[Karl]

Thermostats are always a good idea. Every car that has come off the production line in the last 75 years has them. Stats given you faster warm up of every thing including oil. Cold running is a killer on engines greatly increasing wear and hence decreasing engine life. Also the warmer the engine the greater the engine efficency /performance hence you want to run as hot as you can short of boiling. Ford started using stats in 1934. I think then he used 150F or 160F stats. We now know that the thinking was right but that's a bit low and that warmer is better.