I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today!

fintail

I've never owned one, but I suspect a W110 (fintail) 190D or 200D would have a hard time getting there, especially if an automatic. Small engine diesel variants of W114 and W123 might also have to struggle to get there esp with a slushbox.

stickguy

I’ve had some that would do it, but might take a while, and by the time I had them I probably wouldn’t have wanted to anyway.

omarman

This may not be "normal" outside of Athens Oh.

andre1969

kyfdx said:

Another question. Have you owned a car with a sub-80 mph top speed?

Say, post-1960.

Didn't the old Volkwagen bugs tend to top out around 75 mph or so? I seem to recall the advertisements bragging, in a joking sort of way, that their cars hit their top speed more quickly than just about any car out there.

Back in high school and college, a friend of mine drove his family's '72 Dart from time to time, and it had trouble making it much above 55 or so. It was a 4 door with the 225/Torqueflite, but his family didn't take care of their cars, so by the late 80's, that abuse and neglect had taken its toll.

In college I bought my first antique car, a 1969 Dart GT hardtop wtih the 225/Torqueflite, and it actually scared my friend, because in his mind, it was "fast". He had associated his family's Dart with the way they were "supposed" to be, so mine was a bit of a shock. It was still hardly a musclecar, though. CR tested a '68 with the same driveline and got 0-60 in 14 seconds, quarter mile in something like 19 seconds@72 mph.

I had another friend who had a 1980 Accord hatchback. With three people on board, it took about 26 seconds to get from 0-60, according to the stopwatch I used. But, it got up to 80+, and was impressively smooth and quiet.

kyfdx

I had a 2nd gen Accord ('82), and it was fairly quick for the time. Although, it was very sensitive to the load weight. Mine was a 5-speed. Top speed about 113 mph (downhill, lol)

'77 Cobra II with 302 and 4-speed.. 108 mph top speed. Limited by gearing and a tiny 2-bbl carb.

kyfdx

Buried the 120 mph speedo on my mother's '72 Lincoln Coupe 460 V-8, a couple of times. I don't know if it had much left, past that.

texases

I can't say about my '65 Mustang with the 170 cid 6, never tried (probably a good thing). I was surprised my '72 Duster with the 198 cid 6 did 90, then I backed off. Maybe it could have done, say, 92...

kyfdx

My current vehicle is rated from the manufacturer at 149+ mph, and there have been reports of owners hitting 155.

But, I’ve never been over 105, and now that it has 121K miles, I’m not likely to find out.

ab348

fintail said:

That makes me think, what is the lowest top speed indicated on a speedometer? Maybe limit it to postwar gas/diesel normal production passenger cars. I have seen many that max out at 80, can't recall any lower.

Wasn't there a US federal decree in the aftermath of the first gas crisis that not only resulted in the 55mph limit on expressways but also an 80mpgh max scale on new car speedos?

stickguy

I thought it was 85? But yeah, that lasted for years.

texases

Yeah, 85 mph.

I'd prefer than now (maybe 100 mph), with a digital readout for higher speeds. My cars have 140 mph speedos, which means almost half of it never gets used, and that the important numbers are squashed together, only marked every 20 mph.

fintail

I think the dopey 55 era rules also required "55" to be highlighted in some way, I have seen it in orange/red printing, or even with a box around it. What a time.

I think foreign or low volume cars might have had some exemption, as I usually only see 85 in old MBs around MY 1981 or so.

xwesx

While my Econoline will go a little faster than 80, it won't go much past that. I think the air bucking off the front of the vehicle just overpowers anything that might be left in the engine.

My C20 tops out at about 95, but I would not want to push that speed for very long. How do I know this? Well, one time I was going to pass a tour bus on the Parks Highway. It was averaging around 60 mph (SL is 65) through some hills near Denali, but when I started passing, I guess the driver decided he was bored because he began accelerating as well. By the time I was about half a vehicle in front of him, I was basically topped out, and he probably was as well.... just running steady near my rear wheel. I ran out of distance, with a car coming around the next bend, so I just pulled back into my lane and let the driver deal with it (along with his 40+ passengers). That was the only time in my life that I have actually called a company to complain about one of their drivers, but the nice lady on the phone was horrified by the event I relayed to her. She kept saying, "Are you sure it was one of our busses?!" I really hope the guy was fired over that.

sda

When the first energy/crisis hit in 73, the fed initially reduced the speed limit to 50 mph, and after a lot of outcry, generously raised the limit to 55. When we lived in VA, if you were driving over 60 you were almost guaranteed a speeding ticket.

andre1969

Yeah, back in that malaise era, the maximum speed on the speedometers was only 85 mph. I think it took a few years for them to scale down, though. Every 60's car I've had went to 120. The DeSoto's drum strip actually goes out to 130, although it's only numbered to 120. My '76 LeMans only goes to 100 though. I guess it was '77 they went to 85?

