What temperature should she run at?

Put new coolant in radiator, left cap off and tried to see when thermostat opened... by watching water flow in top of radiator fill spout.. never saw it move... temp gauge got to about 3/8 inch past middle... then I put cap on and drove it around... it stayed at that position 93/8 past middle)... is this normal? I have an extra thermostat, so might put it in tonight to compare....

1965 Elf

Among other possibilities, you could have a 195F thermostat installed. "N" on a standard Elf/Hornet gauge is 180F.

Well since I had a new 160F thermostat laying around I decided to take housing off and replace... well when I took it of, I learned that is had NO thermostat. So put the 160F in, and guess what, it runs much cooler... I drove around in 95 heat here and it stuck straight up...

Now, why would the thermostat actually make it run cooler than wide open? Does it slow down water flow through radiator, allowing for water to cool better?