What does the temp gauge represent?

I have a 190 thermostat in my car and my gauge reads here where the exclamation point is located:

C|-|-!-----|-|H

Not here like a previous member stated:

C|-|---!---|-|H

Now, not saying he's wrong and I'm right. The whole point of me saying this is, wiring makes a big difference.

I don't know if temp gauges work the same fashion as fuel gauges (ground out the wire at the sending unit and the gauge reads full VS. ground out and the gauge reads "H") or if it's backwords. But if it works like a fuel gauge, old broken down wires and bad connections can make my 190 degrees appear closer to "C" than the '70 /6 Dart sitting beside me in a parking lot. And the one on the other side of that car can be lower than mine while the next identical car could read the highest. And to make it a little more crazy, if there is a bad connection and ambient temperature changes, so will the gauge reading (bad connection will pass more voltage when hot VS. cold cause of thermal expansion of the copper connectors making a tighter fit and better connection, BOOM gauge reading changes).

Further more, as other members are hinting, these gauges are not calibrated meaning the markings don't correlate with any given temperature. That's the thing I hate about these types of guages, they don't give numbers and they're just there for normality. In other words, the factory says its YOUR responsibility as the driver to pay attention to where it normally is and if one day it varies too much YOU have to make a judgement call as far whether you're ok or if you need to get off on the side of the road. Normality works, but it sucks like in your case where you just bought it (I think) and you don't know "the norm".

That said, I think by what you have told us, you do not have a thermostat in you're car or it's failed and stuck open. If you are truly paranoid and want to know the answer now instead of waiting for the new gauge (I would be paranoid), get an infared thermometer and point it at the thermostat housing after you have ran the car for awhile to get up to temperature. If you can't obtain one of those, take you're radiator cap of and stick the thermometer in the opening, start the car and wait till the thermostat opens and see what the temp is (if water flows into the radiator as soon as you start it and the motor is cold, your thermostat either does not exist or it is stuck open, either one prompts replacement).

If any information I laid out here is wrong, please somebody correct me. I'm just a 19 year old behind a computer so I haven't been around the block like some of you seasoned mopar vets.