EXTINCT Car Features we MISS from our CHILDHOOD
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- Hey guys it's Marshall again. And today I decided we should all revisit how cars have changed from back when we were passenger babies instead of the ones at the helm. Let me know in the comment section which one of these old car features sparked a memory for you!
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The two features I miss the most are FINS (loved those babies!) and WIND WINGS! Those little triangular sections of window glass that could be swiveled inward to direct airflow over the interior.
Happen to remember the wording on vehicle passenger mirrors?
Those wind wings were definitely a blessing during the hot summer months!
"Wind wings" were also a blessing for non-smokers when parents would light up a cigarette.
@@MemoryManor I know I'm old, but when were those critters retired?? I want to guess 1980 in cars and at least 1985 in pickups??
My cousins and I called them "butterfly windows". I can't remember any car having them after 1975.
I prefer "manual" window cranks; damned electric ones cost a fortune to fix. They usually go out in the winter with the window in the down position.
1982 Peugeots with power windows had an allen-wrench bolt near the bottom of each door to raise or lower them if the motor wasn't working. It was a real pain to find allen wrenches in the US back then.
Of course they fail at the worst moment. It's called Sod's Law!
@@Nooziterp1 In the U.S. we call it Murphy's Law
Got manual windows in my jeep, otherwise it would to hard to take the doors off
I agree. You are a passenger in a car and the driver pulls up for gas. The ignition is shut off and the fumes from the pump fill the air. With manual cranks you can open the window easily instead of risking collision by opening the door. I am so fortunate that my old Ford Ranger still has them!
What I really can’t stand about modern cars is how they don’t have engine information gauges like oil temperature and pressure. A lot don’t have an engine temperature gauge now. I know it can be considered redundant due to more reliable engine but I still think it’s valuable information especially when owning a car for a long period. You might notice after a few days the oil pressure might be getting lower with each start or maybe the engine temp might be creeping that little bit higher after a drive. Little changes like that can indicate the start of a world of issues that you can sort out before they become a big problem. Engine gauges should be brought back.
Then how can the mechanics rape us for repairs?
@@user-rn5ib3iz7p Exactly
Porsche still has those indicators 👌
@@vpinchile Excellent to hear.
I miss vent windows, column shifters, split bench seats (with no center console) and air conditioners with crotch cooling vents (politely called "lap coolers" ) to keep the seat from getting to hot and clammy.
Vent windows were a must during the hot summer days
I agree bring back the vent windows!
Saw the title of the vid, and Vent windows was my first thought.
There's only one feature I truly miss about cars from childhood.
Having my parents deal with all the driving, maintenance, repairing and costs of a car.
That’s actually true
Lived in Japan from 1972 to 1973. We had a Toyota Crown and Nissan Cedric with fender mirrors. Another feature they had was a cooler in the trunk that ran off the a/ c. Large enough for a six pack of soda and a few sandwiches.
I miss drinking five or six high balls and putting the old lady and kids in the car without seatbelts and lighting up a half a pack of pall malls and heading down to the Howard Johnson's for supper. Them was the days when women were women and us fellas was glad of it.
I miss eating at Howard Johnson's.
We missed two dimensional fold back hood ornaments and Chrome plated bumpers. Hubcaps on steel wheels cigarette lighters, cassette tape players, full size trunks full size spare tire, interior colors that don't involve beige black or gray.
So, do you think that a cassette tape player would be useful today?? Most of the people I know skipped cassette tapes altogether. They went straight from LPs to CDs and then back to LPs and streaming
Cigarette lighters and ash trays are the features I miss the most. Honestly seen a work truck last year that didn’t even have a 12 volt outlet.
You'd love my car.😂
Cigarette lighters are still in every car. The plug is also very convienient for loading electric devices via a special adapter.
For the ashtray: who really needs it but hard smokers? Besides that smoking while driving is forbidden today.
@@MrSnaetch Most of the receptacles you are referring to are not true cigarette lighter quality.
They are not designed for the same current draw, they are mostly designed around USB accessories now unless you install it yourself.
@@MrSnaetch Smoking while driving is forbidden? Where do you live North Korea?
What I miss the most is the bench front seat and the column-mounted shifter. And the smooth ride the Great American Car was famous for. Also, the variety of interior colors available through the '90s.
Not to mention the variety of exterior colors, too. It seems like 90% of cars today are either black, white or gray.
@@mbd501 That's right. On occasion, you'll see a wild new yellow or green German car, but that's rare. Green cars are practically extinct.
There are still several new vehicles made with these features. What are you talking about?
@@HelloKittyFanMan. Name these vehicles.
