I remember when you could identify a car or truck by the headlight or tail light configuration at night. In some cases even the year of the vehicle. Now you can't even see anymore because of the LED lights.
Absolutely! There were only 5 or 6 brands of cars on the road, and a few of those were less common. You had Chevy, Ford, Chrysler, and of course each of those had their spinoffs, Mercury, Pontiac, Dodge. You could tell the parent company half a mile away! Well at 74 yrs old, it's mostly memories, but I've still got my '54 Chevy 3100, so I can prove to the kids I'm not batty. Nowadays I can't tell one brand from another at six feet distance.
Yep. I had boy cousins that I spent lots of time with. We would all sit and guess what was coming. We'd even listen to the sound of the engine. Nowadays you can't tell one make from another. As a woman, I realize it was an uncommon skill for me to latch on to.
Saddly even this isn't true. Most cars used the same headlights and tail in their vehicles. And there are plenty you can easily tell nowa days. If you can't identify some of these cars. It's more of a personal issue. Back then headlights and tail lights all looked the same. I. Don't see any difference. Only thing now that sucks is the light blue headlights that are blinding. Not sure how they get away with it since if you look into it. It's illegal to have blue headlights.
My dad would drive with his left elbow resting on the top of the door with the window down and he would also hold onto the vertical support for the open vent window. If you opened the vent window all the way it would scoop a lot of air into the car (1968 Plymouth Fury sedan). And what about floor mounted dimmer switches?
You'll never see bright chrome plating on cars again...real chrome, not plastic chrome. Chrome plating takes lots of labor, electricity and tons of super toxic chemicals. The only chrome plating done today if for industrial equipment.
My 1955 Chevy which I've owned for 45 years and the first 22 years purchased new by my Grandfather. It has roll up windows, front vent windows, ash trays, cigarette lighter, three on the tree and a full size spare. Couldn't ask for anything better.
Funny thing, I just finished telling my kids about one of my first cars with the 3 on the tree shifters, they had never heard of them. Now I feel old. 😳🤣
I miss those ,too. You didn't need to take your hands off the wheel to use them and you always knew where the dimmer switch was before they started moving them all over the place.
I miss the back window shelf. My brother and I would lay on it and when my dad hit the brakes we would fly into the back floor board. It was great fun but it sounds dangerous now, we both survived.
60's kid here. A seatbelt? What the heck is that used for? Stupid things in the way... We got thrown around the back of a car like laundry in a washing machine. Just laugh and brush it off. Was fun, have to say that.
I remember sitting in the very back of a station wagon with my cousin when I was 8 years old waving at the cars behind us. A lot would smile and wave back and some would ignore us.
Same here. While riding in the “way way back” of our 1971 Plymouth wagon my sister and I would motion to semi truck drivers behind us to pull down the cord on their air horn. It was great to hear them do it. Probably scared the crap out of my father who was driving.
My grand-parents had a 1970 Olds Vista Cruiser with the "wood" paneling and the glass roof features. In the summer´s they would take 4-5 of the grand-kids on a road-trip for two weeks from Texas to Alabama to relatives who owned a summer camp on a lake where we stayed in cabins. Grandma would fill a large cooler with fried chicken, sandwiches and sodas for the drive. What fond memories.
@@gertexan One of the dads in my Boy Scout troop had a Vista wagon. Sometimes he would drive a few of us on camping trips. It was like being in a spaceship.
A good friend has a 2009 Chevy Cobalt as his everyday driver, and when I visit him, he tends to apologize for not having power windows! I remind him I'm not too lazy to crank a window.
When I was a kid in the 1960s and all the way into the 1980s, a person could identify the make of a car just by hearing the starter motor; Does anyone else remember that?
The real reason they stopped with the front vent window was cost. It is cheaper to make a car without them. They didn't just draw out stale interior air, if you pushed them all the way around, so that the wide part faced forward, they actually forced a breeze of air into the car as you drive along. If your car had them, air conditioning was not nearly as necessary, so removing them also increased the number of people ordering the option of air conditioning.
@@powellmountainmike8853 I've never broken into a vehicle except my own once when I locked the keys inside but I can see that it would be easier to do on a car with wing windows if you could pry one of the wings open just enough to get a tool or a coat hanger through.....
@@darrellhagan6124 The vent windows always were either opened with their own handle which had to be cranked to open them, or had an interior latch if they were the push open kind like on Volkswagons. You really couldn't easily pry them open. These windows were not like modern ones which are just a glass panel. They had a metal frame around at least 2 sides, which made them much sturdier. No, car companies just cheaped out, charged the same or more for a lesser product. It has only gotten worse as the years have gone by. Yes, modern cars have more gizmos, but they are over complicated, difficult to repair, and built like crap.
@@powellmountainmike8853 Oh I know what you're saying, I was there. I've owned many cars equipped with them in the last 65 years. Still can a bit easier to break in with them then without if you know where to direct the tool. No matter though, I still miss having them.
Bench seats were nice bc you could set things on the seat next to you even if you had a passenger. Also, if you dropped something there was no gap for it to fall under the seat making it necessary to stop the car and crawl into the back seat to find whatever you dropped.
Recently, while experiencing mental duress, I had to go outside and move my car, after I started it, I reached up to shift as we had done for years when the shifter was on the steering column. It was exactly the comic relief I needed to break the shock and tension. When I went back inside, I announced “no I’m not upset at all, I just tried to reverse my car like this” and mimicked myself reaching up to the shifter. I’m fairly sure it’s been since the 1980’s in my moms Lincoln TownCar, or maybe her Oldsmobile Station Wagon that I drove a car with that configuration. My first car was a manual transmission, a 1970 something Fort Fiesta. It cost $200 and had 3 bald tires, and 1 that flapped all the way to the used tire shop 😂 I was so proud of that tan, oxidized beater!
