" It seems like a lot of cars look the same"
The price of gas tends to do that to car design when aerodynamics becomes more important then useless style changes.
I liked the rear hinged (suicide) back doors I had on my 1948 Dodge. It really made it easier to get in and out of the rear seat. I also liked the fast back styling of my 1947 Pontiac Streamliner 2 door. I realize that the rear window was more a skylight, however. I also liked the rear mounted (continental) spare tires that were mounted outside the trunk.
I also thought that the true wooden station wagons of the late 1940s were neat when the wood was polished to a high luster.
bsa63 mentioned another big one.
interiorā¦COLORS
Tan, gray, and black , are more tones than colors.
and with the proliferation of exterior tones too, THATāS the open door for colors inside.
White, gray, black, and tan exteriors are the perfect pallet for red, blue, green etc interiors.
( my personal favorite is the black exterior and red interior that all my vehicles have been since 1978ā¦untill they took the choices all away.
My favorite as a kid was the gas fill cap hidden behind the license plate.
Bing, what year is your Olds? Iām an Olds man, always was, and still havenāt forgiven John Rock for killing the brand. There were about 3 years when he decided that the name Oldsmobile was a liability and had it removed from the cars. He was an idiot.
Ditto on the drab interiors. It seems that everything Iāve owned for the last 25 years has been gray with the exception of one car that had a maroon interior and even that shade of maroon was drab.
LEG ROOM!
@drrocket Yeah I agree it was idiotic. Its a 95 Aurora with the northstar V8. It just sits in the garage all the time. They wouldnāt give us anything for it and the wife likes it but just doesnāt get driven at all unless one of the other cars is down. I always liked Olds and think they should have dumped Buick and kept Olds. They were the same cars, just better styling with the Olds.
@BingāYou just brought up another feature of old GM cars that I really liked. Before the end of the 1960s, each division had a car that was significantly different than another division of GM. The 1950 model year is a good example of this. Chevrolet had a splash lubricated overhead valve 6 cylinder engine and offered an automatic transmission that completely depended on a torque converter. Pontiac had two flathead pressure lubricated enginesāan inline 6 and a inline 8. The optional automatic transmission was the 4 speed Hydramatic which had a fluid coupling rather than a torque converter. Oldsmobile had an overhead valve V-8 engine and a 6 cylinder flathead engine that was unique to the Oldsmobile. The 4 speed Hydramatic was the optional automatic transmission. The Buick was powered by an overhead valve pressure lubricated inline 8 cylinder engine and offered an automatic transmission similar to that of the Chevrolet. The Cadillac division had its own overhead valve V-8 engine and the automatic transmission was the GM Hydramatic.
There was a difference in the drivetrain and rear suspension. Chevrolet and Buick had enclosed driveshafts (torque tube). The other divisions had an open driveshaft. Oldsmobile and Buick had coil springs in the rearāthe other divisions had leaf springs. The different nameplates offered by GM all drove differently. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, each division had its own V-8 engine. However, in 1977, some Oldsmobiles came through with Chevrolet V-8 engines. The Oldsmobile engine was being used in the Cadillac Seville. Since the Oldsmobile and Chevrolet were using the same bodies, why pay more for an Oldsmobile? When GM dropped the Oldsmobile and later the Pontiac, the Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac were the same cars.
I also miss the gas filler being on the back of the carāyou could pull up to either side of the pump and not care. Probably not as safe in a collision though.
Second car I owned was a 1958 Pontiac Star Chief. Mind you, this was when gas stations still had pump jockys. (That shows you how long ago that was.) Iād pull in, get out, and watch them try and figure out where the gas cap was. (Behind the LH backup light bezel.)
Newer cars look to much the same. The other day I walked out of a store, went to āmyā car, pushed the fobs unlock button, and climbed in. After a few seconds of confusion I realized it was not my car! Same exterior/interior colors but different brand. It must have been left unlocked.
LEG ROOM!
@alxzbaāIāll second your post. Legroom, particularly rear seat legroom was much better in most cars, particularly 4 door sedans through the mid 1950 than the legroom in cars today. In 1992, Consumer Reports tested the Buick Roadmaster, the Oldmobile 88 and the Mercury Grand Marquis and compared the cars with a 1952 Buick Roadmasterāa car 40 years older at the time. The seats and legroom were much better in the 1952 Roadmaster than its counterparts offered in 1992.
From what I remember, the rear legroom in my 2 door Chevelle was worse than my 2 door Civic
Cars began losing legroom in the 1960s. Two door models were really skimpy on rear seat legroom beginning in this time period. I had a 1947 Pontiac 2 door Streamliner and it had plenty of rear seat legroom. I was surprised at how rear seat for and aft space shrunk in the 1960s. One car that did amaze me as far as having a lot of rear seat legroom was the 1963 Studebaker 4 door Lark that my parents owned. It had more rear leg room as a compact than many full size cars. However, the Lark did have a rather skimpy trunk.
I miss the Yellow Checker Cab, old Columbo Peugeot, early 60s Vovos look of older cars. They just looked soā¦practical and basic with no pretenses. Some newer retro models seem to want to do it, but more for effect then actual execution. Now if I could just afford a Bentley. Sigh !
I just thought of one more thing I missāhaving a mechanical lock cylinder on both sides, and the trunk. My current car has just one, and itās kind of gummed up. If the battery failed you used to be able to easily access your car and trunk. I understand why there is only one now, but Iād pay an extra $50 on a new car to have a lock cylinder on the other side too, regardless of how seldom itās used.
I miss those knobs that you would pull out and it would open the floor vents to let air rush in by your legsā¦
Vent Windows were discontinued due to Government pressure reacting to high percentage of car break ins being due to these windows. A highly placed Big Three Auto Executive told me that his company saved almost a thousand dollars a car by eliminating the vent windows and his company had worked behind the scenes supporting the Governmentās actions. I join with the rest here longing to have vent windows brought back.
I worked for a Plymouth-DeSoto dealership in the late 40ās and we could count on the new cars coming back for yearly engine tune-ups which included replacing points, condenser, plugs, and sometimes, wires and coil. Theyād be back at 20,000 for a valve job, new tires and brake linings. Motor overhaul before 60,000. Mufflers, tailpipes and sometimes manifolds after 30,000 miles.