@@paulparoma: Have you never heard of a full-size pickup truck? Look at just about any brand for a bench front seat even in relatively modern years. The same for column shifters. A lot of modern vans and SUVs have column shifters too. Even a lot of sedans still have them. Again, just about any brand. You don't have to hunt very far to find them.
What's the name of your cave?
Thought I'd add 2 more. My 50 Ford had vacuum operated wipers. When you accelerated they would slow down. Backing off the gas would speed them up. Same as the vacuum gauges some cars had that was referred to as an 'economizer gauge'. The other was an electric heater. Had a coil that heated up like a bathroom heater with a small fan behind it to push the heat out. The control knob would light up with a weak light in it when power was used. Other older cars sometimes had the knobs for other items.
Hand cranked cars still had ignition switches. What they lacked was starter buttons. Old cars also had manual choke and spark advance, a must for manual starting. Setting the spark fully up delays it until after top dead centre and prevents the handle from spinning back and breaking your wrist. Once successfully started, you can advance the spark and open the choke to the point where the engine runs smoothly.
I remember working on some older cars that had the start button on the floor under the gas petal. You put it to he metal to start it. Pontiacs and Buicks had them.
My 87 Hyundai has manual choke ;)
The manual choke, spark advance, crank, etc. had to help reduce drunk driving. Of course a slightly less drunk "helpful" friend could always start your car for you so you could still be able to kill somebody.
@@davidg4288 I don't see how - It's a mechanical action for me to pull the choke out and the car fires straight off the first crank. I'd have to be so plastered that putting the keys into the ignition would be a problem before pulling the choke was.
If you keep the car in tune and observe the warmup period (15 - 30 seconds summer, 1-2 minutes winter) then carburetted cars are not less reliable than FI ones.
@@the_kombinator I meant like Model A Fords where you had to set everything, get out, crank, then jump back in and reset everything. But maybe you are right even there, it's not that different than starting an old garden tractor, and I'm sure I could do that while legally intoxicated.
When I learned to drive the procedure was to get in the car and step on the gas pedal once to set the automatic choke and then turn the key. And yes my carburetor equipped car would start always unless I managed to flood it. I've also flooded fuel injected cars, the computer is not infallible.
Buttons. Switches. Knobs. A friggin shifter. A Clutch. Real controls.
That's what I miss. A car where the occupant of the drivers seat actually operates the functions of the car.
- Also... Cars made by automotive companies. NOT marketing firms and bean-counters.
- Wing windows and manual air vents.
- Manual seats.
- Dome lights that freaking go OFF when the doors close! "Is there a door open, or is the dome light waiting to slowly fade off? Better go check all the doors!"
- Turn signals that DO NOT go "CLICK! CLACK! CLICK! CLACK!" pointlessly loud. (or worse, signals that have asinine tones, chimes or artificial click-clacks played through the speakers)
- A LACK of phones. I miss drivers who drive the car. Not ride in the drivers seat, while twittering. (Phoning and driving should carry the same penalty as DUI. Social media mobile apps should all be removed and social media platforms should ONLY be accessible via a desktop computer browser.)
- Cars with angles and lines. Not just another blob of a bean shape. (we're getting there again, Slowly.)
And a lighter!!!!
Cars today are basically smart phones with wheels. You control nothing, you may fix nothing, you don't even own the software that runs the car, you just license it. The car talks to the Internet, tattle tailing your every move to the manufacturer, and recording all your moves for the cops or whoever gets their hands on the data. You can't fix it yourself, you can't many mods to it, you can't even put your own stereo in it without lots of headaches for cryin' out loud. No customers asked for this, it is all forced on us by an unholy partnership between the manufacturers and the government. Old cars certainly had their problems with reliability, safety, and corrosion, but there's something to be said for actually owning the car you paid for.
@@humboldtharry1289 As well as a REAL spare tire with a real rim. . F--k those donuts and cheap tin-can rims that look like crap.
@@RCAvhstape Damn right. Time to get big brother out of the drivers seat and put real drivers real car enthusiasts and true owners back in control of the industry.
@5:44 in the video. There was a very good reason the rear hinged doors went away. They were incredibly dangerous. Earning the name "Suicide Door". If you ever tried to open one of these doors while the vehicle was traveling down the road. It would catch the wind and swing open violently, sucking you right out of the car and on to the road. A lot of children were killed because of these things.
Yeah i had 2nd thoughts about discussing why they've disappeared since i wanted to keep things light. But appreciate you clarifying that for everyone!
I believe Lincoln had an interlock to keep them from being opened when the car was in Drive. Rolls Royce probably uses something similar on its current models. On other downside when they were hinged at the front and rear was having to take turns when exiting in a tight parking space.
