Why the reverse speedo was used? Anybody know the history or reason?

[MaSnaka]

So according to Randall Thomas' research the speedo was designed to accommodate an anticlock speedometer cable and according to Soulman it just happened to work that way so Smith stuck with it because it was cheaper than using a reversing gearbox behind each speedo gauge. Which just brings up more questions than ever.

Do all Smith speedos run counter clockwise?

Why did the Cobra transmissions have a different cable rotation than the mainstream cars?

Is this unique to Cobras or are there other cars with reverse speedos?

My Classic Roadster has a Stewart Warner counter clockwise speedo so it must be catching on. Seems like we all go to extra trouble to either have one or not have one.

John

[marcocsx3121]

For what it's worth, the street 427s did not have reversed speedos, and they arrived with the same Ford top loader gearboxes that were installed in the SCs and comp. cars. I'm sure that this clears absolutely nothing up.

[jay bentley]

Originally Posted by marcocsx3121

For what it's worth, the street 427s did not have reversed speedos, and they arrived with the same Ford top loader gearboxes that were installed in the SCs and comp. cars. I'm sure that this clears absolutely nothing up.

Many of the 427 street cars did indeed come with a reverse speedo. I know of several late 3300 street cars that surely did.

Jay

[BT SNAKE]

According to RT's research the Reverse speedo must not have been on the AC Aces. So this means
it was on Carroll Shelby's watch. I cannot believe he would not know why his COBRAS were using reverse speedos. He had to ask when he noticed it.
Come on Carroll jump in here and straighten this dilemma out.

Hersh

[A-Snake]

Originally Posted by jay bentley

Many of the 427 street cars did indeed come with a reverse speedo. I know of several late 3300 street cars that surely did.

Jay

Jay,
Among others, you can add CSX3282 in the 3200 series as having a reverse speedo.

[Jim Maxwell]

CSX 3288 and CSX 3346 as well as many other street 427's that I have photographed have original reverse speedos. I will have to find a 427 with a regular speedo and look to see if it has the extra gear setup described earlier in this thread.

Jim

[Cobra Pack]

289 Cobras prior to CSX 2200 used Smiths 160 speedos as well. These were traditional clockwise speedos.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by MaSnaka

So according to Randall Thomas' research the speedo was designed to accommodate an anticlock speedometer cable and according to Soulman it just happened to work that way so Smith stuck with it because it was cheaper than using a reversing gearbox behind each speedo gauge. Which just brings up more questions than ever.

Do all Smith speedos run counter clockwise?

Why did the Cobra transmissions have a different cable rotation than the mainstream cars?

Is this unique to Cobras or are there other cars with reverse speedos?

My Classic Roadster has a Stewart Warner counter clockwise speedo so it must be catching on. Seems like we all go to extra trouble to either have one or not have one.

John

I'm with you. Didn't the first 289 cars have T-10s? I'm pretty sure the T-10 and the toploader have the same direction speedo cable drive. It sounds like they started out using a drive adaptor to correct the cable drive for the American tansmission to operate the speedo correctly in clockwise motion. For some reason (probably to save some money) they found it cheaper to retool the speedo for counter clockwise motion and drop the cable drive adaptor.

[rms427]

My car, CSX3225, has a 180 mph reverse speedometer. I don't ever remember seeing a original 427 with regular direction speedometer.