Tom Halter has a good eye and left the following comment today at the Vega post about its speedometer: I like how instead of having a separate scale for km/h, they just converted the mph markings to their metric equivalents. Really helpful for places where the speed limit is 97km/h!
Yeah; pretty odd indeed. I answered him that I thought it was a way of introducing Americans to the metric system, which in the 70s was being pushed hard for universal adoption. But after checking, that push, the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, was obviously post-1972 Vega, although there was a previous US Metric Study of 1968 that already encouraged and anticipated metrication in the US. But I’m having a hard time connecting that to the Vega’s 1972 speedometer. Or to anything else logical.
Yes, using exact km/h equivalents was quite odd. Can anyone explain it? I’m thinking it’s just more of the wacky thinking that predominated much of the Vega’s difficult birth.
And by either 1975 or ’76, the speedometer was updated with the more typical dual scales. Which may perhaps reflect that the 1975 Act required that if both are shown, they need to be in a logical way?
L
Let’s not forget that there was a time when signs like this were to be seen in the US.
So the second part of the question of the day, which I ask in all seriousness, as I can’t find a ready answer, was there a specific mandate and year for when dual-scale speedometers had to be implemented in the US?
I have memories going back to the early 70s of “getting ready for metric” stuff like this.
What?? You mean my POS 06 Impala beater go-to-work 3.5 won’t do 140???? I am shocked and disolusioned. But in it’s primer and dented state it does move quite well to 100, very quickly. Probably cuts out at 105, governor limited. Anyone know?
I think my ’05 Impala hit the governor at 106. Some BS about tire ratings as I recall. Dammit! I should be able to go 130 on bias plies like God and GM intended, you know?
Interesting speed restriction – the kph speed limit is lower than the mph one – so would you get a speeding ticket if you were doing 39 mph for breaking the metric limit?
I checked British Cortinas – late Mk.IIs (1968-70) are just mph, but the early Mk.IIIs (1970-73) had kph too, in the middle of the dial (normal rounded figures for both). Even now all our road signs are mph and distances in miles.
Getting ready maybe, but what’s the hurry, eh?
Usually the limit posted limit is only restrictive in one unit the other unit is informational. Notice the KM/H limit is in a circle; I’d bet that means “suggested” or “informational”.
Probably to make it easier for drivers who crossed into Canada. I don’t remember the date but around that time all Canada went metric. Canadian speerdo ate in Kilometers with miles marked in a less dominant location. The reverse of most US speedometers today
Not likely. Speed limits and distances in Canada changed until September 1977. Dad had a ’77 Mercury Monarch, with a speedometer in mph (and with no metric markings at all). Mum bought a ’78 Olds Cutlass, and it’s speedo was in km/h.
I remember a young boy, a lot of cars of the day (76-78), had little round stickers to place over the lens of the speedometers to tell how fast in Kilometers one was travelling. It was such a new concept. Then came the move and controversy of the third break light. Holy moly!
I think the commenters will come up with some interesting dual-scale speedometers. My personal favorite – Early 80’s Camaros, which had dual opposing scales with dual needles.
This was back in the day of mandated 85 mph speedometers, so rumor has it that you could switch out the speedometer gear to make the km/h side read in MPH. I don’t know if this is actually true or not, but it makes a nice story.
That speedo is wild, never saw one like it before. Probably inspired by classic multiband radio dials.
Are those different needles? It looks like to ends to the same needle. The two scales also seem to be proportional. Cool speedo either way.
What is it about British system that USA JUST can’t Let go?Even ENGLAND Had switched to Metric long time ago.i have alot respect for USA but afew things i just don’t get about that country.Metric System is more accurate and makes more sense.
Now wait a minute, there are other countries that can’t let go either.
Wow, really? Cause you never think of those other two as having their shit together!
Absolutely !
Meanwhile in our neck(s) of the woods
1.2 – big block! 😉
LMAO!
Although the UK still uses miles on road signs, and car speedometers are in mph. Even though gas/petrol is sold by the litre.
It’s interesting how strong a hold traditional measures can have. Even in Canada, where road signs have been in kilometres and gas sold by the litre since the 1970’s, fuel consumption is still commonly referred to as ‘mileage’ and is most commonly advertised in ‘mpg’ (in Imperial gallons).
Still, it probably increases math scores in elementary school (“If Mr Smith drives 700 kilometres and uses 50 litres of gasoline, what’s his mileage?”).
If you want to know how many kilometres is shown on my car’s odometer, I will gladly tell you the “meterage.”
Puerto Rico is my favorite: gas is sold in liters, distances are measured in kilometers, and speed limits are in mph.
Just to spice things up some more, the speed limit signs just say “Velocidad Maxima” and a number, and do not specify mph or kph.
It’s the usual American attitude of expecting the world to wake up and convert to our system. Because we’re right, of course.
more like mehtric
amirite?
Fair comment 🙂
NASA used metric though 🙂
Wernher von Braun never thought imperially. Well, not in the New World anyway.
Badump bump. Don’t forget to tip your waiter.
Never knew that! Fascinating!
except on the original hubble telescope.
To clarify……UK schools have taught the metric system for the best part of 50 years, and all school and college science and engineering will use metric units. At least in my generation (I left school in 1980) we were taught what some old Imperial (yes we still call it that) units and measures were.
In terms of daily use, engineering uses the metric systems, as does anything else industrial from timber to carpets to plumbing. Fuel, milk, other drinks in bottles and food are sold by metric equivalents of pints or lbs (500mll, 600mlu, litres of fuel price per kg usually).
But there are some exceptions. Speed and distance are in miles, we have mpg (Imperial gallon not US of course), cricket pitches are still 22 yards long, golf uses yards,and beer in pubs is in pints. Wine in pubs is in ml though.
Most Brits would say, crucially that Britain is not a metric country though and some get very upset about any signpost in kms or metres, for a footpath or low bridge for example
Nicely summarised Roger, you beat me to it 😉
Always tickles me that we buy our fuel by the litre and yet still talk about miles per gallon.
