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lol my dad has an 86 corvette! those gauges were probably high end top shelf hot stuff back then. I wonder if 30 years from now if we'll look back on these LCD gauges and call them retro
I remember that when my folks bought their 1989 Camry, a digital gauge cluster was optional. Being 13 at the time I was of course disappointed that they didn't opt for it...
The Camry digital gauges were very very rare. I think I only saw one Camry with it back in the day. The 80's Maxima and Cressida digital package was much more common. Knight Rider also helped propel the digital gauge interest with the public. It was all considered futuristic and top of the line.
The Camry digital gauges were very very rare. I think I only saw one Camry with it back in the day. The 80's Maxima and Cressida digital package was much more common. Knight Rider also helped propel the digital gauge interest with the public. It was all considered futuristic and top of the line.
Back then (1980s) Cadillac and Lincoln were probably the Kings of the digital-gauge market.
Back then (1980s) Cadillac and Lincoln were probably the Kings of the digital-gauge market.
Yes, I would agree with that. As far as popularity and visibility, Caddy and mostly GM had it wrapped up nicely. Oddly, the GMC S-15 Jimmy and S-10 Blazer, rough and tumble body on frame SUV's, also carried the digital dash torch in the beginning. 1988 was the first year for those. The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable also offered the same thing on their top trims lines, bringing the option to mainstream buyers.
^ Corvette cluster on the right, probably a 1984 or 1985 model judging by the 85mph speedo. Back then the government mandated you couldn't make the speedo read past 85mph, Pretty damn stupid regulation, especially on a car that would do 150mph stock.
^ Pontiac "Trans Am" cluster on the left, I don't think the 1980's Grand Am ever got a digital Atari/Tron/Knight Rider dash, as it was considered an economy car. The Trans Am was Pontiac's flagship, personally I loved the 3rd gen, 1980's Trans Am. Here's a better pic of that dash in all its glory, note on the right a digital readout on the top for stuff like door open, fasten seatbelts, parking brake on, might read out fault codes as well, been a while since I saw one of these working at a car show. Below that is a digital trip computer, calculates mpg and all that jazz. Of course below that is the push button climate control, so much cooler than the sliders GM was using in other cars at the time. And you can't forget the 5 band graphic EQ tape deck. To see all of this working, its pretty damn cool IMO, it was a way better design than the early C4 digital dash IMO.
^ Corvette cluster on the right, probably a 1984 or 1985 model judging by the 85mph speedo. Back then the government mandated you couldn't make the speedo read past 85mph, Pretty damn stupid regulation, especially on a car that would do 150mph stock.
Back then, though, the national speed limit was 55 MPH, and even if there were a lot of scofflaws that routinely ignored that (or cops that didn't enforce it), the idea was that, at least, the manufacturers should not produce gauges that encouraged it. By placing the peg at at 85, of course, it also left some room for the time that the limits would (at that time, still off in the future) be raised back to 65-75 MPH.
......and if you think that was bad here, in Canada, it was 50 MPH.
Back then (1980s) Cadillac and Lincoln were probably the Kings of the digital-gauge market.
Buick and Oldsmobile had them on a couple models, the Buick Regatta I think had a large touchscreen information center but these gauges were very unreliable and did not last. I thought some of that digital stuff was pretty cool back when I was a kid but now I prefer old fashioned gauges/speedometer. I can't stand touchscreens though, did not like them when I was a kid either.
Buick and Oldsmobile had them on a couple models, the Buick Reatta I think had a large touchscreen information center but these gauges were very unreliable and did not last. I thought some of that digital stuff was pretty cool back when I was a kid but now I prefer old fashioned gauges/speedometer. I can't stand touchscreens though, did not like them when I was a kid either.
Fixed your typo.
Yes, Buick and Olds had the digital stuff to some extent....but both makes, at that time, (Olds, in particular) seemed more obsessed with row upon row of identical, hard-to-decipher buttons, to the point where some of its dashes were simply ludicrous.
Last edited by mmarshall; Nov 11, 2017 at 01:17 PM.
You can see how the younger generation is a "digital" generation and those are the people who prefer numbers instead of an analog display. The older guys want a needle to indicate the function. Thing to remember is that as humans, we're basically analog not digital. It's the tech world that has made us digital. But at the end of the day, how we see, hear and move is all analog. We don't function in terms of 1's and 0's.
All that said, count me in on the LCD digital dashboard display side. I like Audi's displays and MB does some nice ones too. With this sort of display you can have the best of both worlds. Eg. you can have the speedometer showing an analog needle and a set of numbers in addition to a mph number in the center. Digital displays are leaps and bounds ahead of traditional mechanical analog dashes.