When I was 4 or 5 I was in the back seat of our car that had these doors and of course I played with all the knobs and handles. This ended badly for me as I wound up in the hospital after being tossed out the door when it caught the wind. I remember waking up in the hospital but thats all I recall of it.
Well .. Darwin would approve of anybody trying to open a car door whilst the thing is going down the road .. Also Cars are not pressurized like an aircraft at 36000ft .. I doubt there are Tornado like forces if a car door opens at 30 mph .. hell I opened a window at 80mph and .......... nope my head hasn't being violently ripped off my shoulders ..... all i got was a my hair blown about a little bit..
@@kittyhawk9707 Actually, It doesn't take much wind to force one of those doors open. They act like a wind scoop. I had a friend that had a car were the two back doors were rear hinged. We went out into an open field and he was going just 20 mph and ask me to open the door but told me to not do it while gripping the door handle. I fallowed his instructions on how to do it safely by just pushing the handle with the palm of my hand. When the latch released, That door swung open violently. had I had a firm grip on the handle. it would've rip my arm out of the socket.
Now you might ask, why would you want to open a car door while the car is moving down the road? Simple, to fully close a door that has become ajar. the only real way to fully close an ajared car door is to fully open it and slam it shut. with a front hinged door. the wind will help you with that.
Crank vent windows, Vacuum door & trunk locks, Chock knob, Swivel seats, reverb speaker, floor air vents, dash air vents with no AC, push button gear selector, concealed fuel fillers, huge trunk space, side marker lamps, tilt & telescopic steering column, comfort feature on seatbelt retractors, luggage shade, automatic seatbelts, roof racks, air ride.
And don’t forget the large horizontal speedometer that took up 3/4 of the dashboard
I remember the car phones from during the 1960s and to the time the portable mobile phones came out. Very expensive, and had all the electronics in the trunk of the vehicle. I remember most of the items mentioned in this video. I have to admit that I am old.
In 1988 my dad got one for his car, around that time they were in a lot of vehicles.,but early 90s brick phones made them obsolete.
I was sales manager of a UK car dealer and in 1985 we took on the sales agency for Vodaphone. The car phones needed a hole drilled in the roof for the antenna. the transceiver unit was mounted typically in the boot and the handset with its curly cable mounted wherever possible within reach of the driver. They cost over 2 grand which was a lot of money then and coverage was pretty bad. Everything got better and cheaper over time.
Before that if you wanted a phone in your car in the UK you could get a unit from BT which was effectively a two-way radio with simplex communication i.e. you had to hold down a button on the handset mic to speak and say "over" when you'd finished talking. That operated around 27MHz if I remember rightly and needed an appropriately longer antenna.
If you remember the US detective Frank Cannon on TV he had something similar in his car.
I recently drove a classic. It was a horrid rattletrap but I was instantly reminded of how awesome those vent windows were.
Yep, our 65 Dart has them.
Those vent windows were my favorite feature. You could get fresh air even when it was raining or snowing. If you smoked, you could flick your ashes without the worry of it blowing back in. I also liked the bench seat, it gave you more room. I had a car that had a push button shifter on the front of the dashboard!
Another "feature" which we're glad to be rid of is a choke control which you would typically pull to help start your car in cold weather.
Something else you see rarely now is an electric aerial (power antenna) though my 1994 Toyota Celica has this feature, and of course being a Toyota, it still works.
My 1972 Hillman Avenger (Plymouth Cricket) has wing mirrors and I find them very practical because you don't have to turn your head so far to see behind you, especially useful if you use multi-focal glasses.
The fender mirrors were very handy. I lived in Japan for eight years and some of the roads were quite narrow with a benjo ditch alongside. If someone was walking up behind you, you could see them sooner and not run into them, or put them in the ditch with, well, poop in it.
Also, GM had horn 'button' integrated into the actual steering wheel. They were very troublesome. I think airbags in the steering wheel hub was a big reason for the buttons, or built into the airbag cover.
Then there were the tiny horn buttons on the ends of the turning stalk (Gen 2 Opel Kadett, early Ford Fairmonts & FOX Mustangs). I can't imagine what they were thinking.
@@pcno2832 - The early US Escorts had them, too!
Fender mirrors are superior to door-mount mirrors because they provide a larger field of view (you can see more) and it's quicker and easier to glance at them and back at the road, rather than actually having to turn your head to see a side mirror.
Japanese taxis still have wing/fender mirrors.
@@harrygatto Hontoni arigatou gozaimasu.
