Re: Delorean Top Speed 85 MPH?

["Toby Peterson" <tobyp@xxxx>]

The laws of the United States, in that era, required a maximum 
"indicated" speed of 85 mph for all vehicles certified for sale in the 
US. This was a result of the nationwide 55 mph speed limit after the 
big oil crisis. I guess that the theory was that if the speedometer 
showed a "top end" of 85 mph, then we would naturally want to go 55 
mph. I had a 1981 Suzuki GS850G motorcycle that could go 130 mph, but 
had the same speedometer limitation. There are a couple of retrofit 
kits that change the speedo face to 140 mph or 170 mph, with 
appropriate ratio adjustments to the speedo drive system. BTW - 
Winged1 has been to a calculated top speed of about 138 mph - the 
charts in the latest issue of Gullwing magazine are useful in doing 
the math, based on RPM in various gears.

Toby Peterson VIN 2248
Winged1 


--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "rrouya" <RRouya@xxxx> wrote:
> I was looking for a Delorean to buy when I saw a pic of the 
> speedometer. The top speed is only 85 MPH???!! Whats up with that? 

> Isnt that freakin slow as hell?