The early 50’s Buick’s could have the huge hood removed if you had 4 strong guys available…But yes, they were unsurpassed highway cruisers…
@GeorgeSanJose
“I don’t smoke, but sometimes it comes in handy”
Here’s an interesting use for that cigarette lighter . . . I’ve used it in this way myself, BTW
If you have a dent or a crease in your vinyl interior (dashboard, console, etc.) you stick the cigarette lighter in until it pops out. Then you CAREFULLY hold the lighter element close to the dent or crease . . . until the damage is gone. I’ve oversimplified it, and practice is needed, but hopefully you get the point
I know this was off-topic, so there’ll be no hard feelings if I get flagged as such
Good for you, Marnet. My 2002 Sienna is by far the best vehicle I have ever owned. It just starts and runs. When I leave my house in McAllen to go to Florida, I can tell you within an hour when I will get there, or close to it, depending upon when I wake up in the last morning. If you can do that when you are flying things have changed a lot since i last flew anywhere.
Our Corolla still came equipped with a cigarette lighter and a removable ashtray. When you pulled out the ashtray from the console, the hole became a cup holder. Our Mazda does not have an ashtray and the lighter plug is now called the “accessory socket”.
I don’t miss sealed beam headlights. I had replace a couple of them when they were broken by flying gravel. I was shocked at how much they cost.
I would miss the cigarette lighter if I had a newer car. I think most manufacturers have dropped them by now, right? To free up dashboard space for electronic gizmos? You know, the one where you push it in, then it pops out when it is ready? I don't smoke, but sometimes it comes in handy, like when camping and I forget the matches to light the camp stove, I can use the cigarette lighter to start a piece of paper on fire. I would miss the ashtray too, as it is a good place to put a pack of chewing gum, some fuses and pencils.
You need to buy the smoker’s package to get the lighter and ashtray in some vehicles today.
I know all the good reasons for fwd, mainly for weight reduction and space utilization, but I do miss rwd in most cars. They are making a comeback thanks to traction control etc, but I would like to see more inexpensive, great handling rwd compact cars. There just wouldn’t be much leg room in them compared to their fwd counterparts.
Neither my G6 or Acura has an ash tray or a cig lighter. Just use a metal sucrets box like in the Army. Interestingly my 59 VW had an ash tray but no lighter. I had to add that one in.
Leaving off the cigarette lighter and the ashtray is nothing new. I remember reading Consumer Reports road test and comparison of the 1952 Chevrolet Standard with the 1952 Ford Mainline. The Chevrolet Standard had neither an ashtray or a cigarette lighter. One had to buy the Chevrolet Deluxe to get these features. Neither of these cars had passenger side sun visors. A radio and a heater were optional.
On the other hand, the Nash Rambler models in 1952 did come with a radio and the “Weather Eye” fresh air heating system as standard equipment as well as an ash tray and cigarette lighter. There was nothing stripped down about these early Nash Ramblers.
Yes, as Triedaq notes, I miss sealed beams. Much easier and far more affordable to replace!
And I agree that the seats on many older cars were more comfortable but certainly not all of them.
I miss cars without electronic stability (well technically I don’t as I drive an older truck, but I’m actively dreading the day I have no choice but to drive one, especially in the winter.)
With a FWD car, in low traction (meaning snowy roads), your weight and drive wheel bias results in a vechicle that will, when turning,
a) push
b) push, or
c) both a) and b).
To corner properly in snow, you need a way to preferentially loose the rear, either with throttle or e-brake. A modern car will fight you, with no provision for it not to fight you.
Seems to me, deploying the hand brake while moving should automatically disable stability, as it’s proof positive the driver desires, and intends, oversteer.
Also, horn rings on the steering wheel such you could put pressure on it with the heel of one’s hand by just cocking the wrist a trifle without having to take a hand off the steering wheel to hit the horn in the middle like now. I suppose horn rings wouldn’t safely work on today’s steering wheels that contain an airbag. But they sure were handy.
I like the vent windows in my old truck and don’t know why they stopped doing those. I notice that no one misses manual roll-down windows! LOL!
Real manual transmissions with clutches will soon be missed with everything changing to manumatic and paddle shifters.
Decent jacks that would raise a car without futzing around in the event of a flat tire; and without endangering the user and everyone within a 100 yards…
Easy access to all things under the hood !
When vehicles got more aerodynamic the space under the hood got less…
Then they started packing on more covers and other stuff under the hood…
Then they started to sub assemble all that outside the vehicle then shoehorn the whole mess in.
Vehicles theses days should be made with remavable front clip , a front hinged ( like the XKE jaguar ) hood and fender assembly, or quick removal fenders and grille.
( we’re pulling the entire cab straight up off F350,450,550 diesel trucks )
@ken green:
for easy under-hood access, pickup trucks with full-width hoods as wide as their bodies would be great; that’s what trucks had back in the late 1950s thru early 1970s; the hood actually sat on top of the front fenders, so when it was opened all you had to do was to lean over to work on the engine, no step-stool needed. Today’s trucks should have the full-width hoods simply because they sit higher up than earlier model trucks; today’s trucks have factory-lifted suspensions, even 2wd models, that make the trucks 3" to 4" taller than what USED TO BE known as “Stock Height”.
I miss real “bumpers” that could bump but not sustain damage. You could push start a car without having to go to the body shop
I miss drain plugs in gas tanks. If you wanted to store a car or got a bad load of gas, you could easily drain the tank.
I miss rear oil pumps in automatic transmissions. You could actually roll or push start and automatic car.
I miss hand chokes and dash throttle controls. A skilled operator could start and run a car no matter what.
Like Marnet, I miss the horn rings, but for a different reason. The horn rings separated the upper trim lines from the bottom trim line. The upper trim lines had the horn ring, while the lower trim lines had a button in the center of the steering wheel. This was true as late as 1965–my lowest trim line 1965 Rambler Classic 550 did not have the horn ring as did the upper trim lines. Also, through the 1950s, the lowest trim line of the Ford, Chevrolet and Plymouth did not have a passenger side sun visor as did the more expensive models. As one went up the model line, an increasing amount of chrome was used. The 1953 Chevrolet is a good example–the 150 model had no chrome and a rubber stone shield. The 210 model a chrome stone shield and a chrome strip running the length of the body. The Bel Air added even more chrome. All this is quite important as one could tell at a glance back in 1953 which new car buyer was a cheap skate and which purchasers spent more money. Today, I have no idea when I see LX, EX, etc. on the back of a new vehicle whether the purchaser was a cheap skate or sprung for something more expensive. No cars have the horn ring and all cars have that passenger side sun visor.
“Decent jacks that would raise a car without futzing around in the event of a flat tire; and without endangering the user and everyone within a 100 yards…”
You’re lucky to get a spare these days. What do you need a jack for?
For those with a temporary spare tire a useful jack is important, the one on my mom’s toyota felt so flimsy (connecting a hook into an eyelet while twisting to raise the jack) not as useful as the ones in our 70’s cars, particularly on our unpaved driveway