SOMETHING I COULD NEVER FIGURE OUT

joel gopan · Post by **joel gopan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 12:54 am

Why WWII Tanks and Wheeled Armored Vehicles used speedometers that were calibrated for 80 MPH?
I never have asked this question.

dr deuce · Post by **dr deuce** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:38 am

A friend of mine, a WW2 vet tells the story of one Hitler's Secret Weapons that he did not even know about!

Seems that when the GI's got to the Autobahn, they thought they were in heaven compared to the muck etc they had be driving in, so many removed the govenors from their rigs and would go as fast as they could go, even having races. Well you can imagine the results... The motorpool mechanics were going from vehicle to vehicle along the side of the Autobahn replacing (mostly) engines in trucks, Jeeps and tanks that had been blown up from this practice.

NOTE: Excerpted and paraphrased from a story by veteran Ed Girrior 1st published in the 1986 NEC MVCC International Convention Program for the Lowell MA convention

joel gopan · Post by **joel gopan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:03 am

The US Army Standard vehicles were not tested on the Autobahn tho.
I doubt that any WWII Tank or M-8/M-20 ever would stoke up to max out an 80 MPH Speedometer.