And 155 mph = 249 km/h, which is off the dial. For a switchable metric/standard speedo like that, I suppose they had to pick a happy medium.

Personally, I don't really care what the max is, but I like having ~65 near the top of the gauge.

 

I suspect that the real benefit of a 160 MPH speedometer is that a normal cruising speed of 75-80 MPH results in a speedometer needle that's roughly in the vertical orientation. This is often the goal for most of the gauge markings - a needle at 12 o'clock means all is well, and anything else probably deserves a second glance during your regular scan of the instruments.

 

They're actually not sold in Canada. If they were, they'd have different speedometers calibrated to 260 km/h probably.

The only time it would apply is if you're a US resident going on a trip to Canada. I doubt you'd be willing to test the maximum speed of the GTO while you're on the trip to Canada in unfamiliar territory. If you were, what's the point of switching to km/h? It's not like you have to obey any traffic signs that you need the needle to do the conversion for you.

 

we can just go back to digital gauges and solve all of this.

 

Not if the G8 is any indication ... it has the same numbers in Canada as the US cars (goes to 180). North American-built GM cars change their numbers depending on where they're sold, but I'm not sure why the Aussie ones don't.

 

Nothing outruns a Motorola radio in the hands of a well staffed police force...

 

 

There are 1983 Camaros and Firebirds with 140s. Most Euro imports 1983 and up don't have 85 mph speedos, either.

 

If there are, they didn't roll off the assembly line with them.

 

Thats just a quick photoshop of my camaro dash.

It goes to 7k for when you swap in a cammed LT1 and shift at 6500.

 

Well, we know 1986 IROCs didn't have an 85, so guess we're both wrong on one end of the equation

I know that there's a 140 (or 145?) speedometer for early third gens. I've seen them on cars. Were they an accessory part? I know there's a GM part number for them - they show up in catalogs.

 

my car has an 85 mph speedometer. I've had it at 125ish by the tach, though
most realistic speedometer I've ever had was my 95 blazer. 95 was the last marked, with just the dash for 100 IIRC, and it was limited to 97.

 

According to this site, the 1986 IROC cars were the first of the 3rd Gens to get higher limit speedometers, later in the model year that year.

http://www.iroczone.com/techartspottersguide.html

I pretty clearly remember that my '86 had the 145 mph one.

 

That's so you can see how high you took your engine with a mechanical over-rev before you blew it up

 

Because the tachs in those cars were poor indicators of engine speed, at best. My friend's 91 would rev all the way to 7K, according to his tach. It showed a fairly accurate rpm when cruising, but when he got on it, it would just throw the needle to the right in a hurry, and not because it was fast (305 TPI).