140MPH speedo was not installed for a reason!... i think...

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 2:56 pm

i was reading the paper the other day about the new C6 it talked about the C1 C2 C3 C4 and C5 as well under the breff thing about the C4 it said

a 1980 law limiting speedos to 85 MPH down tuned the corvett

i dont know when this law was reversed but if i could guess it may have been half way through 1985? making all early models (my car was made in augest but is blue so its still early in my book) have the 85MPH not the 140MPH (white models would have had 140MPH speedos)

i know we have talked about this befor and i think everyone with an 85 coupe said there speedo only went up to 85MPH when they got the car...

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 10:21 pm

no thoughts from anyone?

Post by **negusm** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 11:58 pm

I think you're 100% correct.

The 1985 140MPH speedo was just coming out at the end of 1985 Model year.

It was a really dumb law.

-Mike

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:08 am

yay i cracked the code!

now we know witch 85s should have the 140 and witch ones shouldent

Post by **negusm** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:30 am

Hehe...or not...

We don't have enough white 85 asc cars to really be able to tell.

I have seen WARS waged around "stories" of 1985 Mustangs that supposedly came stock with 140MPH speedos.

-Mike

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:48 am

thats crazy... somone should look up to see when the law was taken out of the books...

Sandy · Post by **Sandy** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 2:21 am

I too have come across blue 1985s that were made after June 1st of '85. I have an idea that when the guy from asc told me that "All the cars made after Memorial Day Weekend" were Oxford Whte... what he was trying to say was that AFTER Memorial Day Weekend, Oxford White WAS ADDED TO THE MIX!! {That's what I think happened}

tfs2121 · Post by **tfs2121** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 5:19 am

well yeah my car is blue and was made in aug.

svo413 · Post by **svo413** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:22 pm

There had to be some loop holes in the law or pressure from the insurance companies. Take a look at any Toyota or Mazda during the same period in the 80s. You will see they have 120 MPH speedos. I don't know how they got around it. I don't think Ford wanted to push it.

Also the 84 SVO had a 140 MPH speedo but only numbered to 85.

Sometime 85-86 you could buy over the counter at the Ford dealer 2 different Motorsport speedos. One blends in similar to the rest of the dash and the other had KPH which stood out more (if I remember correctly). Refurbished ones of the first type are available from PPI. I would guess this may have been added to the ASC parts list.

Post by **negusm** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:32 pm

There was a Canadian Ford speedo that went to 180KPH (110MPH). That may have been part of that 120MPH loophole you mentioned for the imports.

http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Literatu ... 1_2_03.jpg

I scanned in a Car And Driver article about a 1981 Capri that C&D "built" up. There they did a similar swap. That is the older speedo but I'm sure the newer (83-86) cars had an equivalent Canadian speedo.

-Mike

svo413 · Post by **svo413** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:08 pm

The Ford Motorsport ones I was thinking of were not KPH specific. The KPH seemed more pronounced from what I recall on the one which is hard to find today. They also had ones for the 79-82 with some green on the face. Later they had some for the 87 and up as well. All have popped up on ebay in the last 6 months.

I'll post a pictire if I find one.

Most common 83-86
http://www.mustangparts.com/images/8386speedo1.jpg

1985 Motorsport Capri · Wed Oct 06, 2004 6:06 am

speaking of 140 speedos. i am currently looking for one. the one i am looking for has the same look as the 79 - 86 stock ford 85 mph ones, but goes to 140 & has the Motorsport logo on it. motorsport logo i believe was white. i have
seen pleanty of regular 140's but hard to locate the motorsport version. this one was actually available through ford dealers parts departments around mid 1985 through late 80's. some ford dealers would even put them on new Mustang GTs (at the dealer service area) as options.
any help?

Post by **negusm** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 1:17 pm

Check ebay. Occasionaly, 1 every 6 months seems to pop up. They are tough to find.

I have 2 of the regular non-Motorsport ones. They are very easy to find.

Remember, from 79-82 (or 83? I forget) they had a different "look" to the gauges (green). I have seen maybe 2 of the green 140MPH speedos on ebay. They were not Motorsport ones. Those are extremely rare.

-Mike

svo413 · Post by **svo413** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 2:33 pm

1985 Motorsport Capri wrote:the one i am looking for has the same look as the 79 - 86 stock ford 85 mph ones, but goes to 140 & has the Motorsport logo on it. motorsport logo i believe was white.

The one pictured above and the one with the Motorsport logo were both available thru the parts dept. I knew there was something different about the second one and it was the logo. Also I think the second one had smaller numbers, more numbers and similar to the police calibrated ones. Now if someone who makes the white face labels could make the the desired black faced ones, we would all be happy.

Euro#13 · Post by **Euro#13** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 3:44 pm

It may be that some of our memories have gotten a little clouded over the years.

I just went through all of my Ford Motorsport catalogs from 1984 to present. From that, I put together a timeline of what was offered by Ford Motorsport up until 1995 when the '87-'93 speedo was the only one left. (this is for Mustang & Capri only)

1984:
No speedometers offered

1985:
'83-'86 140 speedo without Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-B

1986:
'79-'82 140 speedo without Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-A
'83-'86 140 speedo without Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-B

1987:
'79-'82 140 speedo with Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-A
'83-'86 140 speedo without Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-B

1988:
'79-'82 140 speedo with Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-A
'83-'86 140 speedo without Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-B
'87-'88 140 speedo with Ford Motorsport logo M-17255-F

1989:
No changes, same as 1988

1990:
Only change was the 140 speedo for the '87 and up cars was
replaced with a 160 mph speedometer. M-17255-J

1991: No changes
1992: No changes
1993: No changes

1994:
'83-'86 140 speedo was dropped from the catalog

1995:
'79-'82 140 speedo was dropped from the catalog

So according to their catalogs, the '79-'82 speedo was originally offered without the logo and then later changed to include it but I couldn't see where the '83-'86 speedo ever had it.

Brent[/i]