This was in the early 1970s, and as a very young child, I remember the door of the glove compartment of some cars being specifically designed so that you could put your drink and your meal from a fast food restaurant on it while sitting in the front passenger seat. Today the size and angle of the glove compartment doors of today’s cars would make eating a meal from it impossible.
My daily car has vent windows, manual crank door glass, dash lighter and 3 ash trays, manual pull up antenna, sealed beam headlights and polished stainless steel hub caps, fixed hood ornament and full size matching spare wheel. Also rubber floor mats, AM radio, vinyl bench seats and 3 on the tree manual gearshift. It was by the way, built in 1970.
What make and model is it? I still have several old family cars, a 1982 Lincoln, Versailles, a 1974 Ford Bronco, both with 302ci, 4.9 liter, and a 1968 AMC Rebel SST 290ci (4.8 L) "Typhoon" V8, which has vent windows.
I am surprise you did not mention the little foot button on the floorboard to turn on & off the high beam light. And the up and down knob on the door to lock & unlock the car door.
One thing I miss and also don't miss. Those chrome embellished steel dash's. Beautiful but deadly in an accident. That's back when no one wore a seat belt. And if a parent had their kids riding up front when the brakes were harshly applied the parents right arm would fly out to retain their kids from flying into that steel dash. Those were the days
I miss how new cars used to smell. I don’t care that it might or might not cause cancer. How often do most people get to buy a brand new car with that smell that only lasted 6 months or so.
My current pick-up truck has roll down windows, wing windows (as it has no air conditioning, we call those crotch coolers), ash trays and lighters, and a full size spare in the back! 1997 Ford F-250 HDXL with 5 speed manual.
When I was in high school I was in a band. We bought in old 1955 Cadillac Hurst to carry our instruments. It had power ash trays. A vacuum would pull the ashes and cigarette butts into a bag in the back. Never saw another car with this feature, probably because it was a fire hazard.
Most all my cars up until the late 80’s had vents in the side kick panels (or under the dash) in the front that you could open to get a nice breeze at speed. CRUCIAL in the cars without air conditioning. Especially in the rain. Funny story, I was taking a road trip with my college roommates in an older car that was bought from an elderly neighbor. We started driving up a mountain and the temp gauge was getting dangerously close to H. I suggested to the guys in front that they turn on the heater full blast to take some of the engine’s heat off, and they lauded me when the temp gauge went down. But even with the windows open it got too hot in the front seat so I suggested they open the kick vents. They found them under the dash…and got sprayed with a cloud of dry-rotted foam seals from the cover. Win some, lose some. 😂
Foot button headlight hi/low, seat lap only belts, AM only radio with push preset stations. 8 track and even 4 track tapes, two keys one door lock and a separate ignition also turn the key to "on" and push a separate button for start. I still have some of these in my old daily drivers.
they took away all the cool stuff about cars!! those dashboards, cool whitewalls and being able to seat 6 people!!! and we baby boomers lived through them!! even the insecticide used in veggie gardens...loved those beans off the plant!!
Remember the bumper jack & stand? It hooked into the little slot on the big chrome bumper if you had a flat tire Click, click. Lol. I miss the vent window. Also the foot button for your high beams. A person could actually fix so much on their vehicle back in the day too with just a quick trip to Kmart. They carried most of the parts you needed for cheap from tailpipes to headlights, starters, water pumps, alternators, hence the backyard mechanic. Thanks for sharing happier times 😊
The little triangle window also got taken out because it made it easy for thieves to get into your car. you forgot Vinyl covered seats. Burned the whole tar piss out of my legs on one before in a car.
Vent windows were popular with break-in thugs. Ask me how I know! Back in the day I had a couple of vehicles with a bench front seat. Great for making out at the Drive-In and your honey could ride up close to you. I also miss steel bumpers. I hit a wild hog with my plastic bumper a few years ago and his last act on earth was to do thousands of dollars of damage to my car!
Vista Domes were actually popular on wagons for a number of years! The Vista Cruiser was most noted for them, but my family's 1967 Buick Sport Wagon had that! Due to rollover safety concerns cars stopped having them after a while!
@@MrSloika explains why they're still around. Not every car owner lives in the rust belt. Think before you decide to post random things that just pop in your head.
@@glennso47 ??? 😳 What?? "Planned obsolescence" has nothing to do with the appearance or aesthetics of the cars. Literally speaking, cars built today will be junk in 10 years. Scrap. They're designed to fail. Designed to wear out and to repair them will cost more than the cars are worth. The electronics are programmed to fail after so many miles. You can spend an afternoon tinkering with a 50 year old car and literally drive it out of its grave. 50 years from today you won't be able to do that with modern built cars. Anyway... That's what planned obsolescence means.
Vent windows were mostly used by smokers flicking ashes out. '72 hand me down Duster with wheel caps. My last classic car was an 85 Buick Riviera, lots of old car featurs, metal bumpers, hood ornament, wire caps and Landau roof, Now I drive an Impala, 2019, only old car feature is rear legroom and donut spare beneath giant trunk.
in my first two cars to shift between high and low beams was done by a foot switch, that got stuck in winter with melted on the floor, am I the only one to remember that?
My Grandmother had a '63 or '64 Cadillac Fleetwood that had an "electric eye" on the dash that did it automatically. Seemed to work pretty well, especially given the time.
