I almost crapped my pants

[Centralia69Camaro]

So im driving down the road and happened to look down and noticed the temp gauge buried in the meltdown area. I pulled over only hitting 2 people and a dog and shut down the engine. After opening the hood, first thing i noticed is there is no smell. Whenever i have been around an overheating car you can smell it. Also the engine just didnt seem that hot. I went ahead and took a chance and drove it the rest of the way home and put a temp gauge on the engine and it was only 160 after being shut off for like 3 minutes. Obviously not overheating.
Heres the question. My temp gauge doesnt start at the cold part it starts in the middle. I dont think thats where its supposed to start?. Does this seem like a faulty gauge or a bad sender?

This is the factory gauge in the pod on the center console.



Thanks in advance