the.com/speedometer
the only dashboard liar you trust, fudging the truth to keep you legal
means The gauge that displays how fast your vehicle is currently traveling, usually in miles or kilometers per hour.
from A straightforward 20th-century mash-up of "speed" — from Old English "sped," which once meant success or prosperity before it narrowed to mere swiftness — and "-meter," the measuring suffix from Greek "metron," a measure. The word arrived alongside the automobile, joining a whole family of "-meter" instruments (thermometer, barometer) that promised to put a number on the world.
- reads high
- Most exaggerate speed by law to avoid liability
- early add-on
- Once a costly optional extra, not standard
- first lawsuit
- 1910 ticket sparked accuracy disputes immediately
- two methods
- Eddy current magnets or GPS satellites measure motion
bugatti bolide speedometer — reads up to 500 km/h (310 mph), fastest production car gauge ever made
apollo 10 mission gauge — recorded 39,897 km/h (24,791 mph) during re-entry on may 26, 1969
lockheed sr-71 blackbird — speedometer designed for mach 3+ speeds, fastest crewed aircraft ever