Rear hinged doors do (kinda) still exist. My dad has a pickup truck with an extended cab and behind the regular doors are rear hinged doors to easily access the extended area. Unlike old rear hinged doors though, these won't open without the regular door on that side being opened first.
Also the Opel Meriva made from 2009 to 2016 has rear hinged doors. It's like a minivan.
My Honda CRV has a rear hinged door. Those haven't gone anywhere.
There is also a practicality that rear hinged doors had. Bigger people like myself could more easily get in and out of the vehicle when we pivoted our legs and feet. Front hinged doors create a problem because you have to have a lot more room to open the doors to do the same thing.
Oh that makes sense! Never thought of that
The Opel Meriva made from 2009 to 2016 still had rear hinged doors. It was in the minivan segment. It made it easy for parents to put a child seat in and take their kids out. My friend's parents still have theirs. It's really cool. It turns heads when you open the back doors. Lol.
Features that I miss, it's a never-ending list.
1 front bench seats
2 pop-up headlights
3 vinyl and half vinyl roofs
4 floor button for high beams
5 chrome bumpers
6 triangular swivel window
7 T tops
8 fuel cap under license plate
9 laced steering wheels
10 fender fins
...and so much more
How about fuel caps behind the tail lamps? Cadillac from 48 thru 1956, Imperial in 56 & 57, Chevrolet in 56, Continental Mark II in 56 & 57.
Those vinyl roofs looked good but developed rust underneath. T-tops leaked, but they did look cool. I don't miss the loud, annoying buzzers, the clocks that stopped working after 2 years, the "idiot lights" instead of gauges. And here's one I haven't seen mentioned...fender skirts! All the huge mid level luxury cars had them; Buick Electra 225's, Olds Delta 88's, Chrysler Imperials and so on.
@@hard2starboard312 Yes, my '72 "Duece" had "skirts". We had to remove them in the Winter and put on snow tires.
Electric starters were invented in 1912. They were pretty much universal since the 1940. I doubt anyone remembers them from their youth today. My Ranger has suicide doors today. And speaking of steering wheels, you didn't mention the monster diameter sheering wheels of yesteryear. They were made of hard plastic that froze your hands numb in the winter. The grip wheel itself was skinny and hard. You needed the huge diameter for the leverage it provided. With manual steering, trying to park at low speeds was a real workout even with the big wheel.
Here in the UK a lot of cars had starting handles and electric start, the starting handle being there for a sort of backup, so you could start the car if the battery was too flat to crank the engine, or the starter was jammed. This went on until the late 60's when they finally disappeared, but there were plenty of old cars still on the road into the 90s that featured the starting handle!
I remember my father trying to steer (no power steering then) his car while parking, he was sweating 😰. I tried it myself, while driving it was ok but for parking, geee!
First time I tried a car later with power steering, it was Heaven.
Brakes were manual too. You had to give them a good stomp. Holding the car on a hill would get your leg tired.
Grandpa had many manual crank cars, but none in my lifetime.
My uncle was paralyzed from the waist down from a car accident earlier in his life. He worked everyday and loaded a wheel chair into his back seat by himself and drove himself to work as a government official. He always had a new car as he needed the dependency of a new car and he had a 1975 Oldsmobile two door with a car phone and it had a rotary dial.
My Dad's '59 Buick (think fins like the Batmobile) had a ribbon speedometer that went from left to right. There was a knob used to move a pointer to set a speed limit. When the ribbon reached the pointer, a buzzer would sound as a warning. Also, the starter was activated by first turning on the key, then pushing on the gas pedal. One of my earliest memories as a young boy was of riding in the back seat (no seat belts in those days) of that car on a trip to Yellowstone Park.
Oh how have times have changed doesn't it?
I had a 56 buick special that had these
Dad's 62 LeSaber had a safety buzzer....I'd set it at like 50 and he's get pissed off...lol Grandma's 56 Buick had the bar speedometer too...thanks for memory
The Citroen 2CV (for those who have never seen one there's one at 5:53) had a starting handle right up to when it went out of production in 1990. No problem turning it over with one either - it was only 602cc! The early cars had rear-hinged front doors so that the hinges for the front and rear doors could be made as one component as it saved a few francs.
I remember asking about a hole in the front bumper on a modern Russian car that looked perfectly situated for a starter handle. The mechanic who'd posted the video confirmed that's what it was for. I got the impression he thought I was disparaging the car for having one while I thought it was rather smart of the manufacturer to fit it, given how cold it gets there and how ineffective electric starters are at below freezing temperatures.
bring back window vents PLEASE
No way too pricey.
Hood Ornaments were the best. It made each car so unique. Some of the old ones are super collectable today.
