Listers,
I asked this same question in '96 when I acquired my '72 TR6. The
answers I got were, generally: If you can't tell, don't worry about
it, enjoy the car. And I am....but,
The paperwork and odo said 20K miles, the car was clean, no
'detectable' rust, nothing missing, a few cracks in interior
plastic, ran strong (160+ compression in all 6). But I had a
nagging suspicion that 20K wasn't the right number, but it
certainly didn't look like a car with 120K either.
So, here it is, 4 years later, and, while the dash is out, I see 5
slightly grungy gauges (viewed from the back), and one very shiny,
new looking gauge. Guess which one?? Yup, the speedo. So now I'm
back to guessing the 'true' mileage, and it could be ANYTHING!
Nagging question: why would DPO replace the speedo?
Which finally leads me to my real question: Wasn't there a company
(this goes back a while, 1975?) that claimed to be able to analyze
a sample of motor oil from the sump and somehow determine mileage
on THAT MOTOR? I know, the motor could have been rebuilt, but,
hey, at the last (actually first) show I entered, everyone looked
and assumed the odo had rolled over.
Maybe I oughta get a spare speedo with a 'reasonable number' on it,
just for shows??
Thanks,
Rick
|