I refer to the right lane as my “private passing lane”.
More often than not, I stay in the right lane on expressways and almost always I am driving faster than the traffic in the center and left lanes–even when I am adhering to the speed limit.
That is essentially the same reason why the early power windows were hydraulically-powered. The weak electrical systems of the day were barely able to keep up with just powering the ignition system and the lights.
@Rod_Knox. The first school bus I rode that had the Wayne body on the 1939 GMC chassis did not pass state inspection as did most of the buses that served my school. However, the state allowed the buses to operate anyway. This was right after WWII. The buses were owned by the drivers who were farmers. They had orders in for new buses, but the demand was so great that the orders couldn’t be filled. It wasn’t until 1951 that the prewar buses were taken out of service.
@VDCdriver. My dad had a 1940 Chrysler Royal that had electric wipers. His 1947 DeSoto also had electric wipers. Chrysler products were equipped with higher output generators than GM or Ford products and were the vehicles chosen by many amateur radio operators who had mobile equipment. Back in those days, radios were vacuum tube which required more power than the solid state radios and communications equipment of today.
[quote=“Triedaq, post:245, topic:81216”]
My dad had a 1940 Chrysler Royal that had electric wipers.[ /quote]
… and yet, 20+ years later, AMC only used electric wipers on their higher-end models, and as an extra-cost option on their cheaper models.
Same here…People in MA and NH, love that left lane cruising so they can text.
If only we had more cops like this NJ Trooper.
I think that his previous job was as a sheep herder. 
If you are at work, or if there are kids around, PLEASE mute the sound!
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@VDCdriver. I had a 1965 Rambler Classic 550 which was the bottom of the line and a 1968 Javelin, also lowest trim line. Both cars had vacuum wipers. Both cars had alternators, so there should have been plenty of power for electric wipers. Both cars had a vacuum booster section on the fuel pump. It seems to me it was just as expensive to have the vacuum wipers with the more expensive fuel pump as electric wipers with a single section fuel pump.
I had the vacuum wiper motor fail on the 1965 Rambler. I was able to buy a replacement at the Rambler dealership. The next week, the wiper motor quit on the Javelin. I went back to the Rambler dealership. The parts manager said that they sold the last vacuum motor the week before. I said I know who that customer was.
I want my manual steering back
Last year I lost a power steering belt on a Thursday. Instead of dropping the car off at the shop on Friday, I had to drive 50 miles and back on Friday for 3 job interviews in a different city. Not only was the steering heavy, it was numb because the hydraulic was intact and there was all that fluid to push around the system as I drove. I couldn’t help but wonder how it would be like without power steering to begin with
I saw something rather humorous, concerning a highway patrol officer and a slowpoke on the freeway, a few years ago . . .
The highway patrol officer announced on his pa system something along the lines of “I’ve been following you for the last few miles. Either speed up or get off the freeway at the next exit”
My first car, a 1973 Corolla had manual steering despite having an automatic transmission. That manual steering was far easier to use than the time I had to manhandle failed power steering to drive my mom’s 1983 Olds to the shop.
Only time the Corolla’s manual steering was real work to handle was once while I was in college when a group of guys picked up and turned “the Toy” sideways for a joke in a parking space and then parked cars either side such there was about six inches clearance both front and back between its bumpers and the sides of the other cars. The guys bet me my month’s spending money I couldn’t get the car out by myself. I “walked” the car sideways, without touching the other cars, until clear and collected their money with a smile. 
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The best wiper I ever had before the intermittent wipers were invented were on my 56 Desoto Fireflight. The wiper switch was a rotary rheostat, you could make the wipers go any speed you wanted. It was the first car I had with an automatic and power steering. The power steering was very sensitive, only 3 turns lock to lock. Took some getting used to.
Curb feelers and suicide knobs.
I’m still waiting for cars that pick up their fender skirts and tiptoe through mud puddles like in cartoons. 
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I understand their function . . . but in my opinion, they’re so ugly, they should bring down the car’s value
New cars have them, they are electronic ones. My car has ultrasonic sensors on the front and rear bumper. If those aren’t enough, there’s a camera in the grill, underneath each outside mirror, and on the tail gate. They actually provide a 360 degree view around the car
Bring back the Stewart-Warner Southwind gasoline heaters. Instead heat in zero degree weather.
In the old days, the heater was an option. Many motorists went for this aftermarket heater.
I hear what you’re saying, and I agree . . .
However, this is what I think of when somebody mentions the specific term “curb feelers”
I’ve seen those before back in the 90s, especially in San Francisco where parallel parking is a required skill. I didn’t see them as much once I moved to SoCal in the 2000. There seemed to be a lot more space in SoCal and parallel parking was not necessary there
We installed quite of those, at the VW Dealer where I worked, in Volkswagens of that era when all the VWs had air-cooled engines and less than adequate (compared with factory installed heaters in liquid cooled cars of the day) forced air heaters.
Some Volkswagens came equipped with Eberspächer gasoline heaters which were installed in Wolfsburg, Germany, which I remember as being a superior option. Plus, the parts were cataloged right in the official Volkswagen parts manuals with all the other vehicle parts, not an after-market booklet.
What could possibly go wrong with a heater burning gasoline, located near the gasoline tank, in the front of a car, right? Surprisingly, I don’t recall any fires in the shop at the dealership. What happened in a collision, though, I don’t want to think about …
CSA
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