I miss all of those grand hood ornaments that were deemed hazardous for impaling unsuspecting pedestrians when run over while they were jaywalking.
5:57 Rear hinged doors were used in some luxury cars and are still found on Rolls Royce cars today. But they were also used on some of the cheapest cars, partly to ease entry on very small cars and to allow manufacturers to use the same, or very similar stampings for the front and rear doors. They were also less prone to sagging on 4 door convertibles like the 1961-1966 Lincoln Continental.
61 to 66 Lincolns had the best design of any car, US or import.
Commonly called "suicide doors" as if they were opened with the car in motion the passing wind quickly dragged the door open and anyone inside holding the handle was immediately deposited onto the road.
I used to have a 1963 Citroen DS and one time while at my brother's place the starter went out. The mechanic I bought it from came out as well, but in the meantime my brother read in the owner's manual about how the multipurpose jack it had could also crank the engine on if necessary! It worked, too! I had to explain to a more modern car owner what "leaning on the horn" meant to express extreme annoyance to another driver! Haha! I used to also love the sound of the turn signals in the old family 1957 Ford Country Sedan Wagon we had because they sounded like the beeping noises Rosie the Robot maid on the Jetsons made!
Maybe it's me but most of these were gone by the time I started driving in 1972. I can't imagine too many people "missing" these things that are still alive. won't even give a thumbs up for it.
I had one car with a crank, but it did also have a starter button. However, it didn't like to start from cold using the button LOL. I had to turn the crank a couple of times first; then the button would work fine.
Re rear-hinged doors, the 2023 Citroen Ami has a rear-hinged door on one side and a front-hinged door on the other.
In the mid 90’s both of my parents had those bag phones in their cars before getting their 1st cell phone. They did both used CB’s in their cars,too. I even remembered lighters for cigarettes and ashtrays in cars,too. Even riding the very back of the Ford Pinto. Even my mother’s 1980 Ford Escort station wagon. Even having a radio with tape cassette player. My very 1st car that had it in it.
A 1949 model vehicle that I restored had “rear hinged doors”. My mum told me that when she was a teenager they used to call them “AIF doors”. AIF stood for “Ass In First”, due to the way you entered the vehicle.
I miss pop-up headlights, window cranks, and the little knob to focus the mirror on the sides of cars. So many things from my childhood that is crazy they are gone.
OMG......a new full-size station wagon was the highlight of our family's buying efforts. My dad was not at all mechanically inclined, so he'd trade to a new wagon for mom like every three yrs. And he wasn't brand loyal, so we had some great variety. The features were amazing....and in true US build form, they would mostly fail in time....especially the luxury features.
Can't remember the marque that had it, but the tailgate that opened down or to the side was uber cool. Along with a power window in the tailgate that you could control from the driver's position. Vistacruisers had the skylight. Was awesome to have a separate AC unit(like an RV) for the back passengers. And the many variations of how they did the very back seat near the tailgate(if equipped).
Had to take my driver's test in a station wagon.....NOT fun.
Often wondered where and who came up with the term "Station Wagon". Did not make a licka sense to me... Remember the WOOD ones that somebody came out with? Unreal. After a coupla years they looked yeah, pretty nasty.
@@leecowell8165 I'm only interested in the ones from my youth which didn't have real wood panels. I can't imagine taking care of a real 'woody' and honestly, they don't do a thing for me visually. I want the big beasts with the big motors like the '69 Town and Country we had with the 440 Magnum. I shut down many muscle cars with that at my HS. The only condition was to start the race at about 30MPH because the wagon was so heavy! As far as why they were called 'station wagons' originally.....I would guess the earliest ones were seen down at stations/docks, being loaded with goods. i
@@leecowell8165 - Because they were originally designed to pick up passengers at railroad stations!
When I was little I remember mechanical indicators. Before indicator lights these were slivers of orange plastic that flipped out of a groove in the doorframe to indicate the care was turning and then flipped back in after a short while.
Semifores
@@garycamara9955 Semaphores...
I remember the orange Fiberglas pole that flap out of the grove in the door frame, it was Austin station square wagon that most of them were manufactured in England and mostly used as a Taxi in Thailand in late 1950. It very easy to brake or struck to return during the bad weather and has to be manually flip back in.
Early VW bugs also had some.
Car Phones call quality was infinitely better than anything today. There was no garbled dismembered voice breaking up. You could talk AND listen at the exact same time with zero delay, you could hear subtle sounds in between words. Compared to today it was almost telepathic. You could even hear in the background which song was playing while the other person talking. And most importantly for business users when time is money and every second of a call counted, you only needed to say it once only
Back in 1989 an AT&T car ph0ne cost forty -five cents per minute to use.