We always had a Ford Country Squire station wagon. Last one was 1976 which i inherited, fake wood panel an all! Greatest car i ever owned,she was a beast!😊😊😊
@@brianhdueck3372 I'm with you! Sadly my 1999 Taurus station wagon had her last bullfight last week!😪 I'm heartbroken! I've been looking at used cars and of course there's not a wagon in site. I guess it's a sedan,YUCK ! Stay well and keep on Wagoning!🙂🙂
Full sized spares are becoming desirable again. Oh, and they were "power windows," not "automatic." 😉 I loved vent windows, and full bench front seats with the gear lever on the column. Confession? I love the '58 Edsel convertible! 😂
Front bench seats and no seatbelt laws meant your girlfriend could sit next to you as you drove. She could also work the radio or 8track player searching for that particular song.
Yes! I really, really miss my CD player the most. But I hear everyone's gone digital with their custom mixes on their cellphones etc. or have a subscription to SiriusXM and can get one of their very specific stations. Luckily I'm retired and don't drive long distances any more.
I remember during the 50’s, the front bench seat had a fabric rope across its back. I loved horses, and made believe that it was a bridle and that I was riding a horse through the scenery we were zooming by.
My dad's old work vans almost always had the "ballvent" pull handle in the footwell. After a hard days work, pulling that lever on the highway produced the nice cool breeze down to the nether regions!
8:25 That's a Citroen DS. apparently equipped with the "Citromatic" semi-automatic transaxle (a fully automatic eventually came on line). Standard on those cars was a four-speed manual with column-mounted gear change. I learned to drive (in part) on a '51 Studebaker with three-speed column shift manual, with a solenoid-operated planetary overdrive. Get up to a bit over 27 mph, let off the gas, and the overdrive would kick in. Or not. Theoretically it would work on any forward gear, but I only used it on second or third. The Stude starter button was on the floor, usually operted by pushing the clutch pedal to push the button, though in an emergency you could step directly on the button. I had several three-on-the-tree cars from a variety of makers including Dodge, Buick, Rambler, Packard, Ford, and Kaiser through the seventies to the nineties. The independent makes and the Ford Falcon seemed to have the most reliable shifters. Chrysler sourced their manual-shift steering columns from GM and as those shifters aged, they would become sloppy and the shifter would clash and bine during the 1-2 shift if the driver wasn't careful.
For those who don't know, the Citromatic was a manual transmission, but the operation of the clutch was automatic. The driver manually selects the gear, and the clutch works automatically. The Citroen DS was an amazing car that was way ahead of its time, but it unfortunately never gained more than a cult following in the US.
Power antennas were pretty trick when they actually worked. The one on my 1992 Lexus SC300 actually changed positions when you changed the radio station. Idea was to get the BEST signal.
My first car, a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville, had a power antenna. If it was went, and the the temperature dropped well below freezing, it froze up. I learned to get a hair dryer and plug it into an extension cord. After blowing hot air on the fender for a few minutes, the antenna would go up. Then, I would wipe it down and apply some WD-40.
@@jameslandry5952 My 1991 Brougham had the power antenna that turned on with the radio. Also raised/lowered when you turned the car on/off. Really wish there was a separate button for the antenna like a window switch. That power antenna motor met its demise on a road trip to east Tennessee in January. As typical of TN storms, it was ice at first, then turned to snow. Good 1/2" sheet of ice on the whole car with another 4" of snow on top of that. Thought I'd never get it opened up with the doors/locks frozen shut. Turn the key and crank it for a good second or two and it fired right up, thank god for fuel injection. In all that excitement I forgot that the power antenna was trying to force its way thru a layer of ice, burned the motor up on it.
@@AaronSmith-kr5yf being raised in the Adirondack Mountains (where it can easily get to be 50 or 60 below zero), I know all about ice storms and 5 feet of snow overnight and bringing the battery (for the '67 Impala I had) inside the house every night so it wouldn't freeze. I've had at least 8 Cadillacs and I believe that I mispoke when I said the antenna popped up when the radio was turned on. I believe that you had to manually pull the tuning knob in or out to make the antenna go up or down. It was other Cadillacs I had that the antennas automatically operated when the radio was switched on. I had the '63 over 40 years ago, so my memory is starting to suffer... ☹️ Oddly, the antenna on the '63 seemed to function properly 99% of the time (ice-overs excluded)
The station wagons we had didn't have a seat at the back, just the cargo space. Our 1960 Buick Electra had a switch on the dashboard to raise and lower the antenna! I really miss hood ornaments. I remember the "no-draft" window. They actually deflected the air away from the main window so you weren't being blasted in the face by the wind as you drove. My 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon had a full size spare wheel inside the left rear fender and my two Jeeps carried a full size spare on the rear tailgate. One feature you didn't mention, which I really miss, is the floor vent. In the front, you could reach just under the dashboard, pull a lever and it would open a vent, which allowed air from the front wheel well to blow in across the floor. It was a great way to cool your feet in the pre-air conditioning days! One thing I don't miss is vinyl seats. You could not sit on those things after the car had been parked in the sun for a couple of hours!
My last car to have a small side window was a 68 Ford Galaxy LTD. I liked this feature. I miss some of the features from the cars I was driving in the 60s.
Last vehicle with hub caps? Our 2023 Ram 3500 that we picked up in March 2023. Our 2016 CX-5 had them too, as did our 2005 Toyota Echo. The Echo also had crank windows that fascinated our grandson when he was 3.
Antenna, My latest car has the shark fin, instead of the 8 radio stations I used to get, I only get 2 FM, ½AM. The triangle vent window was the death of many a driver, without seatbelt they slid acros the bench seat and would be spitted on the point of the glass. I had one car with seven ash trays and six Lighters.
Ford 51 F1. Wind wings, huge cowl and floor vents, plus the 2 side windows. Fun fact: while enjoying the cool breeze of a freshly irrigated alfalfa field along a highway, the butterflies would get sucked in and if they missed your face they splattered inside the back window.
