OT: (Antiquated?) Idea for a Bell n' Whistle

Sorry Puddin', you're too late. I know there were early 70s Buicks with speed alarm. There were others, I just don't remember who else offered it.

"Puddin' Man" wrote

I have one in my 88 T-Bird. Get up to whatever speed, push the button, go 5 over, it flashes and beeps. A "barely audible" hum would be masked by wind, road noise, and the stereo.

My '85 325e had just such a feature...

Rob

Years ago I acquired a box of aftermarket devices a bit like this, to scavenge for parts. They had five membrane type buttons on the front, with preprogrammed speed limits printed on them (I want to say they were 35, 45, 55, 65 and 75 but that might not be right). You press the button for the speed limit in your area, and a LED lights up under that button to let you know where the setting is pegged. If you go over that speed, the thing beeps loudly and flashes the LED.

This product was intended for an area where radar detectors are illegal.

My 69 Caddy had essentially that feature. You could set the cruise control to whatever speed you wanted to not go over and when you got to that speed the gas pedal would start pushing back. The more you went over the set speed, the more force the gas pedal pushed back with.

I "kinda" remember that anomoloy. IIRC, it wasn't so much a feature as it was a fault with the CC calibration due to vacuum. Caddy made it a "feature" in 1970 in the Fleetwood and Grandwood (Limo Chassis). This "feature" was a "concern" in 69 that many owners didn't notice until the cars were out of warranty.

Hmmm. Well, my old 1937 Cadillac LaSalle had a speedometer with illumination that changed colour when it went over 30 MPH. It was only useful at night though.

Steve R.

My '67 Caprice had that option. Yellow pointer in speedo was set via knob on the bottom of dash to desired speed and a buzzer would go off when you passed that speed.

Thanks for all responses.

I pretty much figgered it had been implemented, just had no idea how/when.

But it didn't stick? Wouldn't likely find such feature/option if I hit the showrooms today?

Skoal, Pudd>

"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." - Bertrand Russell

People probably found it annoying, especially when they know they are going above the posted speed limit, like during passing.

Another option is a heads-up display, where the dash board is projected to the windshield. That way, you don't have to glance down at it.

Jeff

Bill

A crazy man might conjecture that it probably wouldn't cost an eyeball-and-a-testicle to engineer something that'd make the steering wheel vibrate a little. Further conjecture that such would'nt annoy anyone not passing everthang on the road (in which case they likely wouldn't need the damned thang anyway).

I fear that'd drive po' me to distraction! :-)

"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." - Bertrand Russell

No, it wasn't a problem with anything being out of calibration, it was just a function of the CC design. If you used it as a cruise control there was an electro magnet that held the linkage to the rotating part inside the CC mechanism. Tapping the brake turned off the electromagnet but the CC mechanism was still engaged and tracking speed so if you pushed the pedal again after taking your foot off the brake it would contact the electro magnet and "resume". But if you put it in "speed sentry" or whatever they called it, the electromagnet didn't turn on but the CC itself was still going. So driving with your foot you would get to the set speed and the linkage would contact the CC mechanism and in an effort to maintain the set speed the mechanism pushed back, as if to make the car coast down like it would if the CC was engaged instead of the speed sentry.

The calibration problems was simply that it was a dumb system that relied on someone adjusting the CC mechanism so it's dial speed setting was the same as the car was actually going. It didn't actually read the cars real speed like a modern system does. And when you went over a big bump the points that controlled the CC motor would bounce and the CC would blip the throttle and then back off. It was a completely mechanically controlled system, no brains at all.