Back in the 80s we thought that little antenna on the roof of cars meant it was a cop car.
Probably missed the most are glass headlamps. No more yellowing...
0:00 That 1971 Ford Country Squire stirs my heart! I had a similar '72, bought as rustbucket in '81 for $350. A blast for a 20-something to drive!😅 I still miss it.
Ease of serviceability, e.g. my Dad mentioned how simple it used to service your car such as change the oil or even replace a leaky radiator, e.g. loosen the hose clamps and detach the hoses, remove the retaining bolts and lift out the leaky radiator. Try that with any modern car! As for technology, I much prefer physical buttons and knobs for the essentials e.g. you shouldn't need to use a touch screen to adjust the cabin temperature, fan speed, etc.
I'd add being able to easily change light bulbs- headlights, sidelights, indicators and brakelights. The firm I used to work for had a small fleet of Astra vans, which occasionally blew a bulb. It was a nightmare changing these as it had to be done from inside the load area or in the case of headlights, around the front wheel. We used to time each other- the record for changing a rear lightbulb was 25 minutes, There was also a penalty for dropping anything into the bodywork, where it would stay and rattle forever.
Never owned a car with fender mirrors (before my time)...but they do look fantastic and slick. Thats something I'd definitely love to see again. But without a doubt, the feature that is SORELY missed is suicide doors.
In your opening sequence, where you mentioned about dad taking everybody to the lake in his Cadillac, what was on the screen was a 1971 Ford Country Squire station wagon. Just wanted to let you know. The one thing that horn rings (also) did for cars was to add a humble, classic touch to the overall appearance in the area where the driver sat.
I miss the side vent window and the hidden seats of the 9 passenger station wagons. I also miss hood ornaments and chrome bumpers.
Our family’s behemoth ‘73 Buick Estate Wagon had Millennium-Falconesque “smugglers panels” in the rear that could store gobs of stuff. You could also raise the rear window above the lift-gate and drive around with the other windows down providing great ventilation on a hot day.
When using a starting handle, it was wise to put your hand palm upwards with your thumb under the handle. A kickback would knock your hand away unharmed but gripping the handle with fingers and thumb curled around was a recipe for a broken thumb. Wing (fender) mirrors looked sexy but in my experience, modern door mirrors are more efficient. Many cars have mirrors that are electrically adjustable and even heated.
I do miss the vent windows . My first car 1962 MERC COMET had them . Then I bought a 1969 CONTINENTAL MARK III
yep my 49 Chevy coup and 51 Ford had them as well as my 55 Lincoln Capri. my 66 Chrysler 300 had them.. All these vehicles were a pile of junk. The Chrysler you couldn't even stop it from 70 mph without the drum brakes fading out at around 20 mph. WHAT a piece of JUNK! I'm surprised Chrysler is still in business I never purchased another vehicle made by that outfit.
my 1st car, a 1957 hillman minx, had a crank handle for emergency starts. when something failed it usually got the car started. basically winding the fan belts.
I can think of a few we miss in cars of today , floor mounted high beam dip switches, proper opening sunroofs , dash binnacles in front of the driver , spare tyres which are becoming sacrificed more often these days to lessen weight and help range especially in electric cars , roof grab handles to assist in entry and exiting the vehicle , knobs and buttons that you don’t even need to take your eyes off the road to operate stuff .
Seperate adjustable head rests , some where even motorised in luxury models.
Personal car stereo and air conditioning in the back seats, vanity mirrors in the sun visors , somebody in the comments already mentioned cigarette lighter being removed.
As for the crank handle , there are still some vehicles that come with a crank handle such as certain heavy duty 4wd models.
8 track stereo , proper hydraulic power steering , am/fm push button radio.
I miss many of the features we got on conventional cars even in modern years that have been cheaped out on with the latest cars in the name of “progress”.
I miss the VW Logo that didn’t have the stupid split between the letters. I also miss the Volvo logo that wasn’t the male symbol. Oh, and the side mirror used to say “Objects in mirror MAY BE closer than they appear”. Research the Mandela Effect.
oh wow did that VW logo really exist?
@@MemoryManor Oh yes for sure! You always remember the split between the letters? Also, do you remember the wording on passenger vehicle mirrors reads? Most everyone remembers ‘MAY BE’. Now, it’s ALWAYS BEEN ‘Are’
My most missed car feature from back in the day, $8k brand new cars.
Dad's 54' Chevy panel truck had a ram air vent on both sides in front of your legs. Nice breeze when moving. He also had a cop search light to see house numbers at night on the drivers side.