It’s called technology. I been driving since 1973. I personally like electric windows. There not stealing antennas now. These new keyless fob push button cars are being stolen.
I have a 31 year old pick. Everything still works. Windows go up and down via the hand crank, antenna, AC. The only thing that gave up the ghost is the head liner 😕I love it! It’s 3/4 ton diesel with 4 on the floor. The biggest asset: made of 100% super heavy duty, rock solid steel.
I hope it's not a Chevy, my 75 Ford 3/4 ton has less rust than my gf's 2003 Chevy and it isn't restored lol...but then again my '55 Jeep has none at all! They were both made of REAL steel
Woodchuck, lol! Any time we'd see a vehicle with the wood grain paneling we'd punch everyone in the car, as hard as we could and say "woodchuck, no woodchuck back" and if it turned out to not be a woodchuck and you punched someone, they got to punch you back. These days we've turned it into "cruiser bruiser" for PT cruisers and "bingo" for yellow cars, and of the classic " slug bug" will always be in fashion
"3 on the tree" gear shifters allowed room for 3 in the front. Real spare tires cost money. Some cars came with a useful tool kit. Most had read gauges so you didn't need a scanner and the internet to figure out a problem like your oil pressure was low. A lot of cars had a really big trunk compared to today's cars. Glove boxes were larger.
My first car, a 1964 Toyota Crown, had two window cranks on the front doors. They were two different lengths, the very short ones were to open the quarter vent windows.
I remember when you could identify a car or truck by the headlight or tail light configuration at night. In some cases even the year of the vehicle. Now you can't even see anymore because of the LED lights.
Absolutely! There were only 5 or 6 brands of cars on the road, and a few of those were less common. You had Chevy, Ford, Chrysler, and of course each of those had their spinoffs, Mercury, Pontiac, Dodge. You could tell the parent company half a mile away! Well at 74 yrs old, it's mostly memories, but I've still got my '54 Chevy 3100, so I can prove to the kids I'm not batty. Nowadays I can't tell one brand from another at six feet distance.
Today you can say by watching car:it is very new car or it must be atleast few year old lol
Yep. I had boy cousins that I spent lots of time with. We would all sit and guess what was coming. We'd even listen to the sound of the engine.
Nowadays you can't tell one make from another.
As a woman, I realize it was an uncommon skill for me to latch on to.
Saddly even this isn't true. Most cars used the same headlights and tail in their vehicles. And there are plenty you can easily tell nowa days. If you can't identify some of these cars. It's more of a personal issue. Back then headlights and tail lights all looked the same. I. Don't see any difference. Only thing now that sucks is the light blue headlights that are blinding. Not sure how they get away with it since if you look into it. It's illegal to have blue headlights.
I even recall that the size of the tail lights indicated the year of the model.
My dad would drive with his left elbow resting on the top of the door with the window down and he would also hold onto the vertical support for the open vent window. If you opened the vent window all the way it would scoop a lot of air into the car (1968 Plymouth Fury sedan).
And what about floor mounted dimmer switches?
I miss those dimmer switches!
I say bring back the vent windows!
I don’t remember them
the one thing I miss the most is the vent window and chrome bumpers don't care for painted bumpers, I also miss bench seats and 3 on tree shifters
Reminds me of the 63 GMC 910 I learned to dive with; it had the vent windows, bench seat and chrome bumpers plus it was a three on the tree!
Now most bumpers are hidden behind plastic
You'll never see bright chrome plating on cars again...real chrome, not plastic chrome. Chrome plating takes lots of labor, electricity and tons of super toxic chemicals. The only chrome plating done today if for industrial equipment.
My 1955 Chevy which I've owned for 45 years and the first 22 years purchased new by my Grandfather. It has roll up windows, front vent windows, ash trays, cigarette lighter, three on the tree and a full size spare. Couldn't ask for anything better.
Funny thing, I just finished telling my kids about one of my first cars with the 3 on the tree shifters, they had never heard of them. Now I feel old. 😳🤣
You left out one thing that I miss the most. And that is the floor dimmer switch for the headlights.
💯👍
Those were so efficient. Nothing plastic to break off on the steering column. I guess it took too much foot coordination to figure it out.
Oh i miss that
I miss those ,too. You didn't need to take your hands off the wheel to use them and you always knew where the dimmer switch was before they started moving them all over the place.
That's where it belongs!
I miss the back window shelf. My brother and I would lay on it and when my dad hit the brakes we would fly into the back floor board. It was great fun but it sounds dangerous now, we both survived.
Yes, that definitely sounds like great fun. Too bad it was also a dangerous situation.
Same 😂
60's kid here. A seatbelt? What the heck is that used for? Stupid things in the way... We got thrown around the back of a car like laundry in a washing machine. Just laugh and brush it off. Was fun, have to say that.
I remember sitting in the very back of a station wagon with my cousin when I was 8 years old waving at the cars behind us. A lot would smile and wave back and some would ignore us.
Same here. While riding in the “way way back” of our 1971 Plymouth wagon my sister and I would motion to semi truck drivers behind us to pull down the cord on their air horn. It was great to hear them do it. Probably scared the crap out of my father who was driving.
Wouldn't be allowed today!
My grand-parents had a 1970 Olds Vista Cruiser with the "wood" paneling and the glass roof features. In the summer´s they would take 4-5 of the grand-kids on a road-trip for two weeks from Texas to Alabama to relatives who owned a summer camp on a lake where we stayed in cabins. Grandma would fill a large cooler with fried chicken, sandwiches and sodas for the drive. What fond memories.
@@gertexan One of the dads in my Boy Scout troop had a Vista wagon. Sometimes he would drive a few of us on camping trips. It was like being in a spaceship.
