I liked having the controls for headlights and wipers on the dashboard rather than stalks on the steering column. On my 1965 Rambler Classic 550 (bottom of the line), these controls had labels in English that were illuminated when the headlights were turned on. Now cars have symbols rather than labels in English. I really don’t understand the symbols and if the manufacturers can’t put the labels in English, they could at least use Latin.
A lot of cars still have the headlight switch on the dashboard . . . but the high beam switch is always on the stalk
I’d rather have symbols than Latin . . . I never took Latin in school
Many of the commercial trucks I work on still have the wiper switch on the dashboard
I never took Latin but it appears to me that the Latin for “headlight switch” is “headlight switch”. Guess they haven’t updated the language to modern terminology, so Latin it is and away with the symbols.
“if the manufacturers can’t put the labels in English, they could at least use Latin.”
Well, at least when I turn on my GPS, it asks me, “Quo vadis?”.
;-))
According to Google Translate, “headlight switch” in Latin is “headlight switch!”
However, the Latin translation of “head light switch” is “caput lux switch.”
Even if they had something that compared to a switch back then, the ancient Romans had a very small vocabulary compared to ours.
Perhaps my experiences are totally different from the experiences of those who worship at the altar of vent windows and so-called, “fresh air ventilation”, but…I have very vivid recollections of winding up with…bees…or wasps…or yellowjackets…or God only knows what type of stinging insects in the car every time that we took a trip in the days w/o air-conditioning.
Then, my mother (in the front seat, next to my father), or my brother & I (in the rear seat) would have to try to coax that stinging insect out of the car by using a road map, or some other object. Sometimes that worked, and sometimes it didn’t.
When it didn’t work, my father was distracted from his driving for a fairly significant amount of time by having to try to swat–or otherwise dodge-- those nasty insects as they made Kamikaze attacks on his head.
Yes, we had the glory of inhaling the blowby fumes from every car when we sat at traffic lights, and we had the pleasure of battling the presence of stinging insects every time that we took a trip.
Wasn’t that glorious?
NOT
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My car that had vent windows also had A/C, so you could choose what you wanted. I would not want to have a car with no A/C any more. I have a moonroof on my current car but am not forced to drive with it open all the time. I do find myself using the feature where you can tilt it open for some ventilation. Not as good as a wing window perhaps, but far better than without.
Older cars where A/C either wasn’t an option or was too pricey for most people were designed with better ventilation. Same goes with older houses built prior to A/C. And before there were commonly available sump pumps, they just didn’t build houses on floodplains or where the water table was high. I think you needed a lot more common sense to get by in life a century ago…
What I remember most about the vent wing on my GTI was that the handle fell off, making locking it pointless until I fixed it. Haven’t missed them.
Wing windws were nice for smokers, as they could draw the smoke out of the car from the front seat. The car mom and dad bought that didn’t have wing windows made so much noise with the windows cracked open that they just left them closed with the A/C on. The result? A kid sitting in the back seat of a car with all the windows closed and 2 smokers in the front.
Well, at least when I turn on my GPS, it asks me, "Quo vadis?".I'd rather have a Morgan Freeman GPS(some harsh language in the video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TGsNw-LR9s
I have to agree with the people who miss the floor mounted hi-low headlight switch. I think it’s also a question of safety. I live in an area where there are lots of twisty roads (California wine country and redwoods) and at night in a wooded area you can’t see an oncoming car until it’s quite close. When you also are twisting the wheel it is far from safe to release your left hand to flip the headlight toggle on the steering wheel. Now that almost everyone is driving an automatic, the poor little left foot has nothing to do. But if I could just stomp on the hi-lo switch as needed I’d make the change much faster without ever having to release my sweaty grip on the wheel. How can we get that switch back, even as an option? Do I have to buy a '47 Plymouth?
AntonyM, I drive in the same conditions as you (Oregon) and would prefer a floor mounted switch. I drive a 6 speed manual but only have to shift a couple of times and can do so before and after a curve. I am surrounded by wine country but my main concern driving these roads which are in the woods is that they are in deer country where good visibility is important. I am a 2 handed driver and feel uncomfortable with my left hand although in contact with the steering wheel is not gripping it as I have a finger on the dimmer lever. I have also tried dimming my headlights prior to entering the curve. This decreases visibility when you need it most in deer country. Most of my over 40 vehicles have had the floor mounted switch. I can’t remember having to replace one. Why do they fix things that aren’t broke?
I’ve missed running boards since day one. When Dad traded in the family 1940’s somthing Pontiac for a shiny new 1953 Dodge I hated it. The car was too high with no running boards, and it was very dificult to climb in. Since then I have resolved the issue by building a collection of historical trucks, all of which have running boards of one description or another.
@brockwaytrucks–that Pontiac with running boards had to have been manufactured before WW II. I had a 1947 Pontiac and it did not have running boards. The body on my 1947 dated back to the abbreviated 1942 model year. The last car my parents owned that had running boards was a 1939 Chevrolet. I think 1940 was the last year Chevrolet cars had running boards. The VW Beetles of the 1950s and 1960s had running boards. I owned a 1990 Ford Aerostar minivan and I had running boards installed to make it easier to enter and exit.
@Tridaq Correct! Running boards went out after 1940. We had a 1941 Chevrolet Stylemaster Deluxe and were proud of having no running boards. Other GM divisions went that way at the same time.
Ditto Chrysler products. We had a 1940 Plymouth, and it was the last model, I believe that had running boards.
All postwar US cars were without running boards.
Running boards can be functional on taller vehicles. There other use? They seem to guard the rocker panels from loose debri kicked up from the front tire. They would absolutely be useless for any normal size compact. They would just get in the way and I bet kill aerodynamics.
Running boards were used to connect the front and rear clamshell fenders that were prevalent on cars from before 1939, which is the year they started to disappear.
They were also there to collect road salt, dirt, mud and debris so that the bottom of the body panels would rot out, and force the owner to buy another car.
Besides, the Keystone Kops needed a place to stand in the films.
I remember an old movie showing folks getting ‘curb service’ at a drive-in restaurant. The car hops waited by the entrance, hopped on the running board, and took the order as the driver parked the car.
Yep, per wiki: “The name “carhop” came from the practice of the waitress or waiter jumping up on the running board of a patron rolling into the parking lot. This car hopping showed that this particular car was that servers car, as tips were the main income of these waiters and waitresses.”
And the first such restaurant was in Dallas:
http://www.texasingenuity.com/Pig-Stands-Texas.html
Backseat with a lot of legroom and a backseat with that is wide and deep. :>}}
Bench Front Seat.