Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

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Fiatracertracer
Posts: 160
Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:12 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Fiat Spider - Lip Stick Red
Location: Wilton, Connecticut

Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

Post by Fiatracertracer »

I've noticed that some speedometers are gauged to reach 80 mph while others are 140 mph.... why?

Is there such a difference in power for the spider?
1982 Fiat Spider in restoration
howard
Posts: 24
Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:38 am
Your car is a: 1977 124 spider

Re: Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

Post by howard »

at 140 a lot of stuff falls off
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4uall
Posts: 4145
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:09 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Fiat Pininfarina Spider 2000 F.I.
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

Post by 4uall »

Image
Jay

Fiona
1980 FI 2000 Spider
ITZEBTZE

https://goo.gl/photos/eNKaX7hrXhBu9fmp6

FINN (FN-2187)
2014 Jeep Wrangler Sport
MYTHERPY
Exit98

Re: Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

Post by Exit98 »

Quickest and cheapest way to go faster in your Spider, change out that 80 MPH speedometer for a 140 one. There, now you can go 60 mph faster.

Actually our younger members may not know that in 1979 the geniuses at the NHTSA decided to protect us from ourselves by passed a law saying that speedometers on new cars could not go over 85 mph and the "55" was to be highlighted. I guess they figured that we wouldn't go any faster than that if we didn't know how fast we were going. It was all tied in to the national 55 MPH speed limit.

So for a while all new cars came delivered with them, even Ferarri's. LOL.

Two years later, in 1981 they dropped the law, but curiously some USA manufacturers continued to install 85 MPH speedometers in new cars. They probably had orders millions of them and didn't want to throw them away.
Fiatracertracer
Posts: 160
Joined: Sat Aug 23, 2014 11:12 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Fiat Spider - Lip Stick Red
Location: Wilton, Connecticut

Re: Speeometer 80 and 140 mph

Post by Fiatracertracer »

Thank you.....
1982 Fiat Spider in restoration
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