Let's see now, Car new 1972, Acquired 1996. 1996-1972= 24 years old.
20,000/24= 833.33...miles/year. I don't know how you drive your car, but
even considering mine spent 5 years in the garage, mine averaged about 2,000
miles/year. So, I'd suspect the odometer. Mine had 56,000 on the Odometer
when I bought it, and the speedo was inoperative at the time, and I don't
know for how long before. I don't believe that it is all that unusual for
the Speedometer to get all gunked up in the first 100,000 miles and quit.
So, while I'm not sure I would accuse the former owner of skullduggery yet,
It is entirely possible that the speedometer has been rebuilt, or replaced
in the last 20+ years. I had my odometer rolled back to 0 miles when it was
rebuilt, at the same time as I had the motor rebuilt. I believe that if
anyone thinks that some extremely low figure on the odometer is right for a
car that is 30 or so years old, they need a serious rethink. As for what is
believed at shows ... well that's between you and the judges.
Michael Singleton
> 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
>
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