By my generation (took my GCSEs in 1994) imperial measures weren’t being taught at all, I get a headache trying to fathom pounds and ounces, feet and yards and such nonsense… pints I can do just fine so long as they’re in a pub 😀 (though seriously I think of my milk in litres)
I even think of my own height and weight in metric (although I know and understand the “old money” versions of both) admittedly most people here tend to use feet and inches to talk about their height… and I’d say it’s about 50/50 weight between people who give their weight in kg and those who use stones but we never talk about our weight pounds like the US.
Speaking about weight….
Especially women prefer to say they lost …. pond. A pond is 500 gram, so 0.5 kilo. “I’ve lost 8 pond” sounds so much better than “I’ve lost 4 kilo” !
Oh yes, an ons (ounce ?) is 100 gram, 0.1 kg.
Good point. I’m genetically skinny so losing weight doesn’t factor for me, maybe that’s why I like thinking in kg (c.66) rather than stone (c.9) because the bigger number makes me feel less of a weed?
Conversely (and veering somewhat back on topic) my brother always loves driving on the continent because with the distances in km instead of miles on the road signs he says feels like he’s going faster 😀
I guess I was one of the last to grow up with largely Imperial measures at school, though metric was creeping into physics lessons in the early ’70s. I still buy my milk in pints (usually 4 or 6), do my DIY in feet and inches and baking in lbs and ozs. I’m content if we can continue to fudge along.
As to accuracy that can be achieved whatever system of measures you use.
True enough you can indeed be accurate in either system but you do have to resort to fractions to do fine work with imperial units – for example I’m a graphic designer and would hate to have to do my job with imperial units, milimeters are much more useful in that context, and overall as a system I think metric is more flexible.
splateagle – I’m amazed you know anyone who does human height and weight in metric! I can honestly say I’ve never met a Brit who does.
We just had a kid and the hospital scales are metric but they went away and converted it to pounds and ounces and never told us the metric – presumably because everyone says “What the hell does that mean?”.
almost forgot – UK information signs (low bridges etc) have had their signs in meters AND feet for years now Roger, but with the metric shown first, then the imperial:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/traffic-signs
One reason is many of the street grids and roads are laid out in miles. And a kilometer is too darn short, too. Just my opinion.
Not only that, but F temps are easier to figure out aka “It’s in the 70’s today, a nice day” Not, it’s 27-28 out.
Why cant we do both?
Nah, one of the few things I do in metric is temperature. Water freezing at 32 degrees? Mental!
Agree, it doesn’t get any easier than that.
Same as 1 liter water = 1 KG / 1.000 gram
We learned a quick calculation this Christmas in Miami.
61 Fahrenheit = 16 Celsius
82 Fahrenheit = 28 Celsius
Also: 11 below zero C is approximately 11 above F, and 40 below is… 40 below. (less useful in Miami, I’ll admit, but works great here in Ottawa)
20C is comfortable ~70F
In celsius water freezes a 0 degree and boils at 100 degree.
How easy is that?
Because the inches/feet/yards system is based in observable concrete units. On a typical male, an inch is generally very close to the length from the tip of your thumb to the first joint. A foot is very close to the typical foot of the average man. A yard is three feet. On liquids, “a pint weighs one pound, the word around”. A quart is two pints or two pounds. A gallon weighs eight pounds.
Anyone, anywhere can take these units and make something.
On the other hand, the metric system is easy to do math with, but difficult to use to make things easily. What easily obtainable thing in the real world is a centimeter long? Where can you find some way to closely estimate a meter? Additionally, you have to do the math in much larger numbers
As for liquids – you can explain this all day long and good luck to you:
“Every liter is equal to 1,000 milliliters. One milliliter is also equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters. Hence, 1 milliliter is equal to 1 cubic centimeter. One cubic centimeter is also equal to 1 gram. Thus, every milliliter or every cubic centimeter of water weighs 1 gram. This works out to 1,000 grams for 1,000 milliliters of water. Thus, a liter of water weighs exactly 1 kilogram.”
But I’m having a pint of beer while you babble.
Good point. Likewise, the Fahrenheit scale is designed to describe real world weather. The hottest temperature normally seen in Europe (or much of North America) is 100 deg F and the coldest temperature normally seen is 0 deg F. The increments are smaller than celcius ones, so you don’t have to use decimals in everyday use. Celcius is better for science, but Fahrenheit is better for lay people.
I dunno, all depends what you’re used to.
We use C almost exlusively for the (national sport of) describing weather here in the UK and I’ve never encountered anyone using a decimal, thermometers and meterologists alike just round to the nearest degree.
A scale where 0 marks the freezing point of water actually makes C pretty useful for lay people in the context of weather: especially this time of year – back when I commuted I remember always checking the car’s temperature gauge in a morning to see if it was cold enough that I need to think about ice on the roads or not. Simply checking if the number’s positive or negative is easier than remembering above or below… (whatever freezing is in F?) in my opinion.
Sorry, but that is complete BS, Sailorharry.
Celsius is far easier to deal with than Farenheit, you just haven’t had the practice. Who needs .5 of a deg C in everyday use? Literally nobody. Even the Brits and the Burmese have given up on the Farenheit nowadays.
All this talk reminds me of pre-decimal British currency. Holdovers from olden times that are only still present through sheer fear of change / xenophobia / laziness. When the whole world except you uses a unified system, it makes no sense to keep using your own (ancient) system. No justification of said old system can beat the argument that literally everyone else has gone metric.
i’d have no problem switching from miles to kilometers because i can pretend i’m martin sheen and say, “we’re going up river about 75 clicks past the do-lung bridge.”
but please don’t ever take my fahrenheit away!
http://isomorphism.es/post/3767526267/fahrenheit-versus-celsius
The dual scale ’82 Camaro is my favorite. I do remember the 1976 VW Beetle as being the first year the Beetle had km/h graphics, and I was told by someone at the dealer back then that it was to comply with US regulations.
