Hmmm, maybe it was only sold in South America then, as a Pontiac. It WAS labeled as a Pontiac and it was registrered here in DK as that, but I don’t remember what model. Also, it was unique in the way that it was a 3-door hatch-back and You couldn’t buy such a version from Opel/in Europe.
Uhh, the Opel Rekord P1 - the knee crusher. Sweet memories.
I’ve personally seen evidence of the high side margin. It doesn’t seem to matter what car I’m driving, whenever I pass one of those signs that shows your speed, it shows my detected speed is 2-4 MPH less than what my speedometer shows. That’s one reason tend to set my cruise control 2-5 MPH over the speed limit.
I also know owner-operator truck drivers who drive for companies. They know they can’t get away with adjusting the company’s governor installed on their trucks, but some of them have figured out they can get away with adjusting their speedometers.
I’ve found that the electric speedometers read about 5% higher than the computer. (Sample size of 12.) On 3, I tested further and the computer was accurate, once adjusted for tires. That’s out the window for my new car, which uses a digital read out… it is dead on with the computer. Of course, the old mechanical speedos could be off in either direction, usually high. (GM used to sell a variety of gears to bolt into the tranny, to adjust the readout.) That’s not a big sample, but what I found.
If he had a Cooper, it is rated at 130. Different models’ top speeds vary between 103 and 153 top end, per the mfgr.
No, that wasn’t sold in The US.
To the best of my recollection, the only Opel-badged cars that were sold in The US were the Kadett (sold through Buick dealers in the '60s) and the attractive little Opel GT, which was sold in–I think–the early '70s.
Of course, we also had the Opel Omega sold in The US, but here it was badged as a Cadillac Catera. It was a resounding failure in this marketplace.
There was also a Saturn sedan that was a re-badged Opel. Possibly a Vectra??
And now, we have the Buick Cascada convertible, which was designed by Opel, but which is manufactured in Poland by Peugeot-Citroen.
I don’t think so either, but remember, I’m in Denmark.
Yep, late sixties, early seventies i production. In fact: -68 to -73.
As it was here as the Omega.
Never heard of that one, but Opel has had a Vectra, one step up in size from the Astra since the nineties.
That’s right. Over here it is sold as an Opel Cascada. Looks exactly the same.
Remember the old Ramblers? They used to have “Police Certified” on their speedometers. As a kid I always wondered what that meant and if they had driven the car to the Police station to have it stamped as accurate. Some friends from Wisconsin always drove them, I guess because they were made there.
From that Car & Driver article in post # 43;
“When traveling at a true 70 mph, as indicated by our highly precise Datron optical fifth-wheel equipment, the average speedometer (based on more than 200 road-tested vehicles) reads 71.37 mph.”
For cars tested in the 1990’s that’s not bad.
In the late 1990’s speedometer accuracy was improving with the use of computers to calculate vehicle speed. On Chrysler/Dodge vehicles a tech could go into the appropriate computer and select the tire/wheel size, tire brand and axle ratio, the result is fairly accurate. Or for over-sized off road tires the tech can input the revolutions per mile to set the factor.