Date:         Wed, 2 May 2001 14:19:41 +1000
Reply-To:     Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@uws.edu.au>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Stephen Overmyer <s.overmyer@uws.edu.au>
Subject:      Re: red mark on metric speedometer
In-Reply-To:  <200105020240.MAA20033@ob1.uws.EDU.AU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Volks,

I'm in digest mode so I'm chiming in a little late here but since
only one reply I saw got close (not one of the ones below) here
you go FYI...

Whilst it is true the marks on Beetle speedos indicated the max.
speed recommended in each gear as you accelerated,the red mark
on the '80 -'92 Transporter speedo is not for this purpose.
It is marked at the 50-55kmh mark as it is the urban speed limit
for residential areas in the Fatherland.
It is also the speed limit here in Oz for residential streets in
most states but VW didn't put it there especially for us.
It just so happens to be also useful for Oz drivers too.
Bay window busses also had a feint orange mark on the 50kmh mark
if you had a kmh speedo.Dunno about you mph types for the earlier
vans.

So,nothing to do with gear shifting points,just a clear indicator
on the speedo to observe the max legal speed in built up areas
(where applicable). If it does happen to coincide with a shifting
point,it is just coincidence...

Cheers,
Steve O
 Blue Mountains,NSW,Australia
'92 Transporter WBX 2.1 Kombi
'76 Transporter Double Cab 2.0
'68 Beetle w/1.6
'00 Transporter 5Cyl Double Cab 2.5 (work truck)
'48 Fairmont M19 Speeder

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At 22:50 1/05/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Date:    Tue, 1 May 2001 21:10:40 -0500
>From:    John Rodgers <jhrodgers@charter.net>
>Subject: Re: [Re: red mark on metric odometer]
>
>I can't begin to tell you how many people I have met over the years that
>thought that you simply "had"  to run the speed up to the red dots in
>each gear before you shifted up to the next higher gear. What a strain
>on the engine and drive train! Had an uncle that drove his 60 something
>beetle down from Alaska all the way across Canada and the States to
>Alabama driving just like that. He was frustrated when he had to rebuild
>the tranny and replace the engine very early in his ownership of the
>car, even thoug he bought it new.
>
>It was not necessary, nor is it so in out vanagons today. Listen to the
>engine and let it tell you when to shift. Couse the tach helps, but if
>you pay attention to the engine sounds you can tell pretty much when
>it's time.
>
>John Rodgers
>88 GL Driver
>
>Joe Fortino wrote:
>>
>> the older vw bugs never had a tac meter so you used the red notches
>> to shift to the next gear. 1st got you to 5 or 10mph and so on.
>>
>> lucky for me I have a tac on my 1.9GL I hit the hills and if I'm tackin
>> over 4 grand I get nothing except REDLINE, so my goal is to not go past
>> 4 grand in any gear.. * plus the motor loves me *
>>
>> man in the BOX
>>
>> Stan Wilder <wilden1@juno.com> wrote:
>> Thats your shift point for third to forth gear. In other words max RPM
>> for 3rd gear.
>>
>> ____________________________________________________________________
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