I think it varies depending on models. My 1978 Plymouth volare doesn’t have the metric reading in the speedometer but from 1979 and later, they all do. However in 1978 they have the international turn signals on the back and in 1979 they switched back, while Dodge Monaco has the international turn signals in 1977.
Depending on how international a model is, those details (metric, tail lights, side lights, license plate housing) would vary a lot. For example, current Escalade is so popular in Eastern Europe and is assembled there, and all versions come with international turn signals, so are most Lincoln models. International Buick LaCrosse comes with amber turn signals but those made in Detroit/Hamtramck have red turn signals. Even Chrysler Town&Country has international tail lamps and Dodge Grand Caravan has the red turn signal design. More so, some BMW has red turn signals anyhow.
Picture is a ’77 Aspen
Wow, I love that 77 Aspen interior! I had no idea how nice it was!
You raise an interesting point, in passing. Why does America use a flashing brake light to signal a turn? To the rest of the world, used to amber indicators, it means you’ve got a faulty brake light. Anyone know how this anomaly arose?
It’s probably a choice made when turn signals were first introduced. Today, however, many cars that have red signals do use a separate bulb.
Cheapness. It costs less to have one housing, one bulb doing dual duty. And since we have no regulations against it, manufacturers here do it.
Yes it may have been cheaper but is also safer. You can tell if your brake lights aren’t working if your turn signals don’t work.
No, it is only cheaper—not safer. The data show cars with amber rear turn signals are less likely to be hit in traffic than those with red ones.
Studying various tail light designs, it seems to be easier and more interesting to design fancy tail lights with red turn signals only.
On many cars it seems like the amber turn signal was originally forgotten and than squeezed in in the last minute.
That is how our Citroên C1 looks on the rear.
VW Passat tried a great idea of tail lights being all red, but partly changing colors when the turn signal is on.
Actually a great idea from a design point of view.
Other cars hide amber turn signals behind red striped glas covers or even red toned glas allowing the amber light to shine through when activated.
Only problem with red turn signals in my experience, is the hwy use of the hazard lights, when traffic in front of you comes to a sudden and unexpected stop.
In Europe it is common to activate the hazard light, for additional warning to traffic behind you, when traffic ahead of you is slowing down fast or has come to a comple halt. A warning in addition to your stop lights.
On cars with red turn signals this doesn’t work as intended.
You can turn the hazard lights on, but once you step on the brake, all turn signals – front and rear (and in Denmark also on the side) – will keep a steady light and won’t flash/blink.
Pete, this is a pet peeve of mine, and I’ve long considered suggesting a CC article on the history of amber turn indicators — but I’m not sure my blood pressure could stand it. It seems every time amber indicators are discussed, people come out of the woodwork to say how unattractive they think they are. As though their aesthetic preferences trump safety.
Amber turn signals started being required in some countries as early as 1960, and that requirement spread to the point that (if what I’ve read is right) the U.S.A. is the only country that does not require them. In fact, they weren’t even allowed here until the early 1970s, since only emergency vehicles were allowed to display an amber flashing light at the rear.
A 2009 NHTSA study found that cars with amber turn signals were 5.3% less likely to be hit from behind than otherwise identical vehicles with red turn signals. (Obviously, because a flashing amber light is an unambiguous indication that you want to turn.) That incidentally was a greater safety advantage than provided by the central CHMSL light that the U.S. does require.
Yet out of inertia, nothing has been done to bring our regulations in harmony with the rest of the world. What is particularly maddening is those manufacturers (BMW, Audi, and VW seem to be the worst offenders) who go to great lengths to modify the U.S. versions of their vehicles so they have red turn signals. (Of course, it appears most BMWs and now Audis are also factory-equipped with non-operable turn signal levers, so it might not matter as much as I think.)
Here’s a nice history of all this: http://www.acarplace.com/cars/turn-signals/
Thanks, Johnny.
Here’s my favourite Aussie amber turn signal. Batwings need bats, no?
Loved these as a kid. The assembly is marked ‘Guide’, so presumably a US reversing lamp repurposed.
Actually Guide Lamps is, or at least was, a division of General Motors.
It drives me nuts when you see a flashing red turn signal, then the vehicle goes straight and it turns out a brake bulb is burnt out. Although now that CHMSL’s have been around for over 30 years you can tell what’s up so this is a not such an issue as in the past. Is more common on pickup’s, vans and SUV’s since they didn’t get the 3rd brake lamp until 1994. Wouldn’t happen with amber lamps. My MK2 Jetta has amber and my Titan’s are red, doesn’t take a genius to realize which is better and makes more sense.
I seem to recall my ’71 Vega’s horizontal speedometer had the kilometer scale as pictured but my ’70 C10 round speedometer was miles only.
Red flashing indicator lights are common useage in NZ and I see them on trucks which are built and wired locally, We dont require amber lights on imported US cars.Those hanging amber indicator lights on 59 and 60 Chevs are absent here even on NZ assembly cars
It is very easy on my 89 Cadillac.
I just pres a button and go from miles to KM.
My Continental Mark IV does have miles, but you get used to the conversion in your head.
50 miles is exactly 80KM – for the road.
30 miles is safe for 50KM – in the city.
70 miles is a little hot for 110KM on most highways.
80 miles is safe for 130KM on some highways.
All you need to know.
I have – though – seen a speedometer for a Mark IV for sale on ebay showing only KM. I regret I didn’t buy it.
Could have been fun to have.
My 89 Cadillac is an EU version – made for export.
That is why is has fog lamps in the rear bumper – a Swiss requirement to GM I have been told.
I have got original taillights for it, as it looks too much like a Volvo 245 at night from the rear. Here you can compare.
But the EU version leaves me with some mysteries.
The red reflex on the rear bumper is a Danish requirement, but on the front the parking light has been transferred to a small bulp in the headlight, leaving the parking/turn signal lights dark, except for turn signal in the one.
I am rebuilding this fairly easy.
But the cornering light is a different story. I simply cannot find the wiring for these and wonder how deep into the dash they have been removed.
I find the cornering lights very practical. On my previous Cadillacs
I just disconneted them for the inspection hall – only.
