Now for another goofy and idle thought...
Back in the mid-1970s, after the first (and phoney) gas-shortage/energy-crisis, a national 55-mph speed limit was imposed (the worst obeyed law since prohibition, and thank goodness that it's long-passed). As a result, most automotive speedometers were set to read up to 80-85mph, with an emphasis at 55mph in the readout, from mainly the mid 80s thorough the mid-late 80s, into some early 1990 (my old 1993 Ford Explorer's speedometer topped at 85). This was likely in effort to discourage excessive speeds and encourage to be more economy-minded.
Now, starting over 30 years back, 65-mph limits came back in some states, and now most are 70, 75, and some 80-mph, and a highway in Texas at an 85-mph limit! Automotive speedometer readouts went back to at least 120-mph, and most now being 140 and 160-mph, this now gives the vehicles a better image as well as more attitude. Of course on a closed-course race-track day, or a lengthy desert highway out west, with no one around, one will test the car's limits.
Now, a point here being, today, one driving a now vintage vehicle from the mid-70s thorough the mid/late 80s today on many given highways and expressways, you'll really bury the speedometer needle easily, and cruise over the readout's max.
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Pontiac Lives through BMW and Lincoln - via their split grills and attitude!
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