Every ford (well, 1980+) ford truck that I have driven has the dash that marks 55mph colored in red. Why is this? I have a million speculations...
On a related note, there are little white dot marks around 25 and 65 mph on the speedo also. What on earth are these guys for???
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-95 Nissan Hardbody, 2.4L, 5spd <-- The real work horse!
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55 was the national speed limit for a couple of decades, and usually the dots are shift points but not sure about the ones around 65. If that's around 100kph, I think that was the Canadian national speed limit, but not sure.
This is also related to the 85mph speedo, no vehicle could be sold in the US with a speedo that would read over 85.
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Jared
The government said all my vehicle were too old to be clunkers
55 was the national speed limit for a couple of decades
That's what I originally thought, but it wasn't the speed limit in 1994 when my truck was made, and my girlfriends dads '0something f350 has the mark too...
And the dots are actually a set of dots, one at 22.5mph and one at 27.5mph (so clustered around 25.) and the same for 65.
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-94 f250 XLT 4x4, 7.5L, E4OD
-95 Nissan Hardbody, 2.4L, 5spd <-- The real work horse!
"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" - John 15:13
Jimmy Carter provided us with that little gem in the 70's along with Joan Claybrook. Reagan made it voluntary in the early 80's,as well as the 5mph bumpers. That way the auto manufacturers could let the market decide whether to keep them or not. The market decided that 5mph bumpers were good, and that marking 55mph on the speedometer was bad.
Every ford (well, 1980+) ford truck that I have driven has the dash that marks 55mph colored in red. Why is this? I have a million speculations...
It had to do with reminding you where the national speed limit was.
Exceeding it was considered to be 'unpatriotic'.
It is a widely held belief among democrats - even today - that 55MPH will lower gas prices, protect us from communism, and give gays the right to marry.
That's what I originally thought, but it wasn't the speed limit in 1994 when my truck was made, and my girlfriends dads '0something f350 has the mark too...
And the dots are actually a set of dots, one at 22.5mph and one at 27.5mph (so clustered around 25.) and the same for 65.
do you have any pictures?
Quote:
Originally Posted by quaddriver
It had to do with reminding you where the national speed limit was.
Exceeding it was considered to be 'unpatriotic'.
It is a widely held belief among democrats - even today - that 55MPH will lower gas prices, protect us from communism, and give gays the right to marry.
haha wow what a funny joke! there is NO way 55MPH would do ANYTHING to help ANYTHING!!! well it would create more money for the government by having more and bigger speeding tickets....
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haha wow what a funny joke! there is NO way 55MPH would do ANYTHING to help ANYTHING!!! well it would create more money for the government by having more and bigger speeding tickets....
Actually there probably may be - or at least there probably was - some value to the 55 number. It wasn't arbitrary - 55 mph was, at least with cars of the 70's, about the speed where you start to use more energy pushing air than you do moving the vehicle. That was what we were told be true back then and empirical experience at the time seemed to bear that out. Today's vehicles are no doubt more aerodynamically efficient, so that point would be somewhat higher than 55
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Jim - - Official FTE Forum "Wet Blanket"
'06 F-350 5.4 4wd --- '97 Ranger 4.0 4wd --- '03 Escape Limited 4wd Member of the Massachusetts Chapter "Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others." Theodore Roosevelt
Today's vehicles are no doubt more aerodynamically efficient, so that point would be somewhat higher than 55
i agree, so somewhat higher then 55 maybe somewhere around oh i dont know 65MPH?
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1970 F-350 Crew Cab long bed
06 Focus ZX3 5 Speed (DD)
Thinking the Government stimulus plan is working is like thinking that taking water form the deep end of a pool and dumping it in the shallow end will raise the water level of the pool.
SoCal FTE Member
I suggest anyone who wants to argue that it saves gas read this article: National Maximum Speed Law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As stated, a .5%-1% savings at best, no lasting effect on safety (the injury and death reduction has been stated to be because of increased safety of the vehicles themselves).
While a 1% reduction would save about 93,000 barrels a day, simply grouping errands, not stomping on the gas at lights, and using cruise control will save nearly twenty times that amount!
As far as cars being more efficient at lower speeds, that is a flawed statement now. Look at the cars of the 60s and 70s, when that statement was made- Huge, boxy, large grill area, and large engines with no overdrive. Modern cars have clean lines, c/ds that rival the best race cars of the 60s and 70s, overdrives for lower highway rpms, lighter weights, and they are just plain smaller. What passes for a full size now wouldn't have been a mid-size back then.
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Jared
The government said all my vehicle were too old to be clunkers
I suggest anyone who wants to argue that it saves gas read this article: National Maximum Speed Law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
As stated, a .5%-1% savings at best, no lasting effect on safety (the injury and death reduction has been stated to be because of increased safety of the vehicles themselves).
While a 1% reduction would save about 93,000 barrels a day, simply grouping errands, not stomping on the gas at lights, and using cruise control will save nearly twenty times that amount!
As far as cars being more efficient at lower speeds, that is a flawed statement now. Look at the cars of the 60s and 70s, when that statement was made- Huge, boxy, large grill area, and large engines with no overdrive. Modern cars have clean lines, c/ds that rival the best race cars of the 60s and 70s, overdrives for lower highway rpms, lighter weights, and they are just plain smaller. What passes for a full size now wouldn't have been a mid-size back then.
So... was it only .5%-1% savings because the reduced speeds weren't more efficient, or because the compliance was so low?
We're in basic agreement that what (might have) made sense with regards to mileage and safety in 1974 doesn't necessarily hold true today.
But it certainly is true that vehicles expend energy working against air resistance, so they are more efficient at speeds low enough to eliminate or reduce that source of drag. Haven't checked in a while, but I believe you'll find that all the super high fuel milage records have been set at speeds around 10 mph. Now are the savings worth the extra time it takes to go from one place to another? That's a separate issue, but everything else being equal, you certainly will get better mileage at slower speeds regardless of the vehicle in question.
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Jim - - Official FTE Forum "Wet Blanket"
'06 F-350 5.4 4wd --- '97 Ranger 4.0 4wd --- '03 Escape Limited 4wd Member of the Massachusetts Chapter "Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others." Theodore Roosevelt
Haven't checked in a while, but I believe you'll find that all the super high fuel milage records have been set at speeds around 10 mph. .
yeah - with a chainsaw motor.
55 was arbitrarily chosen with no testing to back it up. 45 could have been chosen as well.
The real savings in fuel will not kick in until the 5 litre and larger v8s are parked for the daily driving in favor of the 2 litre (or smaller) 4's.
My 1.9L TDI scores 47mpg combined at speeds <70/75 where a lot more of the available power is consumed. If everyone drove one of these we would nearly halve our non-commercial transportation consumption.
In short, driving habits are not gonna save the planet. Buying habits will.
Students of that sorry time and those who were there will remember it was 50 for a short time. (at least in Washington state). Intolerable. 55 wasn't much better.
40 mph is about the speed where aero concerns start to add up, but as posted above, the cleaning up of aeros on cars has moved that way up compared to earlier vehicles.
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