Rear fog lamp: Not a Swiss rule, it’s a pan-European requirement as of 1990.
Red rear retro-reflectors: not a Danish rule, it’s a requirement everywhere in the world for many, many decades. They don’t have to be on the bumper; yours are on the bumper because there was no room for them in the EU taillamps.
Amber rear turn signals: First required by Italy and Australia in ’59/’60, thorughout most of Europe by ’65. Cars with red turn signals get hit more often even in America where red turn signals are commonplace; they’re much more likely to get you hit in European traffic where most drivers have always only ever amber.
The front position (“parking”) lamps are the way they are because in most countries outside North America, front position lamps must emit white light. Amber is allowed in North America and a small scattering of other countries, but not in Europe. Here again, it would be best to leave them the European way; that’s what European drivers are expecting and a steady-burning amber light in Europe always only ever means “you are looking at the side of the car”. Yes, it’s fun to have something different, but maybe not at the cost of increased likelihood to get in a crash, eh?
Cornering lamp a l’Americain (go on when you activate the turn signal and remain on until a few seconds after the turn signal stops) are not difficult to wire up; send me an e-mail and I’ll send you the details.
It is a mistake to call them “international turn signals”. None of the ones you mention are actually international. The ’78 Volare, ’77 Monaco, and current Town & Country and Escalade have amber rear turn signals, but they meet the US design, construction, and performance requirements, not the international ECE requirements. The Buicks sold outside North America have amber rear turn signals meeting the ECE regulations; those sold in North America have amber or red (depending on the model) rear turn signals meeting the US specs. The differences are more than just colour, it’s also intensity and lit area. See here.
Every post-70s Ford product I’ve ever been in has had the secondary km/h set, going as far back to an early 80s Fox Mustang to a brand new Fusion, but I looked inside a recent Chevy Malibu not too long ago and it was MPH only, so I’m not sure it’s mandated at all. I think designers may just throw in the dual readings to fill space for aesthetics, I mean sometimes they’re so small and clustered together it’s illegible.
I can tell you one problem with this system, I’m NOT following the 60km/h limit when I can legally go faster at 40MPH. I wasn’t born during the backlash/disinterest/failure of the US attempt at going metric but knowing speed limits would be rounded DOWN in the conversion would irritate the hell out of me. Double nickel was bad enough!
I have a feeling that Malibu has a switch on the dash that’ll change the readout between the two scales.
My mother’s old LeSabre had analog gauges and a button- when pressed “MPH” or “KPH” would light up on the speedometer and the needle would realign itself.
Ah that may be the case. The digits were printed on so it couldn’t change display for the same needle sweep, but the needle sweep changing to align to the same digits makes perfect sense. That may explain why 160mph speedometers are so common now too, any lower than that on the Malibu and any other car using that system and the km/h range would be too low. And lest the competition appear lesser they up their speedos to 160, even if they have separate km/h print.
Matt – as to 160mph speedometers, that’s a really good point- hadn’t thought of that.
I just remembered this actually– when I would drive her around sometimes I’d hit the button to put it into metric. She’d glance over at the speedometer and freak out. “ARE YOU CRAZY? SLOW DOWN!” Good times.
If it’s same is pontiac, there’s a kmh/mph selection and needle will show accordingly
In Australia our 35mph town limits were rounded UP to 60km/h (37.5). I remember how cool it felt to legally do 37 in the family car in what had been a 35mph zone. Yeah, I was a bored teenager – why do you ask? 🙂
Canada went metric in 1977, and it was around 1977 that U.S. speedometers started to universally display a secondary scale. I’ve seen 1977 Lincolns that still had the mph bar speedo with no metric tics, while later production ones had an 85 mph/137 kph scale.
I also know that in order to import a car into Canada, it has to have metric markings on the gauge. My understanding is that if you’re importing a car without metric markings, they have to be added.
I wonder if this particular example was one that was imported to Canada at some point when they hadn’t quite sorted out what the format of that should look like.
Speaking of goofy U.S. vs. Canada restrictions, I’m reminded of certain 1980s cars in which the MPH digital speed would stop ticking upward at 85, while the metric numbers would go as high as possible.
No, this is how all standard Vega speedos look between these years. Otherwise I wouldn’t have gone to the trouble and searched for each year to find out when it changed.
I wonder if there were plans to export Vegas? That could account for it, although in many markets they probably would have insisted on a full metric switch-over. In any case a salt water journey would have rendered the effort moot. It really is weird what’s going on here.
First US car I remember with dual speedo markings was my dad’s ’76 Fury Salon. It arrived about the same time we were learning the metric system in middle school.
I believe US cars today, and for some time, are all metric from an engineering perspective – is that correct?
I already covered that. All export cars to metric countries always got a metric speedometer and odometer. You have to; you can’t sell a car in Europe with a mile speedo and odometer. Along with other changes.
Cars in the UK (still EU for the moment) certainly have odometers in miles, some may be switchable to km on modern digital units but they read in miles as standard (and nothing else if they’re analogue) and of course the speedos are like American ones.
Given it’s against EU law for new car dealers to refuse to sell RHD cars, presumably they can supply mile odometers in other EU countries.
OK, I meant “continental” Europe. Back then these issues were regulated by the countries, not the EU. There’s no way Germany and other countries would have approved a new car to be sold without a proper metric speedo, as well as other things, like the amber turn signals.
@payam – England started switching to metric, but never quite finished. Petrol is sold in litres but distances and speeds are still in miles.
I do know that back in the 1980s when speedometers only read up to 85 MPH, the 55 was highlighted.
Not only cars. My ’83 Yamaha Venture Royale has the 55 in significantly larger type than any of the other numbers on the dial.
The 55 in my ’89 E30 is just indicated by the actual bar – not the number – in red. Subtle. 😉
Certainly you must remember that one who would have purchased a Vega back in the day, would likely be one who would probably have it shipped across the pond to provide upscale transport whilst touring the continent. GM was simply anticipating the obvious need of their customers.
I remember some people thought there was going to also be “metric time” and would have to go to 10’s for seconds/minutes/hours/days.
