Thank you, Ed, for the info. For me, being from Europe, I haven't had any idea about
where the gauge thing stems from, and just accepted it as a fact, like the fact that
you use thousands of an inch, gallons and cubic feet instead of millimeters, liters and
cubic meters.
Also threads per inch, instead of our system of measuring the width of one thread in millimeters.
I like to use both ways to measure things, since I've worked on US made cars since my teens,
and also built radio controlled air planes to Brittish plans, all measures being imperial. For some
reason Brittish cars have their engine sizes in liters but fuel tanks in gallons. Also all model
engines, maybe except for Rusdian made ones, have the displacements given in hundredths of a
cubic inch. My biggest engine is a "100", which translates to 16cc or one cubic inch. And it's made
in Japan. Go figure.