I’ll go back over 60 years when you could buy fake “exhaust port holes” to imitate the Buicks which came out in 1949 with fake “exhaust port holes”. This way, a person could make a lesser make look like a Buick. If you really wanted to be upper class, you could buy a swan hood ornament to make your car look like a Packard. To really go high class, you could get the swan hood ornament with lighted wings.
My dad’s 1947 Desoto came with a factory installed lighted hood ornament. I never understood the functional value.
In the 1950s, you could get a traffic light that mounted in the back window. When you accelerated, the green light would glow, when you coasted, the amber light would glow and when you stepped on the brake pedal, the red light would glow. There was also stuffed white cat that went on the package shelf with its face toward the back window. It was wired up so that the left eye blinked with the left turn signal, the right eye blinked with the right turn signal and both eyes lit up when you stepped on the brake.
Let’s also not forget the magnesium oil plugs that neutralized the acid in the oil so that the engine would last longer and the oil did not have to be changed as frequently. There were also porous bronze oil filter elements that were much more effective than the standard oil filters. These made the engines last much longer. The reason given in the advertisement as tow why these weren’t standard equipment is that the engine wore so little with these filters that a new car would never break in. One had to wait until the car was completely broken in to install thee filter.
The traffic light in the rear window (red stop only) is now standard. A few years ago the spinning hubcaps were popular. I don’t get it. Also the small wheels and tires extending beyond the fenders. When I was a teenager tires extending beyond the fenders was a ticket.
My brother sent me a video of several car shows that he attended on the east coast (he lives in LA). There was a particular vehicle that he pointed out that was a 1980’s vintage car with a front end that made it look like a 240 or 260Z. It was a mid-size Ford I think. Now that was a ridiculous add-on.
More recently, those flashy chrome hubcaps that keep spinning when the vehicle stops…As an upsell, you could get LED’s in them for nighttime use…For a couple hundred bucks, you could turn your car into a Circus Wagon…
Now about those Frantz oil filters that used a roll of TP as the filtering medium…They actually worked pretty good…But they were not a full-flow type filter, their flow rate was maybe a pint a minute if that. So they did not replace the factory full-flow filter. But they did an excellent job of filtering the oil…
Those faux Rolls-Royce and '40 Ford kits for Beetles were popular 40 years ago. The factory that made those was near my home in San Leandro, CA, in 1975. It has always amazed me how people would spend so much on gimmicks for their cars while neglecting maintenance because they couldn’t afford it. Go figure.
The fake Rolls Royce grill and hood kit for a VW Beetle takes the cake. However, it made the space under neat larger.
Those stick-on wide (portable) whitewalls we called “potawalls.” Not too impressive when they started peeling off.
I believe those car moustaches are only on cars that are part of a ride share service
They now sell car eyelashes to go above the headlights too. They look ridiculous.
It’s ridiculous when the car has better makeup than the driver . . .
“It has always amazed me how people would spend so much on gimmicks for their cars while neglecting maintenance because they couldn’t afford it.”
Exactly!
When I see tacky, non-functional “decorative” junk on a car, my first thought is…I wonder how much maintenance was skipped in order to pay for this non-functional junk. My second thought is…I hope that the car owner did not opt to buy this junk instead of replacing his brake pads…
And then, we have products that are somewhat functional but that are damaging to the car, such as those “double windshield wipers” that were popular perhaps 10 years ago. They probably did do a somewhat better job of clearing rain from the windshield, but the extra drag that resulted from two extra wipers frequently caused wiper motors to burn out.
Hmmmm…Do you suppose that this is why you no longer see those double wipers?
An oldie… a 2nd Lt at Chanute AFB in 1970 had a Ferrari with stick on daisys.
Today I saw a late model Civic that was slammed on fat rims, and it was also tucked
The rear suspension had an obscene amount of negative camber, so that the rims would actually fit inside the fender well. I could see that only a small amount of the tread was actually making contact with the street.
He had to drive so slow, that he was actually impeding the flow of traffic
People were honking and passing him, like he was standing still
There’s always a price to be paid, for “looking good”
The funny thing is that some people actually admire such cars. I observed a gangster . . . complete with shaved head, cheap shades and so many tats that you couldn’t even see naked skin, sleeved, I think it’s called . . . looking longingly at that ridiculous Civic. The gangster was driving an old Escort with burnt up paint and bald tires.
“They probably did do a somewhat better job of clearing rain from the windshield…”
The ones I tried were worse. I returned them to J. C. Whitney (really!) and suggested they remove them from their catalog.
Being this close to mexico, we see a trend that is uniquely mexican for some reason.
– not being racially profiling here, just factual . and certainly not every mexican does this but every time you see it…he’s a mexican national.
installing EVERY chrome piece they can get their hands on. and seemingly as many lights too.
fake exhaust stacks , bed rails , mud flaps , outer windshield visor , adhesive panels for rocker and kick panels , buick holes…by the dozens , appliques for door handles, b pillars, and mirrors, wheel covers , side mouldings , grille, and I could go on.
Lately I’ve been seeing “bumper bullies”: But-ugly rubber flaps that hang over the center of the rear bumper.
Look like it belongs on a tug boat.
Little chrome rimmed port hole widgets that stick on the upper part of the front fenders.
Seem to come in 3’s.
Those 6 foot long whip antennas used for CB radios were quite a site.
So much junk,so little time.My wife premptively gave me a rough time about deck lid spoilers and I wouldnt even consider having one!-Kevin
Remember when “everybody” wanted a mini-truck slammed on wire wheels sticking out way past the fender lip?
I hate to start getting into crude here but a classless fad around here is bull balls on the trailer hitch. Even a few of the tuner crowd has resorted to this and with one in particular the wisdom of a Class III hitch on a 90s era Honda Civic could be questioned.