The UK has it right with using both miles and liters, together.
I remember some people thought there was going to also be “metric time” and would have to go to 10’s for seconds/minutes/hours/days.
Remember the original “Battlestar Glactica” TV series that came on in 78? They had a base 10 time system Sectars, Sectons,:Centars, Centons, Microns,
living in the UK I disagree, having this hotchpotch blend of metric/imperial isn’t a great system – for example we buy fuel in litres but fuel efficiency is usually given in miles per gallon, so your til reciept at the pump tells you how much fuel you bought in one system and then the car tells you your fuel consumption in another.
Since we’ve learned metric units in schools for 50 years or so, and goods are sold in metric people will generally measure things in metric, except themselves (ask someone’s height in the UK odds are they’ll give it in feet and inches).
Weirder there are people like my little sister who was of course taught metric units and measures area or length in metric but uses imperial for volume or weight because she mainly uses those for cooking and grew up using Mum’s old cook books with measures given in imperial (all her new books give the metric units first and the ingredients are sold metric but she “thinks” in imperial for volume and weight).
It’s kind of a mess, not an approach to emulate
So how are building supplies, sheet goods, and lumber measured? If metric, than I assume tape measures are metric. But then how do folks measure their height? Are the tape measures in dual scales? Most likely, I assume.
Most tape measures and rulers have 2 scales.
People measure their height in Imperial units (i’m a frustrating 5/8″ under 6′!), except in medical purposes and on your passport. People will often refer to their weight in stones (14lb) and pounds, although the Doc will use kg.
Building materials, sheet material and the like are now in metric sizes. A new Jaguar will be built using metric data and standards.
Here’s a strange one. in 1976 I bought a 1973 Mazda. The speedometer read in mph. But, the odometer counted kilometers. Drive 60 miles and it would tic off 100 on the odometer. I suppose the good news was it had far fewer miles on it than we thought. I suspect it was a screwup from the factory.
I recall an elementary school teacher of mine telling us that we’d better learn the Metric System because the country will be using it by the time we finish high school. I still didn’t pay attention when they were teaching that stuff… guess I dodged a bullet!
When digital dashboards became popular, I remember one of the selling points was that you could push a button and the whole display will change over to kilometers, and that way your car won’t appear obsolete once the big changeover comes.
In any event, this is my favorite dual-scale speedometer idea — just mail order some decals for your existing dash — just $1.00! The selling point that it’ll help keep you out of a Mexican jail is pretty amusing too.
We had a 1989 Olds Cutlass Supreme with the full VF dashboard. The push-button metric conversion was actually handy for the trips to Toronto and other places in the Great White North. Even the trip computer would display metric. It did take some getting used to with the fuel economy number, which is the mathematical inverse (fuel per distance rather than distance per fuel).
I’m not sure when metric calibrations started showing up on big three speedos. I went from a 70 to a 78, and I’m pretty sure the 78 had a metric scale.
By 80, I was seeing distance signs on an Interstate in both miles and clicks, and some gas stations were selling by the litre…I know Meijer was one of the companies that had converted….of course, the price of gas had jumped in 79, so the idea of selling by the litre may have been to camouflage the price as most people didn’t know what a litre was, but the price was a *lot* lower than for a gallon.
I remember hearing on the radio when returning from Chicago in Feb or March of 1982 that the POTUS had cancelled the metric conversion program.
Not only are all the fasteners on my US built Ford Focus metric, as were the fasteners on the 02 Escort that preceded it, the transaxle is sized to take exactly 2 litres of oil…but oil in the US is still packaged by the quart, so I had to pay for a third quart of pricy synthetic gear oil, to make up the 1/10 of a quart that the trans needed after 2 quarts were poured in.
The engine in my VW takes 6 litres, or 6.5 US quarts, of oil. The VW dealer in Farmington Hills consistently tossed in 6 quarts and called it good. 6 quarts only got the oil level up to the “add” mark, so I always had to top it up when i got home. The VW store in Ann Arbor actually puts in 6.5 quarts.
While motor oil is packed in quarts, soda pop is packaged in half litre and 2 litre bottles. Why can’t people get their head around a litre of motor oil when they have been guzzling 2 litre jugs of pop for 35 years? It would have been so easy to convert when the motor oil companies switched from cans to plastic bottles as they had to put new equipment in their packaging line anyway.
Speaking of the Brits converting to the metric system, one thing that always amused me watching the Brit produced episodes of “Junkyard Wars” aka “Scrapheap Challenge” was when the team members were in their 50s, they could be heard working in English units, while a team of people in their 20s or 30s were working in metric units.
Maybe they could have changed up the game: hand everyone all the materials they needed, but make them go looking for scales, calipers and mics calibrated in the units they wanted to work in.
But beer is sold in ounce containers. Don’t know about pop or water, never drink the stuff myself as it corrodes the pipes.
Soda is packaged in ounces in the smaller sizes expected to be drank directly and metric in larger ones meant to be poured off into cups. 8oz 12oz 16oz 20oz 1L 2L 3L.
Soda is sold in liters for one reason only: when they switched over from quarts, they didn’t lower the price, even though a liter is smaller. I’m sure the soda industry would be happy if there was a new unit of measurement somewhat smaller than the liter. 🙂
Soda is sold in liters for one reason only: when they switched over from quarts, they didn’t lower the price,
Before addressing the food issue, remember how the Vega’s engine was advertised as a “2300”? Even the badge on the car said “Vega 2300”. Who, besides bikers, at that time had any idea how big a cubic centimeter was? But I bet everyone would think a 140 cuin engine was little, so Chevy obfuscated the issue by using an unfamiliar unit of measure. I was talking with a 40ish coworker a few years ago, and mentioned my 98 Civic’s penchant for running at about 85mph. He says “how big an engine?”. I said “1.6 litres”…then I did some quick math and said “96 cubic inch”. *Then* he said “that’s tiny!”