My sister used sit between the back seat and the rear facing seat. There was that narrow space between those seats and it became her spot.
When cars had style and personality vs the cookie cutter cars of today
Boy isn't that the truth! Many modern cars - to me anyway - are downright ugly! They all look like jellybeans with warts :).
My uncle down in Louisiana always custom ordered crank windows. A safety feature when you live in an area with water filled ditches.
Heck ya it is...I hate electric windows I'm from Maine and tons of lakes and flooding in spring its just not safe.
Cranks very seldom fail. electric windows are always breaking!
A good friend has a 2009 Chevy Cobalt as his everyday driver, and when I visit him, he tends to apologize for not having power windows! I remind him I'm not too lazy to crank a window.
When I was a kid in the 1960s and all the way into the 1980s, a person could identify the make of a car just by hearing the starter motor; Does anyone else remember that?
Or the pitch of the alternator belt when it started
I remember that ,Chrysler plymouth always had that hi pitched whine,
The real reason they stopped with the front vent window was cost. It is cheaper to make a car without them. They didn't just draw out stale interior air, if you pushed them all the way around, so that the wide part faced forward, they actually forced a breeze of air into the car as you drive along. If your car had them, air conditioning was not nearly as necessary, so removing them also increased the number of people ordering the option of air conditioning.
Plus any car w a vent window was much easier to break into and steal
@@joelnordstrom8049 How would you know ? Experientia docet ?
@@powellmountainmike8853 I've never broken into a vehicle except my own once when I locked the keys inside but I can see that it would be easier to do on a car with wing windows if you could pry one of the wings open just enough to get a tool or a coat hanger through.....
@@darrellhagan6124 The vent windows always were either opened with their own handle which had to be cranked to open them, or had an interior latch if they were the push open kind like on Volkswagons. You really couldn't easily pry them open. These windows were not like modern ones which are just a glass panel. They had a metal frame around at least 2 sides, which made them much sturdier. No, car companies just cheaped out, charged the same or more for a lesser product. It has only gotten worse as the years have gone by. Yes, modern cars have more gizmos, but they are over complicated, difficult to repair, and built like crap.
@@powellmountainmike8853 Oh I know what you're saying, I was there. I've owned many cars equipped with them in the last 65 years. Still can a bit easier to break in with them then without if you know where to direct the tool. No matter though, I still miss having them.
Bench seats were nice bc you could set things on the seat next to you even if you had a passenger. Also, if you dropped something there was no gap for it to fall under the seat making it necessary to stop the car and crawl into the back seat to find whatever you dropped.
Ahhh bench seats. All that room! Please someone bring back the Station wagon!
@@dianewilliams1125 yes! I don't like "cockpit" seats that pinch your legs!
We called bucket seats "factory installed birth control" lol
@@randy5761 OH Randy! Bucket seats never stopped anyone! My first car was a 66 mustang, oh if that car could talk!
@@dianewilliams1125 i never said it worked very well 😊
We called them wing windows. I miss them too. Especially with a smoker..
I'd add bench seats with gear shifting on the steering column, and whitewall tyres. Miss my '93 Continental with those features.
I am working on a Part II! Stay tuned! :)
Recently, while experiencing mental duress, I had to go outside and move my car, after I started it, I reached up to shift as we had done for years when the shifter was on the steering column. It was exactly the comic relief I needed to break the shock and tension. When I went back inside, I announced “no I’m not upset at all, I just tried to reverse my car like this” and mimicked myself reaching up to the shifter. I’m fairly sure it’s been since the 1980’s in my moms Lincoln TownCar, or maybe her Oldsmobile Station Wagon that I drove a car with that configuration. My first car was a manual transmission, a 1970 something Fort Fiesta. It cost $200 and had 3 bald tires, and 1 that flapped all the way to the used tire shop 😂 I was so proud of that tan, oxidized beater!
@@valerief1231 Town Cars are the best. I wish I bought one of those classic land yachts.
🛑🛑 WHAT??
No mention of “hide away” headlights? 🤷♂️
They were the “coolest thing” back in the day. 💯👍
My 1976 Ford County Squire had them! Her front end looked like a Continental!
@@dianewilliams1125 my '66 Corvette has them. Such a cool look, no lights in front.
@@bbb462cid I bet it looked mean when they were open!
@@dianewilliams1125 Kinda. The car also looks a little surprised lol
This was in the early 1970s, and as a very young child, I remember the door of the glove compartment of some cars being specifically designed so that you could put your drink and your meal from a fast food restaurant on it while sitting in the front passenger seat. Today the size and angle of the glove compartment doors of today’s cars would make eating a meal from it impossible.
Ah yes!
I miss a few of those options back in the day. Good episode.
My daily car has vent windows, manual crank door glass, dash lighter and 3 ash trays, manual pull up antenna, sealed beam headlights and polished stainless steel hub caps, fixed hood ornament and full size matching spare wheel. Also rubber floor mats, AM radio, vinyl bench seats and 3 on the tree manual gearshift.
It was by the way, built in 1970.
What make and model is it? I still have several old family cars, a 1982 Lincoln, Versailles, a 1974 Ford Bronco, both with 302ci, 4.9 liter, and a 1968 AMC Rebel SST 290ci (4.8 L) "Typhoon" V8, which has vent windows.
@@MrMenefrego1 1970 Australian Valiant. 245ci 6 cylinder.
I envy you!
I think hand crank windows are safer. You could roll down a window without turning the engine on.
@@mchapman1928 👍 Agree!
Fun video- love the coin tray!!!😂 Interesting facts too!
I am surprise you did not mention the little foot button on the floorboard to turn on & off the high beam light.
And the up and down knob on the door to lock & unlock the car door.
