lower bands point to the road speed at a given rpm in each gear if you're in low range, the inner bands in the top half if you're in high.  The outer scale at the top is the actual engine speed.

Simples.  Or at least it seems so when you grew up around farm machinery!

[mat_the_cat]

2 hours ago, tom13 said:

Need pictures love an LT.

Plenty on the thread in my signature, but not sure if it shows up on a phone.

[warch]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Pretty simple really, and not dissimilar to the ones Ford used definitely into the early 80s at least.

It's a rev counter, simple as that.

The lower bands point to the road speed at a given rpm in each gear if you're in low range, the inner bands in the top half if you're in high.  The outer scale at the top is the actual engine speed.

Simples.  Or at least it seems so when you grew up around farm machinery!

You’re  right! I must’ve spent hours as a yoof on an old tractor idly wondering what the hell any of it meant, it seems so obvious now.

Actually it helps if the display is clean most tractor cabs were chock full of dust in those days thanks to knackered window and door seals.

 

 

[MrBiscuits]

My second Mini was a 1985 city E - the last model to come with one of these. With a few tweaks the indicated maximum was achievable too.

I like the back to front 10 & 90 but I've no idea why they did that. Was it a feature of other smiths speedos? I also love the fact the Germans didn't copy this subtle detail in their awful pastiche.

[RoverFolkUs]

On 7/10/2022 at 10:12 PM, St.Jude said:

I got there, once, on the Autobahn

Bugger, should have thought of Germany. I went all the way to Mexico when I wanted to find the top speed of a 99hp 1.6 petrol Focus. Weighing 1640KG

Answer:

Complete waste of time. Wouldn't exceed 70 unless downhill

And it's at 4k revs @ 70mph in 5th. Awful. Truly awful. Whoever thought that gearing up for a Focus needs to be shot. 

Feel sorry for anyone who ticked the 1.4 box, which has a whopping 79hp. Same 1640kg 😳

Anyway, the final 50% of the speedo on a 1.4 or 1.6 pez Focus is a complete waste of time and the extra plastic and ink involves to manufacture that wasted 50% is the direct cause of climate change. Nuff said

[Inspiral_Mondays]

I had an Audi A4 B7 as a company car for a while. The speedo had different increments above and below 80km/h. Like this:

I‘m sure Audi thought they were being really clever with this arrangement, but it drove me nuts and just added to my puzzlement as to why people buy Audis.

[mat_the_cat]

51 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

top speed of a 99hp 1.6 petrol Focus.

Wouldn't exceed 70 unless downhill

There was something seriously wrong if it couldn't go above 70mph!

[RoverFolkUs]

4 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

There was something seriously wrong if it couldn't go above 70mph!

Most likely, but it's a tired old Zetec with 140k miles and no service history that burns oil! 

A new coil + set of plugs wouldn't go amiss I'm sure, but when there's no misfires or fault codes where do you start with something like that!? 

It basically has no power above 4k revs in 5th gear, just no torque for a surge in power. You'd probably get to 80/90 with a bit of patience but there's no kick whatsoever so it's a waiting game above 70. 

Edit, in fairness I didn't try dropping down a gear, maybe slightly unfair to expect something to pull above 70 in 5th without giving it a chance in 4th!

[JimH]

Few speedos anger me as much as this rancid pile of shit from VW.

The fact they had to repeat the number on the rev counter just confirms that even they knew they'd made a mess of it. 

[JimH]

Still, just to show that it can get worse they added comic sans font for the poxster. 

What an absolute mess. 

[MorrisItalSLX]

On 11/07/2022 at 07:08, MorrisItalSLX said:

(fastest I’ve got it to was 120kph, downhill on a 110kph motorway with foot flat to the floor).

Correction, it will do 130kph if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

[grogee]

On 7/12/2022 at 7:22 PM, RoverFolkUs said:

Bugger, should have thought of Germany. I went all the way to Mexico when I wanted to find the top speed of a 99hp 1.6 petrol Focus. Weighing 1640KG

Answer:

Complete waste of time. Wouldn't exceed 70 unless downhill

And it's at 4k revs @ 70mph in 5th. Awful. Truly awful. Whoever thought that gearing up for a Focus needs to be shot. 

Feel sorry for anyone who ticked the 1.4 box, which has a whopping 79hp. Same 1640kg 😳

Anyway, the final 50% of the speedo on a 1.4 or 1.6 pez Focus is a complete waste of time and the extra plastic and ink involves to manufacture that wasted 50% is the direct cause of climate change. Nuff said

1640kg?

What was in it? Had you just robbed a church roof of its lead?

[RoverFolkUs]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

1640kg?

What was in it? Had you just robbed a church roof of its lead?

🤣

Curb weight for a MK2 Focus is 1640kg. Allegedly. So that's what I went by