The place that inspected my 850T 1997 said I need a replacement speedometer

You took it to the wrong place to get it inspected! I've been going to the same place for 20 years. We do have emissions testing on 1996 and newer and only safety inspections on 1995 and older.I have NEVER had a problem getting mine to pass.They hook the connector into my OBDll port and check the emissions and that's it,they don't check anything else,no lift,no tire check,no light check,no wiper check,and they could care less if my speedometer is working or not cause they don't know,although I do check all that stuff regularly. Some of these places are just way to picky.When you get that straightened out,I would find a local,independent,family owned,trusted repair shop that inspects vehicles also and stick with them.All they had to do was type in whatever they failed to corrected and you would have been on your way! It's a money thing! Cost $30.00 here and most of the time he don't even charge me,sometimes maybe $10 or maybe $20,but he inspects 20-25 per day and it's all profit,we don't have stickers anymore,info goes straight to the NCDMV Database and we have to have it inspected 1st,then go get the new sticker at the DMV or order it online for the tag sticker. different strokes for different folks,I Recon!