Shrinking food packaging has been going on for a long time. Remember when a “half gallon” of ice cream was two quarts? Bryer’s shrank to 1.75 quarts for a while and now they are down to 1.5 quarts. Stroh’s “half gallon” is still 1.75 quarts.
Ever notice how tiny yogurt cups are now? Found an article from 2003 reporting Dannon reduced the size of their package by 25%, to 6 oz, so the earlier package would have been 8 oz. According to Dannon’s web site, their package is now 5.3 oz.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/03/business/yogurt-makers-shrink-the-cup-trying-to-turn-less-into-more.html
Speaking of yogurt, why is it sold to us Americans as “Dannon,” while it’s “Danone” everywhere else?
I beg to differ, Paul. 1 quart = 32 ounces. 1 liter = 33.8 oz.
Being a homebrewer, I am confronted with these numbers all the time when calculating my yield after I have it all bottled up.
Some beer bottles are 1/2 liter bottles (like German swing tops) and they work out to 16.9 oz. A half a quart would be 16 oz.
So if they didn’t change their prices, the soda companies actually gave us a break…..
As to the break over to metric that never happened….
My ’73 LTD did not have metric, only MPH on the speedo, however by 1979 Ford had started, as my Fairmont Futura had a KPH scale (in smaller yellow font iirc) under the main MPH scale in larger white font.
Come to think of it, my Dad’s 1977 Chevy Concours had a metric scale too. But that Vega has all of these years beat.
1 Imperial (i.e. Canadian) quart is 40 ounces. We Canadians lost out on that one.
Pre-emptive: leave 1812 out of it, please!
Oooops; I stepped into that one. I somehow had that in my memory, even though I knew that in actuality there’e a bit less than 4 liters to a gallon. Thanks for setting me straight.
That’s ok, Paul, easy switch up… I hope I didn’t come across as the Unit of Measure Police….
…and John66ny, thanks for the info. I was going to ask what an imperial gallon was… I always thought it was 4 liters (135.2 oz) rather than 4 quarts (128 oz), because you all do that metric thing up there…
…when I was a kid, I had it all mixed up in my 5 – 6 year old (just becoming car-aware) brain thinking because a Chrysler Imperial was such a big car, maybe it needed a larger gallon of gas!
And what does a great piece of music by Tchaikovsky have to do with it? ;o)
An interesting QOTD may be how many quarts of oil does YOUR car need?
Here in America, for the longest time, the standard seemed to be 5 quarts including the filter at every oil change. It still is that for my Mustang (a 2007 4.0L). My wife’s Lancer takes 4.5 quarts. OK, maybe the Japanese are doing that metric thing, but when I do the math I get 4.26 liters, so that can’t be it. It’s not the first car I’ve had that took a weird quantity of oil. I had a 4.6L T-Bird (’94) that took 4.5 quarts and thought it was just because the filter was not the standard Ford PER-1 or PH8A (My first Ford ever to not take this ‘oil can sized’ filter). Now I have a 2016 Honda Civic 1.5L Turbo. It takes 3.7 quarts of oil. WTF?!?!? – Ok, that translates to 3.5 liters of oil, but unless they sell motor oil in 1/2 liter (16.9 oz ;o) bottles in Japan, this doesn’t add up!
A better QOTD may be, “How do the manufacturers decide how much oil an engine is to use?” when they’re designing it. Size of the engine maybe?
At least I don’t have a Ferrari 512 boxter… a neighbor when I was younger had one of these. IIRC, he said it took 12 quarts of oil and 2 filters! Yikes! Good luck getting an oil change special on that!
A friend of mine drove an ’02 Mercedes CLK320 for quite a number of years. IIRC he said it took 8 quarts of oil. I always wondered why it needed so much for a 3.2 V6…
Though I’m sure you’ve noticed that soda sold in 6-packs comes in half-liter bottles, whereas soda sold in machines and refrigerated cases still comes in 20 oz bottles. That one has always confused me–you’d think they would have designed a 500ml bottle that wouldn’t jam in machines designed for the 20oz size and gone with that across the board so they could get away with selling you less soda for more money.
Every time I reach into my socket set to determine if a metric or United States Customary Unit (Yep, that’s what they’re called) will fit, I wish we would have got our act together on this back in 1975. It was the early Reagan Administration that formally killed off the rather weak initiative for metrification in the States.
I would have guessed either Canadian or Mexican exports of the Vega to have been the driver of the metric numbers on the Vega speedo, but it seems Canada has been mostly ruled out here.
Paul’s comment on the 1968 US Metric Study is interesting just because of its timing and the Vega’s development timeline.
Speaking of 1968, what was it with Chevy using direct parts or design themes from the 1968 full-size cars on just about everything below full-size into the 1970’s? My dad had a 1968 Impala for several years, and the minute I saw that Vega speedo, my mind went back to 1968.
That paragon of industrial design, the 1968 Chevrolet dash…….
I agree. We’d be long over it by now if the changeover had not been thwarted.
Every time I reach into my socket set to determine if a metric or United States Customary Unit (Yep, that’s what they’re called) will fit, I wish we would have got our act together on this back in 1975.
After years of driving imports, I wanted to do something on my US market Ford Escort. I dusted off my SAE (that’s what I called it) size socket set. Nothing seemed to fit, either a hair too big, or a snitch too small. “Nah”, I thought…but I got my metric set and the 10mm socket fit perfectly.
The 70s vintage S&K set went on eBay.
14mm and 9/16″ are interchangeable as are 7/8″ and 22mm and 8mm/5/16″. Nice when you need more than one. Or in the latter case when I want to tighten a hose clamp and have double the chance of finding the right size in that bag of nutdrivers I otherwise never reach for.
Big inch wrenches are the most useful in the larger sizes. For stuff like hooking up propane. Or on a chromed nut so some padding can be inserted.
There used to be a premium for metric wrenches larger than 19mm, I think you had to be at least a 20th degree Mason to buy them. Now you can buy all the bulky doubtful metallurgy you can carry at the local HF or swap meet.
Back in the early (US) Escort days, manufacturers were conflicted about switching to metric fasteners, or perhaps they had lots of SAE-sized stocks to use up. For a while there I needed both sets handy.