One thing I miss and also don't miss. Those chrome embellished steel dash's. Beautiful but deadly in an accident. That's back when no one wore a seat belt. And if a parent had their kids riding up front when the brakes were harshly applied the parents right arm would fly out to retain their kids from flying into that steel dash. Those were the days
The"right-arm restraint" is something I learned from my Dad and to this day I still do it. Old habits die hard, I suppose!
I miss how new cars used to smell. I don’t care that it might or might not cause cancer. How often do most people get to buy a brand new car with that smell that only lasted 6 months or so.
Like a new doll...and once you do something stupid, like one cigarette smoked, smell us gone forever
the hand crank windows work, on my pick up only one power window works some times
My current pick-up truck has roll down windows, wing windows (as it has no air conditioning, we call those crotch coolers), ash trays and lighters, and a full size spare in the back! 1997 Ford F-250 HDXL with 5 speed manual.
When I was in high school I was in a band. We bought in old 1955 Cadillac Hurst to carry our instruments. It had power ash trays. A vacuum would pull the ashes and cigarette butts into a bag in the back. Never saw another car with this feature, probably because it was a fire hazard.
Some Chevrolet's also had that feature around that era, I believe. A weird option from GM...
Most all my cars up until the late 80’s had vents in the side kick panels (or under the dash) in the front that you could open to get a nice breeze at speed. CRUCIAL in the cars without air conditioning. Especially in the rain.
Funny story, I was taking a road trip with my college roommates in an older car that was bought from an elderly neighbor. We started driving up a mountain and the temp gauge was getting dangerously close to H. I suggested to the guys in front that they turn on the heater full blast to take some of the engine’s heat off, and they lauded me when the temp gauge went down. But even with the windows open it got too hot in the front seat so I suggested they open the kick vents. They found them under the dash…and got sprayed with a cloud of dry-rotted foam seals from the cover. Win some, lose some. 😂
Foot button headlight hi/low, seat lap only belts, AM only radio with push preset stations. 8 track and even 4 track tapes, two keys one door lock and a separate ignition also turn the key to "on" and push a separate button for start.
I still have some of these in my old daily drivers.
they took away all the cool stuff about cars!! those dashboards, cool whitewalls and being able to seat 6 people!!! and we baby boomers lived through them!! even the insecticide used in veggie gardens...loved those beans off the plant!!
Remember the bumper jack & stand? It hooked into the little slot on the big chrome bumper if you had a flat tire Click, click. Lol. I miss the vent window. Also the foot button for your high beams. A person could actually fix so much on their vehicle back in the day too with just a quick trip to Kmart. They carried most of the parts you needed for cheap from tailpipes to headlights, starters, water pumps, alternators, hence the backyard mechanic. Thanks for sharing happier times 😊
I miss metallic or chrome bumpers. Even just a minor accident cracks or shatters plastic bumpers today!
Good video and good memories!
I remember the station wagon back seat.
Am I nuts, or did there used to be straps above the doors (not for clothes hangers) that you could use to help you get out?
You're not nuts - I [70] remember them too
Yes, in some models
Yes! My Dad's early Volkswagen Bug had them.
My Subaru has them…but are fold down plastic handles.
The little triangle window also got taken out because it made it easy for thieves to get into your car. you forgot Vinyl covered seats. Burned the whole tar piss out of my legs on one before in a car.
Awh thank you so much..remembering so much great family times
Who remembers the “high beam button”?
Drivers floorboard- upper left.
Left foot used to turn high beams on & off.
My favorite thing from the past was a button on the floor for your high beams.
Vent panes were not for smoke extraction, they were for no-draft ventilation.
Yes it was but that worked perfect for smoking, trust me.
No draft venting - just another name for the same.
@@ralphhunter4889 Not for non-smokers, or kids.
No. The idea is that you can roll your window all the way down and open the wing to just the right spot and there's no turbulence.
They always whistled.
Nowadays people need a detailed explanation of how to crank a window up and down.
I purchased my first car in 1974 - a fabulous red '66 Pontiac Lemans. Sure do wish I had kept it......
Vent windows were popular with break-in thugs. Ask me how I know! Back in the day I had a couple of vehicles with a bench front seat. Great for making out at the Drive-In and your honey could ride up close to you. I also miss steel bumpers. I hit a wild hog with my plastic bumper a few years ago and his last act on earth was to do thousands of dollars of damage to my car!
Lol...
A friend of my father's hit a loose pig in his Mercedes-Benz while on a Sunday drive going about 45mph. Totaled his new 450SEL.
Very well done thanks
Thanks for this "stroll down memory lane"!
Vista Domes were actually popular on wagons for a number of years! The Vista Cruiser was most noted for them, but my family's 1967 Buick Sport Wagon had that! Due to rollover safety concerns cars stopped having them after a while!
Cars that lasted 10 years or longer.
Without the planned obsolescence.
The old cars rarely lasted 10 years, most were rusted out long before they were 10 years old.
@@MrSloika explains why they're still around. Not every car owner lives in the rust belt.
Think before you decide to post random things that just pop in your head.
They had planned obsolescence. You could easily tell a 1960 model car from a 1955 model of the same car.
@@glennso47 ??? 😳 What??
"Planned obsolescence" has nothing to do with the appearance or aesthetics of the cars. Literally speaking, cars built today will be junk in 10 years. Scrap. They're designed to fail. Designed to wear out and to repair them will cost more than the cars are worth. The electronics are programmed to fail after so many miles.
You can spend an afternoon tinkering with a 50 year old car and literally drive it out of its grave.
50 years from today you won't be able to do that with modern built cars.
Anyway... That's what planned obsolescence means.