My '89 Gran Fury copcar went to 125, but it still had the 55 highlighted.

I wonder what year it was they let the speedos start going higher again, and when they took away the 55 highlight? I had a pretty big gap, going from the Gran Fury to a 2000 Intrepid. The Intrepid's went to 120, and no 55 highlight.

sda

My 71 Vega GT had a 130 mph speedo (ha, ha), my 76 Sunbird V6, 80 mph, though beyond 80 the needle would continue to sweep around the dial. I think I had it to about 95 once..it took a very long time to get there beyond 75. The 3.8 V6 was good for about 105 hp, much better than the Vega 2.3 that was standard, and better than most subcompacts at the time but that isn’t saying much. With it being 55 America, I rarely exceeded 65 and that was being brazen.

kyfdx

Got my driver's license in 1974. I tried to top-speed test, everything I drove.

explorerx4

The speedometer in my 91 Mustang tops out at 160(very optimistic), 55 is still highlighted.

explorerx4

This has been sitting abandon in the parking lot of a bank for a few months.
I think I first parked next to it in late January or early February.

fintail

IIRC, 4 cyl fintails have speedometers indicating 100, 6 cyl to 120 - both are wildly optimistic. A 300SE could maybe approach that, but I think my car is rated around 105. My 1989 S-Class went to 160, another wild claim where reality is far below it.

For that T-Bird, maybe it is a 3.8 car, which could be why someone gave up.

tjc78

andre1969 said:

Yeah, back in that malaise era, the maximum speed on the speedometers was only 85 mph. I think it took a few years for them to scale down, though. Every 60's car I've had went to 120. The DeSoto's drum strip actually goes out to 130, although it's only numbered to 120. My '76 LeMans only goes to 100 though. I guess it was '77 they went to 85? My '89 Gran Fury copcar went to 125, but it still had the 55 highlighted. I wonder what year it was they let the speedos start going higher again, and when they took away the 55 highlight? I had a pretty big gap, going from the Gran Fury to a 2000 Intrepid. The Intrepid's went to 120, and no 55 highlight.

The law was repealed in 1982, but most cars didn’t go above 85 until the late 80s from what I’ve read.

My mom’s 92 Century only went to 85 so it certainly lasted into the 90s on some cars 

omarman

1977 Camaro Z/28. 130 mph speedometer.


1980 I can't drive 5ifty 5ive


1982 Dreaded double needle


But all for a good cause since the NHTSA speedometer rules doubtless saved countless lives and ended the oil crunch. And then came CHMSL...

fintail

I think my mom's 93 Taurus also only went to 85. I think the Tempo went to 80, I remember getting it past that.

tjc78

How could I forget that... yes my 93 Taurus was also 85. The SHO did get a higher reading speedo. 120 IIRC

stickguy

77 is a 4 speed. I want it!

explorerx4

SHO was 140. I left a little on the table the fastest I ever took my first one(89).

xwesx

Wow; that's the first time I've seen that double needle design. Pretty cool! I like it. Granted, having both gradations use the same needle works, too, but it's not nearly as clever as the double needle.

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah. A Honda N600 and a Fiat 600.

The Mercedes 300D would do 80....just maybe...but it sure wouldn't have liked it.

xwesx

Reminds me of my friend's 1979 Rabbit (diesel). It would do 55 safely. Actual top speed was about 60 mph, but if you pushed it that hard for long, it would not be happy at all. About two months after he sold it... and telling the new kid owner to be careful about how fast he drove, the engine blew about half way to Portland (about 100 miles traveled) on the interstate. The kid decided that holding it at 60 should be okay.

Nope, not okay.

Mr_Shiftright

The older diesels were prone to grenade at very high rpm. They didn't like that--usually the heads cracked and then it overheated and then...well, you know.

roadburner

ab348 said:

Wasn't there a US federal decree in the aftermath of the first gas crisis that not only resulted in the 55mph limit on expressways but also an 80mpgh max scale on new car speedos?

