Traffic around here can be sparse or non-existent, especially at night, and a spare tire can mean the difference between waiting forever on a tow truck and possibly a day or two waiting for someone to patch a tire.
What I would like to see done (and it won’t happen) is for cars to have a socket or rail on the side where a small jack could be plugged in; a la old VW Beetle or SAAB. That allows both wheels on the same side to come up and the jack won’t twist or fall out while allowing the car to remain stable.
I miss audible turn signals. How many times have you seen someone driving for miles down the road with their blinker on? I’ve been guilty myself.
I once had a '67 Ford truck that had a clicker so loud you could hear it at 60mph with the windows down. I miss that.
Seems like these days they could make a beeping or dinging turn signal that could be adjusted in volume for the folks that don’t want to hear it.
@ professional curmudgeon I think after a while the car will beep at you if you leave the turn signal on.
@xaml - that’s what the OBDII port is for (or if you have a high end car with digital displays, some have that right there). Look into an ultraguage, scanguage, or bluetooth adapter + Torque on Android phone…
Does anyone know what meanjoe75fan is talking about with
"
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."
Why would you want to skid the back end out in bad weather? Sounds incredibly dangerous to me. I’ve certainly never intended to do so and gotten around in snow just fine for a decade, though for the past 5 years I’ve been sold on Subaru’s AWD.
To corner properly snow you need a way to preferentially loose the rear ? Activating a rear parking brake on the rear wheels in snow while cornering for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing, ( many drivers) is a death wish. I remember ice racing my old SAAB on a nearby lake and activating the rear parking brake did help oversteer, but I never remember a need to spin out or loose a rwd car or truck in normal driving. It is advantageous to spin and throw wet snow and mud while off roading to increase traction by clearing treads though; if that’s what you mean ?
Most cars now allow you to deactivate the traction control in some situations…mine do, for the intended purpose of allowing some wheel spin in deep snow and mud. So you can have your cake. Once you have it though, I will never take a car without it in snow and ice. Traction control on 2wd is good and on 4 wd simply awesome. If you have the off road variant of it in regular part time 4wd, you can still retain throttle response and have the best of both worlds. It’s like having quasi limited slip on both axles. I will not miss cars W/O traction control…love it. I like it especially when they are selective.
Fwd cars NEED traction/ stability control more then rwd cars as on hills in snow as you loose steerage when the wheels start to spin. You then loose momentum to make the hill. In rwd, the steering wheels are unaffected by wheel spin. Keep your truck but IMHO, you will change your mind the first winter you drive a newer truck with traction control.
Hardtops. People nowadays are such sissies they won’t go out without a cage around them. And if it’s a convertible the beltline goes up to your ears, so you’ll feel sheltered. Give me big windows and no B pillar.
And of course bench seats with a middle seatbelt and a sweetie in it.
Its a matter of degree, @dagosa. I’m not talking about donuts in the parking lot; I’m saying, when you start to push, using a blip of throttle/bit of handbrake to re-align the car (or, my preference, 5-10 degrees or so of oversteer.)
I’ve driven cars with stab control; my rather rude introduction was using the e-brake in snow to finish a turn and getting nothing (as I drifted into the oncoming lane…thankfully unoccupied). Then I went to a parking lot and attempted several bootleg turns, to be denied, every time.
No two ways about it, stab ctrl [inhales vigorously!]
There are drivers…and there are those who just point the car in various directions. I guess s.c. is okay for a car-pointer, who has no inclination to become a driver…ain’t for me, though.
What do I miss the most on the cars of yesteryear?
Hmmm…let’s see…
I miss the long warm-up time
and
some likelihood of stalling in wintertime, even after warming up the engine
and
vapor lock in the summer
and
rotted-out rocker panels after only 4 years on the road
and
3,000 mile lubrication intervals
and
two-speed automatic transmissions
and
brakes that are incapable of panic stops w/o brake fade
and
warranties that expire after just a few months
and
steering with 6 turns lock to lock, and with 3-4 inches of play in the steering
and
suspensions so soft that evasive maneuvers result in listing and rolling like a sailboat in a gale
and
the need to do a valve & ring job after 50-75k miles
and
vacuum-operated windshield wipers
and
pointy projections on the non-padded dashboard
and
extremely soft, sofa-like bench seats with no lumbar support
and
door latches that open up upon impact
and
the lack of back-up lights
and
tiny, dim tail lights
and
AM-only radios with one speaker
That’s right, guys.
I miss NOTHING about the cars of my childhood and my younger years.
I remember the bumper jacks we had in the 50’s and 60’s. They were scary. You lifted the car up from the bumper with a single legged jack that leaned over more and more as the car got higher. The only good thing about it was you could try to jack the car up when it was stuck in the mud, then push it right off the jack so the tires landed outside the hole you were in. The crank jacks we get now are 20 times better.
I miss the rain gutters. They allowed you to use a temporary roof rack by strapping it down with clips that grabbed the rain gutters. They also directed the rain away from your windows so you could have them open a bit, even in the rain.
@meanjoe75fan
I don’t doubt your preference for rwd in snow. Heck, I would never have anything but rwd or 4 wd where I live over fwd as my major transportation where I live. My point is, in normal driving in snow, you and I are so much in the minority in our preferences that not only will traction control result in more real benefits in cornering for the average driver, but there is no reason NOT to want this feature when you can shut it off as in all the cars I have owned ith it. I see no reason not to have it when it is superior in absolute traction on rwd cars and trucks. Have you driven an entire winter with a truck, especially one with 4 wd with this controllable feature ? Like I said, you can have your cake and eat it too in today’s trucks. NOT HAVING IT is something I will not miss.
@wentwest
Excellent recall. I had forgotten how dangerous and on some cars, absolutely useless this feature was. Given how easily I remember some of the bumpers of older cars rusted, it was a death wish just changing a tire of an older car with those jacks on the side of a road in a soft shoulder.
I remember the bumper jacks we had in the 50's and 60's. They were scary. You lifted the car up from the bumper with a single legged jack that leaned over more and more as the car got higher
Used that bumper jack on my old Scamp…Just as I got the wheel off the ground to change the flat…I walk around the car…and the bumper fell off. The supports had rusted through. That was the LAST time I used a bumper jack.
That is an easy one. I miss the Chrysler dash mounted, push button gear selector (Torqueflite).
Why car manufactures started putting the shifter on the floor - and calling it “sporty” will forever remain a mystery.
After paying a Dodge dealer almost $700 to install a new fuel pump in my 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan, I have to say that I really miss the cars where the fuel pump is located outside of the fuel tank. I remember replacing fuel pumps myself with two bolts and two gas line connections. It didn’t cost more than $50.
I loved the gear sticks that were attached to the steering wheel which meant a nice bench seat could be in the front of the car. Now the gears are all floor mounted. I liked too the way indicators were a nice orange colour and didnt blind the driver behind!
Vent window would be on top of my list. I also miss the distinctive manufacturers styling. You could tell a ford from a chevy a mile away. They also drastically changed ther styles every few yrs. I can remember getting almost giddy in September when Bonanza would preview the new Chevrolets at the end of their show. It seems lately a lot of cars look the same.
Gotta agree with that. My 3 year old grandson is pretty up on cars and when he visited he saw our Oldsmobile and wanted to know what it was. Of course there was only the weird contemporary rocket symbol on the hood and trunk, and no Oldsmobile wording anywhere. Used to be companies were proud of their brands, then became ashamed and tried to hide the name