In all fairness, cars now can go 200k miles or more if given routine maintenance. Back then not so much.
The mini spare is usually low on air pressure when needed. Many mini spares require more air pressure than the gauges owned by car owners can read.
Unfortunately many cars today don't have a big enough tire well for a real spare just a doughnut.
Vent windows were mostly used by smokers flicking ashes out. '72 hand me down Duster with wheel caps. My last classic car was an 85 Buick Riviera, lots of old car featurs, metal bumpers, hood ornament, wire caps and Landau roof, Now I drive an Impala, 2019, only old car feature is rear legroom and donut spare beneath giant trunk.
in my first two cars to shift between high and low beams was done by a foot switch, that got stuck in winter with melted on the floor, am I the only one to remember that?
My Grandmother had a '63 or '64 Cadillac Fleetwood that had an "electric eye" on the dash that did it automatically. Seemed to work pretty well, especially given the time.
We always had a Ford Country Squire station wagon. Last one was 1976 which i inherited, fake wood panel an all! Greatest car i ever owned,she was a beast!😊😊😊
I would buy a Ford Ranch Wagon or Country Squire in a heartbeat. That’s what I grew up in
@@brianhdueck3372 I'm with you! Sadly my 1999 Taurus station wagon had her last bullfight last week!😪 I'm heartbroken! I've been looking at used cars and of course there's not a wagon in site. I guess it's a sedan,YUCK ! Stay well and keep on Wagoning!🙂🙂
Full sized spares are becoming desirable again. Oh, and they were "power windows," not "automatic." 😉 I loved vent windows, and full bench front seats with the gear lever on the column. Confession? I love the '58 Edsel convertible! 😂
My 2016 still has hand crank windows and manual door locks. And door openers similar to those on the inside of the second car
Front bench seats and no seatbelt laws meant your girlfriend could sit next to you as you drove. She could also work the radio or 8track player searching for that particular song.
Where I grew up she probably did most of the 4 on the floor shifting as well
We had rear facing seats in our '62 country squire wagon . Roll down the rear window for a case of carbon monoxide poisoning!
Used to count woodies during long trips 🤗
Some cars don’t have a spare tire. Rather they have a can of temporary tire repair kit in aerosol spray.
I miss the lack of seatbelts. When we were kids we were free to stretch out in our parents big steel cars.
The back passenger doors on cheaper model cars still have hand cranked windows. My Dad's 2017 Dacia has them.
My last 2 cars had a CD 💿 player. The one l have now doesn’t.
Yes! I really, really miss my CD player the most.
But I hear everyone's gone digital with their custom mixes on their cellphones etc. or have a subscription to SiriusXM and can get one of their very specific stations.
Luckily I'm retired and don't drive long distances any more.
The thing that I miss the most are the dimmer switches on the floor. 😢
I remember during the 50’s, the front bench seat had a fabric rope across its back. I loved horses, and made believe that it was a bridle and that I was riding a horse through the scenery we were zooming by.
Very cool thnx
My dad's old work vans almost always had the "ballvent" pull handle in the footwell. After a hard days work, pulling that lever on the highway produced the nice cool breeze down to the nether regions!
Awesome video by my friend
Manual transmissions. My '14 Accord has one, I guess I'll keep it forever,
I don't own a modern car, as I don't like them.
My 2017 Jeep Wrangler has the old-school hand-crank windows and I love them!
How about curb feelers? Those springy devices that kept you from scratching the white walls of your tires.
And the no 1 thing I miss is the floor dimmer switch for head lights
Also curb guards, transmission humps, and bench seats.
A lot of this is news to me. I don’t use new cars. I’m going green and recycle and rebuild my old cars. Simple too.
No you dont shut up.
Same here. I like the old ones better bc there is less to break on them.
8:25 That's a Citroen DS. apparently equipped with the "Citromatic" semi-automatic transaxle (a fully automatic eventually came on line). Standard on those cars was a four-speed manual with column-mounted gear change.
I learned to drive (in part) on a '51 Studebaker with three-speed column shift manual, with a solenoid-operated planetary overdrive. Get up to a bit over 27 mph, let off the gas, and the overdrive would kick in. Or not. Theoretically it would work on any forward gear, but I only used it on second or third. The Stude starter button was on the floor, usually operted by pushing the clutch pedal to push the button, though in an emergency you could step directly on the button.
I had several three-on-the-tree cars from a variety of makers including Dodge, Buick, Rambler, Packard, Ford, and Kaiser through the seventies to the nineties. The independent makes and the Ford Falcon seemed to have the most reliable shifters. Chrysler sourced their manual-shift steering columns from GM and as those shifters aged, they would become sloppy and the shifter would clash and bine during the 1-2 shift if the driver wasn't careful.
For those who don't know, the Citromatic was a manual transmission, but the operation of the clutch was automatic. The driver manually selects the gear, and the clutch works automatically. The Citroen DS was an amazing car that was way ahead of its time, but it unfortunately never gained more than a cult following in the US.
Fuel caps that needed a key, side vent windows, sliding heater controls,pop up headlights, the shelf ubder the glovebox.
Power antennas were pretty trick when they actually worked. The one on my 1992 Lexus SC300 actually changed positions when you changed the radio station. Idea was to get the BEST signal.
My '63 Coupe De Ville had a power antenna which popped up when you turned the radio on. Also tuned stations automatically...
My first car, a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville, had a power antenna. If it was went, and the the temperature dropped well below freezing, it froze up. I learned to get a hair dryer and plug it into an extension cord. After blowing hot air on the fender for a few minutes, the antenna would go up. Then, I would wipe it down and apply some WD-40.