I’d suppose that after the further consolidation of GM into parts-bin territory and the changeover to plastics in ’68, they needed to amortize that investment, hence why the 1969-style steering column was used into the mid-90s, for instance, across the product line. It’s easy to make new injected-plastic molds, especially when the other parts are consistent…
I had forgotten about the tiny little km marks on the Vega’s speedo. Ca. ’72 the idea of metric wasn’t really on the radar here in Canada so I’m not sure why GM did this. You can’t really read them anyway.
When we did finally make the change there was a lively trade in self adhesive speedometer overlays that replaced the MPH scale on older cars with KMH. They were a staple in auto parts stores for a decade afterward, you would take the dash apart to remove the clear faceplate and then carefully line up the overlay so the holes for blinker indicators etc lined up. Our provincial Highways Department spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars doing the same thing with road signs. You still see the odd one around on side roads. And after 40 years I still think in terms of miles. It was a very controversial change at the time.
I have one of those overlays on my car. My dad installed it shortly after the switch over. He bought it from the local Ford dealer and it fits quite well. I have thought about going back to the stock MPH only speedometer. I don’t know, I think I might keep it, because I haven’t seen another overlay in many years. Plus if I remove it, it would most certainly take the original number with it.
Here’s a pic of my cluster:
I wonder if anyone ever tried to obtain a metric decal for their tach… ?
I just remember a page of round stickers that folks would stick to the lens of the speedo, years later they would turn nasty. I was at the age we had to learn both systems–and don’t forget our gallon was 4.5l and the US gallon was(and still is) 3.8l.
When I got my first real job in a marketing department in 1974, the corporation I worked for ordered a bunch of cardboard slide rule thingys that converted English to metric.They were passed out to the sales force to give away as promos. I remember designing a marketing letter with a ruler walking across the title, “A Bridge to Metrication”.
I’m pushing 70 now, and although we still favor miles and ounces in the US, metrics are not foreign to our thinking. I’m comfortable with either system, so I don’t really see a problem in not committing entirely to tens. The 32 degree freezing point aside, I like the Farenheit system because I grew up in it. Doesn’t mean it’s better, just more familiar.
In Canada, I was about 19 when we switched over, old enough to know the old system but young enough to learn a new one. To this day, I can readily switch back and forth in my head, no problem.
And here’s an interesting little factoid. A metric scale can function as a mile-per-minute meter. Since 100 kmh is 62 mph, roughly a mile a minute (60 exactly), just mentally insert the decimal point after the 1.
One thing about the Fahrenheit temperature scale is that it is more precise than the metric scale. Freezing being at 32 degrees, boiling at 212 gives 180 graduations between the two extremes vs. only 100 in the metric system.
And you can feel the difference between 82 and 83? For scientific purposes, one can always add a decimal, if needed.
Having less gradations to work with might save some battles over the temperature of the house. Set the A/C at 72…no, 73…no, 72…could be replaced with setting it at 22 and then coexisting peacefully!
Of course then you lose the more-psychological-than-physical effect of bumping it up or down by a degree F when your comfort is just slightly off.
As of 1 Jan 1977, cars sold in CA had to have metric speedo, it says (article is from later that month):
Thank you. I can always count on you for some additional historical input. 🙂
You’re very kind, Paul. I just love this kind of sleuthing, given all the sources floating around online. Having lived through the 70s/metric (temporarily) thing, it’s interesting to see it from a north-of-the-border perspective–like this late-’77 CA ad:
Does anybody remember the scene in Smoky & The Bandit when Sally Field asks Burt about their speed? Supposedly they are doing 110 but they show show a close up of the metric scale, he punches it and suddenly they are doing “160”.
And this is the opposite: metric speedo with small mph scale added in. From a 2011 VW Jetta Mk4/Bora/Clasico. As many of you may know, this car was sold well into the 2010’s in Latin American markets. My guess: Mexicans driving into the US with their Clasicos. Actually, mi current Mk7 Golf which is Mexican built LATAM spec too does not have that mph scale and there might be a reason: a speed readout is available via the center instrument cluster display, if you drive your LATAM Golf into the US it can show actual speed in mph…
I remember very well the groaning and moaning when we were going metric in the mid-seventies. As time went on most of us Canucks got use to temps in metric and a new way of measuring. Kids today don’t know what a “yard stick” is.
In 1976 Metrification Canada told broadcasters the proper pronunciation would be “kill-oh-meters” As a side note its a bit odd that my 78 Cordoba records miles and if I remember correctly the speedometer is in miles. The Cordoba was built in Windsor for a Canadian dealership. The car is in storage that’s why I can’t rembmer exactly how the speedometer reads. I’ll have to check it out, hmm.
If it’s a 78, for the Canadian market, it’s metric. Our 78 LeBaron was.
Wasn’t 1978 the first year for the metric being the “big numbers”? I know our ’76 Malibu Canadian market car, had miles and km with the km being the smaller scale. Our old ’78 Delta 88 had km’s as the large numbers.
That’s actually what I mean, the metric numbers were small in 77, big in 78.
My dad had a 76 Mercury Marquis that had a 120 mph speedo without the metric scale, the 78 Marquis that he traded it for had the 85 mph dual scale speedo.
Did they really put some people on the moon using United States Customary Units? Mind boggling! They clearly had NASA-grade calculators.
BTW, I’ve noticed that many things seem to be measured in a strange combination of inches and decimal places e.g. 10.4 inches. Is that metric or US Customary? Inchetric, Custometric?
But in the absence of full metrifcation, other, more interesting units seem to be coming to the fore, at least for large measurements. For example, the FFU – Football Field Unit – and its close relative, the Large Object Laid End-To-End Unit, are becoming increasingly popular.
If you’re interested in the potential confusion arising from the use of different types of units, spare the time to read up on the ‘Gimli Glider’. A great, breathtaking, read.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider#Running_out_of_fuel
You realize that all international air traffic/flights today are in knots (nautical miles) and not km, and altitude is in feet, right? As well as other units used in aviation. That means even Airbus has to use non-metric measure in its planes for this aspect. So yes, the distance to the moon and everything else related was done in US Customary. You might be surprised, but it actually works just as well as Metric. 🙂
And Concorde was built from parts made in both Imperial and Metric measures.
