Following the observation that Jaguar’s resuscitated C-type has a tachometer needle that moves counterclockwise…
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…reader William Barton explained that the practice was standard operating procedure for old Jags: “Jaguars of the period ran the tachometer cable off of the rear of the engine camshaft, which rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the rear,” he writes. “My ’52 XK120 was exactly the same.”
While Googling around to confirm it (Barton is exactly right), I came across another British manufacturer who’s added a counterclockwise dial to the dash: Rolls-Royce. Bizarrely, this does not count RPM’s, but instead provides a 0-100% scale of available engine power.
The thing is, the photos are deceptive, because in both shots the needle appears to be at rest at 0–which would lead you to believe that’s the default position when the car is idling. It isn’t. Watch how the dial actually works:
Strange, no? Although I guess you could argue that a standard tachometer in a car with an automatic transmission is useless anyway.
I think driving a car with a gauge like this would provide some cognitive dissonance, at least until you got used to it. Of course on my salary, I’ll never get a chance to find out.
Source: core77