Yes, a knee-jerk reaction from the Safety [non-permissible content removed] who infested NHTSA in the mid to late 70s- it was one of those "feel good"-for fascists, anyway-laws that was not supported by any data whatsoever.

roadburner

tjc78 said:

The law was repealed in 1982, but most cars didn’t go above 85 until the late 80s from what I’ve read.

My mom’s 92 Century only went to 85 so it certainly lasted into the 90s on some cars 

The European and Asian brands ashcanned the ridiculous 85 mph speedometers immediately; the U.S. automakers were typically over-cautious and waited several more years.

andre1969

A friend of mine had an '86 T-bird back in college. This is the same one that had the '80 Accord before that. Anyway, the T-bird was one of those designer packages, like Elan, Fila, or whatever. I remember it had a digital display for the speedometer, and also had a trip computer. One day, riding down to Kings Dominion (amusement park near Richmond VA), we discovered the speedo only went up to 85 mph, even though it had a three digit display for metric.

However, with the trip computer, if you keep resetting the "average speed" function often enough, it basically gives you the speed you're currently traveling. I don't know if it would register three digits, but I do remember getting it into the 90's.

When I had my '88 LeBaron turbo coupe, its digital display would exceed 85 mph. Once, when I had my grandmother in the car, I put the display over to metric, got up a bit over 60 mph, so it would read over 100 kph. Then I said to Grandmom, "hey, look how fast we're going! sure doesn't feel like it, does it?!" To say she was not amused, is putting it mildly...

jpp75

omarman said:

Those car show Buicks and Oldsmobiles paint an interesting picture of that era. A friend had a 1970 442 W-30 which cranked out well over the factory advertised 370 hp but needed frequent maintenance and tuning. After HS I had a thing for Oldsmobile Delta 88s. Last one was a '78 Delta 88 sedan and I still miss it even though it had no where near the power of my '72 Delta 88 coupe with the Rocket 455.

I know today's minvans can smoke the old Detroit iron but it's the whole 70's package that I miss. The colors, style, character and comfort was all very appealing. And even the glitches reminded me to pay attention to the sounds, smells and feel of my cars to keep them reliable. I never felt like I was driving a throw away appliance back then.

My parents had a 1969 4-4-2, dark blue with the Hurst shifter. I know my dad really liked it but my first memories are him drifting down the neighborhood hill trying to pop the clutch and get it to run. One time we got all the way out of the neighborhood with no luck and my uncle happened to drive by in his Subaru and gave us a ride back to the house.

jpp75

xwesx said:

jpp75 said:

The last time I saw him he was driving a Focus.

Did he hate the car or himself?!

Naw, I jest. However, I hope that he did find more satisfaction with his later choices.

A fair question for sure, although I think his Focus was a manual so he avoided the PowerShift mess that Ford tried to pass off as a transmission.

ab348

It's funny but I have put about 25K miles on my '68 Cutlass over the years and it has never stranded me. Although a couple of times I did some ill-advised maintenance and it should have. But it always got me home.

jpp75

ab348 said:

It's funny but I have put about 25K miles on my '68 Cutlass over the years and it has never stranded me. Although a couple of times I did some ill-advised maintenance and it should have. But it always got me home.

To be fair that's only one memory I have, my parents will tell you they loved that car. It was replaced with a 1976 Olds 98 which wasn't bad for the times, but the bar was certainly low back then.

berri

This has been sitting abandon in the parking lot of a bank for a few months.

Odd the bank lets it sit there. A repo? I know that era Thunderbird didn't seem to be all that popular, but I kind of like the greenhouse on it.

jpp75

xwesx said:

While my Econoline will go a little faster than 80, it won't go much past that. I think the air bucking off the front of the vehicle just overpowers anything that might be left in the engine.

My C20 tops out at about 95, but I would not want to push that speed for very long. How do I know this? Well, one time I was going to pass a tour bus on the Parks Highway. It was averaging around 60 mph (SL is 65) through some hills near Denali, but when I started passing, I guess the driver decided he was bored because he began accelerating as well. By the time I was about half a vehicle in front of him, I was basically topped out, and he probably was as well.... just running steady near my rear wheel. I ran out of distance, with a car coming around the next bend, so I just pulled back into my lane and let the driver deal with it (along with his 40+ passengers). That was the only time in my life that I have actually called a company to complain about one of their drivers, but the nice lady on the phone was horrified by the event I relayed to her. She kept saying, "Are you sure it was one of our busses?!" I really hope the guy was fired over that.