And bearing balls were (and maybe still are) mostly in inches, despite the ID and OD of precision bearings being available in metric sizes. There’s an informative article about why that happened to come about, somewhere online.
I rebuilt a Swiss Thorens turntable, some of the bearing balls in the tonearm were an inch size so odd that I had to order them in, no local house had them (and amusingly, thought I could try the next rounded 8th size on something Swiss, they wouldn’t even fit in the race :^) ). Local bearing houses didn’t have the one metric-size ball it needed either.
We all get along fine without metric time. The French revolutionaries introduced metric time as part of the metric system, 10 hours a day, 100 minutes an hour, 100 seconds a minute. (Check out the crazy clocks.) Obviously it never caught on. So we deal with 24 hours, 60 minutes, 60 seconds. Works OK.
Tire size … 225/60 R 16.
Michelin tried and failed to go all metric with the TRX system.
The TRX tires were sized in metric because they used a different bead profile, and the tires would not mount properly on a standard rim. The tire failed because it required different wheels, but the metric measurement wasn’t really the issue.
Having said that…tires sizes are still plenty weird…
If I’m not mistaken, fine machining has used thousandths of an inch for a long time.
Pardon my astoundment, I think I’ve just been spoiled over the years by the simplicity of everything being in tens, hundreds etc! 🙂
I did learn – as a kid – the old system, but there’s no going back. However, we still commonly use psi for tyre pressures (kilopascals, anyone?) and a few other remnants.
I think the ultimate test of one’s ‘conversion’ is thinking of fuel consumption in terms of litres per 100km instead of miles per gallon. Once you’ve got your head around that, you really know you’re hooked!
I’m pretty sure there was a requirement in around 1978 for automakers to put metric numbers on speedometers. This was during the Carter administration. When Reagan came into office in ’81, he reversed the move towards the metric system, and scrapped the requirement for metric speedometers (and for 5mph bumpers). The logic? “We don’t change for nobody!” and “Burdensome requirement for the automakers.”
The speedometer in a modern US or UK (or Liberian!) auto is likely one of the few non-metric things in it, other than the diameter of its wheels. Just a comfort zone issue – people don’t enjoy change, especially those Liberians. The global automotive supply chain could care less, metric is its standard.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going shopping for summer pants that have a 34-inch waist. It’ll be warm later this month, at least 20 degrees!
Responding to various posts:
I seem to only use US wrenches if I’m working on lawn mowers or something using hardware store fasteners. Our Silverado and Trailblazer both use metric fasteners, and both have dual-scale speedometers (metric inside in smaller numbers.)
When I was in college (late ’60s) we learned the meter kilogram second and centimeter gram second measurement systems in sciences; I think it’s significant that nobody has come up with a decimal time measurement. Maybe those English weren’t so nuts…
The temp here in sunny Phoenix will approach 33 degrees this weekend or 91 for old farts like me. (Who is Celsius, anyway, and why isn’t centigrade good enough any more?)
Celsius was a Swedish guy, no longer with us. His scale is based on 0° for the freezing point of water and 100° for the boiling point of water at 1 atm pressure.
And before I forget, 1 atm = 14.7 psi.
Actually, Celsius set the freezing point at 100° and the boiling point at 0°. Linnaeus flipped the scale to the one we use today.
Aha, and again I learned something new today !
…and so did I!
My parents had a 1975 GMC van that had an Imperial speedometer. When Metric was being rolled out, you could get these round stickers to place on the speedo glass.
My dad got nipped in North Dakota when we were driving back from a western holiday when the limit was 55. He was keeping pace with a car in front that was doing over. He only got a warning from the trooper but my dad didn’t want to tell him he was doing 60.
Not sure if it is true, but I once read that under Carter the US was going to go metric. Interstate highway signs had been made with metric distances. Then Reagan was elected president and they threw them out.
Probably true. We do know that Reagan had the solar panels (probably for hot water heating, not making electricity) removed from the White House roof. They are back. Maybe Trump will have them removed, but probably not because he is usually not there and his trophy wife is almost never there.
Of course today with manufacturing being global all cars and I assume everything else are metric, even if civilians are still blissfully on the old system. Wood in the US is still in inches and feet. It would make sense to go all-metric. It would make sense to eliminate pennies and nickels.
We are not mostly a sensible people. Look who is president.
“It would make sense to go all-metric. It would make sense to eliminate pennies and nickels.”
As a history buff, and with regard only to the part of the comment I’ve highlighted above (as I get older, I steer clear of polical commentary on online forums), my favorite Winston Churchill quote is,
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”
NZchanged to the metric system in the 70s however my 59 Minx has the speedo calibrated in MPH and KPH so it could be exported to any market willing to take them, Perhaps GM thought there was export potential in its Vega.
My 1975 Olds has no metric, my 1977 Electra did, although being light blue km/h numbers on a silver dial, it must have been incredibly unpleasant to have to use.
I don’t think that metric units were ever required to be displayed. For the US market MPH are required, but that addition of Km/hour was optional. Km/hour alone is not acceptable for the US. For those traveling into Canada, the metric units are useful.
No, there was not. Still isn’t! Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard № 101 (Controls & Displays) requires speedometers to be calibrated in MPH. They may, at the maker’s option, also carry km/h calibration. There has never been a requirement in the US for speedometers to carry km/h calibration. See justifiably-dismayed discussion here.
My ’91 Chev Crapiece had a MPH-only digital speedometer. No, there was no US/Metric button; Canadian and export cars got a different speedometer module. Later GM cars with faux analogue speedometers have what I think is the best system: a US/Metric button changes where the speedo needle points at any given road speed, and toggles between “MPH” and “km/h” displayed in the middle of the gauge.
Canada started to convert to metric in the 70’s, which might explain why some speedometers are labeled both ways.