No passenger seat, but we improvised. Three on the tree shifter. The good old days.
wind wings!
Wow, it's especially weird to see those rear-hinged doors in the front! But you know, they did not completely disappear as long ago as many people think. There have been pickup trucks made with those into the early 2000s, and I had one of them for 6 1/2 years from early 2016 into mid-2022: a 6-sp. man. 4x4 diesel 2001 Dodge Ram (truck).
I like how the narrator is trying to mimic the mid-Atlantic accent of that time.
I'm thankful for the window cranks in my 25 yr old truck.
Chrome trim and bumpers. Vent windows. Wheel covers/hubcaps. White wall tires. Two-tone paint. COLORS other than just white, black, grey or silver.
What I liked were the silent engines. Have had two straight six classics, a 49 Chevrolet and a 55 Plymouth, both equipped with straight sixes.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I think every superlative and descriptive word was used
I worked at Bell in the 90s, I read the cost in the rate books, just cost per minute was $1 & later found out all it was was CB radio handling the call, many times callers had to use the operator at a additional fee.
Fender mirror on automobiles died as a safty issue, when pedestrians were impaled on them, along with hood ornaments. Rear Hinged Doors (aka Suicide Doors) also went with safty, they did not close with the wind as do forward hinged, when the car moved forward. Often dragging the emerging passenger.
If you miss hand cranked cars from your childhood you probably are not watching this video...
Also, no one who ever used one misses them.
Then we have "sleek and compact mirrors" which are typically larger than anything but truck mirrors on older cars.
This whole video is full of features no one actually misses.
Those old car phones were not cellular technology. They were just glorified two way radios.
Imagine how FEW people there are that miss car phones from their childhood? Like 1 in 1,000 people could afford such a thing.
I own an old Motorola bag phone for a car from the 90s that was my dad's. I know that they are completely useless now, but I think it's a cool thing to have. It was probably really cool to have a car phone in the 40s and 50s.
far better than the little plastic toys of today
Cornering lamps which were connected to the turn indicator, the lamps would light up the path of the front wheel.
Curb feelers, low budget parking assist which kept the white-walls from being disfigured. Those who park a full meter from the curb could benefit from curb feelers.
Perhaps useless were the ground wire that hung from under the vehicle dragging along the pavement.
What I miss are simple electric and mechanical controls and gauges that are easy to replace and don't cost a fortune. Nothing like having a light go out on your instrument cluster and getting hit with a bill to replace the entire dashboard electronics unit for a few hundred bucks plus labor.
Rear hinged doors were more about convenience entering and exiting the car than about so-called luxury. They made it easy to slide into your seat, although as cars got heavier, closing the door could be awkward when opened too wide.
"Hand crank".... and I instantly thought 'hand crank windows' and was like "yup, my 2000s cavilier still has those". The crank still works but the freely rotating knob broke off so I can't roll down the window when driving.
There also used to be station wagons. I was born in 1992 and I enjoy these videos.
5:55 Rear-hinged doors reached their maximum popularity in US models in 1935.
Borgward-Hansa built a charming 2400 model in the mid-fifties with aero styling and four rear-hinged doors, extra points for the manual column shift.
Those car phones before 1985 were on the CB radio frequencies.
Seems to me they were about 410 MHz, while Class D CB was 27 MHz. And Class A CB was 465 MHz, where GMRS is now.
I miss the floor vents, you could open them to get air moving through the interior. And, the "wing" windows.
My floor vents were called holes.
🎶 Turn on the key, step on the starter, I wanna go riding in the car 🎶
that crackhandle was also known as the arm/kneebreaker as if you didnt get out of the way in time that crank will come back and slam right into you arm or knee
Finally - so,etching for a car that was older than I am - the hand crank!!!🤭🤭🤭😀😀😀
I also miss wrap around windshields and metal dashboards but along came the safety 1st crowd and so died the sun proof dashboard.
Vent windows 👍 CD players 👍 Window Cranks, for when you just need to crack the window a little bit 👍
4:40 Horn rings were an abominable hazard in the event of an accident. The brittle pot-metal would break and impale any passenger in the vicinity. The biggest factor in the demise of this monstrosity was power steering: when the driver needed less leverage to maneuver the car, it allowed auto makers to use smaller steering wheels, and padded hubs, then air bags put the horn pads within thumbs' reach of the outer diameter of the wheel.
Car phone? That's nothing! We had a car pool!! :D
The horn ring caused serious injury and disfigurement in an accident, which was why they were phased out.
off the top of my head..