I got the Tacoma up to 100 last weekend on a remote stretch of Wyoming highway. It did so begrudgingly, 95...96.........97............98..... Not recommended.

kyfdx

jpp75 said:

xwesx said:

While my Econoline will go a little faster than 80, it won't go much past that. I think the air bucking off the front of the vehicle just overpowers anything that might be left in the engine.

My C20 tops out at about 95, but I would not want to push that speed for very long. How do I know this? Well, one time I was going to pass a tour bus on the Parks Highway. It was averaging around 60 mph (SL is 65) through some hills near Denali, but when I started passing, I guess the driver decided he was bored because he began accelerating as well. By the time I was about half a vehicle in front of him, I was basically topped out, and he probably was as well.... just running steady near my rear wheel. I ran out of distance, with a car coming around the next bend, so I just pulled back into my lane and let the driver deal with it (along with his 40+ passengers). That was the only time in my life that I have actually called a company to complain about one of their drivers, but the nice lady on the phone was horrified by the event I relayed to her. She kept saying, "Are you sure it was one of our busses?!" I really hope the guy was fired over that.

I got the Tacoma up to 100 last weekend on a remote stretch of Wyoming highway. It did so begrudgingly, 95...96.........97............98..... Not recommended.

Auto or stick?

Our Tacoma is a 6-speed. I don't think I've been over 80, but it's my son's driver. Doubt he would tell me, if he had.

jpp75

kyfdx said:

Auto or stick?

Our Tacoma is a 6-speed. I don't think I've been over 80, but it's my son's driver. Doubt he would tell me, if he had.

Auto. As I've told @michaell and @breld, 80 is about tops for the Tacoma. I wouldn't take it much over that again.

omarman

jpp75 said:

xwesx said:

While my Econoline will go a little faster than 80, it won't go much past that. I think the air bucking off the front of the vehicle just overpowers anything that might be left in the engine.

My C20 tops out at about 95, but I would not want to push that speed for very long. How do I know this? Well, one time I was going to pass a tour bus on the Parks Highway. It was averaging around 60 mph (SL is 65) through some hills near Denali, but when I started passing, I guess the driver decided he was bored because he began accelerating as well. By the time I was about half a vehicle in front of him, I was basically topped out, and he probably was as well.... just running steady near my rear wheel. I ran out of distance, with a car coming around the next bend, so I just pulled back into my lane and let the driver deal with it (along with his 40+ passengers). That was the only time in my life that I have actually called a company to complain about one of their drivers, but the nice lady on the phone was horrified by the event I relayed to her. She kept saying, "Are you sure it was one of our busses?!" I really hope the guy was fired over that.

I got the Tacoma up to 100 last weekend on a remote stretch of Wyoming highway. It did so begrudgingly, 95...96.........97............98..... Not recommended.

I'm impressed that they can do 100. I've seen reviews which report the estimated top speed is 116 mph. But then I saw an interesting topic which asked if anyone knew how to disable the 116 mph top speed governor! Somebody wants to go faster than 116 in a Toyota Tacoma? Wow.

explorerx4

@berry,
All I can think is that they are waiting for the landlord to tow it away.

jpp75

omarman said:

I'm impressed that they can do 100. I've seen reviews which report the estimated top speed is 116 mph. But then I saw an interesting topic which asked if anyone knew how to disable the 116 mph top speed governor! Somebody wants to go faster than 116 in a Toyota Tacoma? Wow.

No way I'd do it again and I certainly wouldn't recommend taking it anywhere near 116, much less higher.

tjc78

It’s pretty scary how fast some vehicles are today given the size and/or driving dynamics 

I took the Enclave from south Jersey to Baltimore by myself last year and found myself traveling in a group of cars at highly illegal speeds and thought that this SUV really doesn’t have the handling to be moving along quite this fast. 

kyfdx

stickguy

I’ve been passed by jacked up pick ups with knobby off road tires at 85. Heck, pick ups towing large trailers at 75+ is common.

No way those have safe emergency handling or brakes at those speeds.

jpp75

tjc78 said:

It’s pretty scary how fast some vehicles are today given the size and/or driving dynamics 

I took the Enclave from south Jersey to Baltimore by myself last year and found myself traveling in a group of cars at highly illegal speeds and thought that this SUV really doesn’t have the handling to be moving along quite this fast. 

Now the C30 is the opposite end of the spectrum, it will cruise at 120 all day and not break a sweat. I've told @Michaell and @breld, I can get to 80 in the C30 and not even notice it.

Anyways, getting back on topic.

imidazol97

Often see those speeders towing spun out or involved in accidents. 

ab348

I always like the styling of those Skylark X-body rear-drivers.