Overdrive switch, and sometimes the bright(er) headlights.. on the floor
8 track tape player
The fun of holding a drink between your legs
Vinyl seats that got hot enough to BURN you.
Metal steering wheels also hot enough to burn you.
Engines that overheated, requiring you to run the heater when it was hot outside.
Trunks large enough to hold a body or two.
Roofs and hoods you could jump up and down on and not dent.
Chrome bumpers that did not just disintegrate when you tapped them.
Cassette storage.
Wide bench back seats that could hold 4 people, no seatbelts in the way.
Rear shelf you could sit in if you were small enough
Speedometer that swept from left to right. (why?)
later.. a round speedometer that actually was in the center.
(why they put a tachometer in the center of an automatic cars now.. I have no clue)
various gauges for engine stats
cream color cars.
white wall tires.
full size spare in the trunk
That wonderful odd squeal when you made a tight turn.
Door sills you could rest your arm on.. comfortably!! Not too high your shoulder hurts, and a door thick enough not to cut into you
ash trays in the doors, in the center.. everywhere. yet no cup holders
crank windows.. with a knob that would eventually just fall off
a glove box.. that you could get lost in and store an entire kitchen drawer of stuff.
Radio that you had to manually tune
Antenna that retracted
CB antenna (not standard equipment but a lot of people had them)
washer fluid that would spray anywhere you wanted, except onto the actual window.
windows that would raise and lower oddly at an angle, then meet at the top. (usually back windows)
Trunks you could sit on.. as could an entire group of people.
Turn signals that made an annoying clicking noise, reminding you to turn them off.
And a dash that did not just go to the windshield but was SOO deep you could store all kinds of things on top of it. (it always just ended up cluttered with trash mostly).
Dashboard lit by one really dim bulb, no backlit anything.
All analog gauges.
two tone horns
Analog clock
dimmer dial.
Emergency brake foot pedal.
My dad had a late 1970's Citroen. It had a crank handle. Also air ride suspension with 3 ride heights.
Wow, an Aussie GM Holden commodore got a feature - well at least an image, of the headlight wiper. Standard fitment on the top-spec VB & VC SL/E from 1978-81, and optional on lower trim specs as part of the “euro pack” they weren’t really needed in 98% of Australia…. The sun would kill the rubber blades in short order, and they were not only expensive, but hard to source. Many owners, myself included, unplugged the relays to prevent them operating (and scratching the headlight glass). Some even removed the arms altogether. They weren’t really needed on sloping headlights where the airflow over the light stopped most debris and insects from splattering on the face. This was the main reason they weren’t really needed anymore.
The last Holden I seen the head light wipers on, was the Monterey. The top spec Jackaroo. They finished production on 2002. Like you said, great for grinding the sand and mud into the glass!! Ha ha ha!!!
Interior colours that were actually colours. Goes for the exterior too.
Speed alert. A sound would warn you when going over speed limit you could set.
Recently, I went car shopping for a compact car for my daily work commute, I couldn't find a decent newer car with a manual transmission. I guess that's just about a thing of the past unless you decide for an older model which is what I did.
My father had a 52 Olds and I had to replace his radio for him when it broke. It was as big as a cinderblock and full of glass tubes.
I miss cars that don't all look like each other.
The very last time I saw rear facing doors besides London Taxis were the Ford B-Max. They had these on the back door to allow for the lack of a B pillar for some reason. I never liked the beasts myself, preferring its predecessor, the Ford Fusion (EU version). The removal of rear opening doors, as I recall, was due to a safety concern, much like where sliding doors at the front were also stopped on things like the Ford Transit because of accidents that could happen if the wind or the movement of the vehicle caused the door to close inappropriately.
I miss the floor mounted dimmer switch for the headlights.
I remember headlight wipers. They were usually on luxury cars such as Mercedes Benz or Volvo. Perhaps Rolls Royce but I am not sure.
My CONTINENTAL MARK III had a vent system a lever on the bottom of the dash ,you pull it and as you drove a BEAUTIFUL blast of air would blow at my crotch . cooling me it would blow up my skirt . That feature was dropped on the 1970 MARK III I still drive LINCOLN today and I miss that feature a lot . Sincerely MRS. M
Cool your crotch, huh? Us guys of course can't do that! I had a GF that only wore dresses now I know why...
I miss the front vent windows! I had a 49 Ford coupe. The vent windows were my air conditioners.
those were crucial in the summer!
I might miss classic car styling (everything today looks like a bubble, all bulging and overly safe), but crank starting can go right to hell and stay there. Glad I never had to experience it, never, ever want to.
So if fender mirrors were too far away then what was the point of even including them in the first place, even with the stylistics stuff you mentioned?