@@jameslandry5952 My 1991 Brougham had the power antenna that turned on with the radio. Also raised/lowered when you turned the car on/off. Really wish there was a separate button for the antenna like a window switch. That power antenna motor met its demise on a road trip to east Tennessee in January. As typical of TN storms, it was ice at first, then turned to snow. Good 1/2" sheet of ice on the whole car with another 4" of snow on top of that. Thought I'd never get it opened up with the doors/locks frozen shut. Turn the key and crank it for a good second or two and it fired right up, thank god for fuel injection. In all that excitement I forgot that the power antenna was trying to force its way thru a layer of ice, burned the motor up on it.
@@AaronSmith-kr5yf being raised in the Adirondack Mountains (where it can easily get to be 50 or 60 below zero), I know all about ice storms and 5 feet of snow overnight and bringing the battery (for the '67 Impala I had) inside the house every night so it wouldn't freeze. I've had at least 8 Cadillacs and I believe that I mispoke when I said the antenna popped up when the radio was turned on. I believe that you had to manually pull the tuning knob in or out to make the antenna go up or down. It was other Cadillacs I had that the antennas automatically operated when the radio was switched on. I had the '63 over 40 years ago, so my memory is starting to suffer... ☹️
Oddly, the antenna on the '63 seemed to function properly 99% of the time (ice-overs excluded)
I remember the pop up air vent in the cowl panel in front of the windshield that blew in air below the dash... Mostly from the 50's and older...
The station wagons we had didn't have a seat at the back, just the cargo space. Our 1960 Buick Electra had a switch on the dashboard to raise and lower the antenna! I really miss hood ornaments. I remember the "no-draft" window. They actually deflected the air away from the main window so you weren't being blasted in the face by the wind as you drove. My 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon had a full size spare wheel inside the left rear fender and my two Jeeps carried a full size spare on the rear tailgate. One feature you didn't mention, which I really miss, is the floor vent. In the front, you could reach just under the dashboard, pull a lever and it would open a vent, which allowed air from the front wheel well to blow in across the floor. It was a great way to cool your feet in the pre-air conditioning days! One thing I don't miss is vinyl seats. You could not sit on those things after the car had been parked in the sun for a couple of hours!
My last car to have a small side window was a 68 Ford Galaxy LTD. I liked this feature. I miss some of the features from the cars I was driving in the 60s.
Very interesting , radios come with telescopic antennas for F M radio .
Last vehicle with hub caps? Our 2023 Ram 3500 that we picked up in March 2023. Our 2016 CX-5 had them too, as did our 2005 Toyota Echo. The Echo also had crank windows that fascinated our grandson when he was 3.
Replaceable bulb lights may have been introduced in North America in 1983, but they were common in other places before.
Antenna, My latest car has the shark fin, instead of the 8 radio stations I used to get, I only get 2 FM, ½AM. The triangle vent window was the death of many a driver, without seatbelt they slid acros the bench seat and would be spitted on the point of the glass. I had one car with seven ash trays and six Lighters.
My favorite wheels are steel with baby moons. The fad is very large wheels with very skinny tires that do not deal with bad roads.
Ford 51 F1. Wind wings, huge cowl and floor vents, plus the 2 side windows. Fun fact: while enjoying the cool breeze of a freshly irrigated alfalfa field along a highway, the butterflies would get sucked in and if they missed your face they splattered inside the back window.
Cool
And the hand controlled wind screen wipers. And the opening windscreen. And the crank handle....
Anyone remember robe rails? My dad’s ‘54 Mercury had a robe rail on the back of the passenger seat, but we never used it.
Heaters were for the front seat. We always called them the blanket rail and kept an old quilt on it. Grew up in ND
I remember every car had hooks to hang your dry cleaning on hangers
they took out the ashtrays so now you just throw them out the window n start fires REAL BRILLIANT !!!!
It’s called technology. I been driving since 1973. I personally like electric windows. There not stealing antennas now. These new keyless fob push button cars are being stolen.
The full size spare was replaced by a donut because it was cheaper.
Customers didn’t request that and most don’t like the donut spare.
I’m really ancient. I remember when all the handcranks were metal, not plastic! And there were no seatbelts.
I have a 31 year old pick. Everything still works. Windows go up and down via the hand crank, antenna, AC. The only thing that gave up the ghost is the head liner 😕I love it! It’s 3/4 ton diesel with 4 on the floor. The biggest asset: made of 100% super heavy duty, rock solid steel.
I hope it's not a Chevy, my 75 Ford 3/4 ton has less rust than my gf's 2003 Chevy and it isn't restored lol...but then again my '55 Jeep has none at all! They were both made of REAL steel
Remember the “rope” across the back of the front seats for us kids in the back to hang onto?
Yes! My Dad said it was to hang blankets on before the days of car heaters.
Woodchuck, lol! Any time we'd see a vehicle with the wood grain paneling we'd punch everyone in the car, as hard as we could and say "woodchuck, no woodchuck back" and if it turned out to not be a woodchuck and you punched someone, they got to punch you back. These days we've turned it into "cruiser bruiser" for PT cruisers and "bingo" for yellow cars, and of the classic " slug bug" will always be in fashion
Three on the tree, with grill reverse!
4:51 I remember that there were ashtrays in the 3rd row seats of station wagons. What were they thinking? It was only kids that ever sat back there.
My Sunday car has cornering lites. Covered headlamps. Power vent windows,a 8track stereo and a big block v8 with a 4barrel carb
Cool channel, I'm curious if the narrator is Stevemre1989 sounds just like him.
"3 on the tree" gear shifters allowed room for 3 in the front.
Real spare tires cost money.
Some cars came with a useful tool kit.
Most had read gauges so you didn't need a scanner and the internet to figure out a problem like your oil pressure was low.
A lot of cars had a really big trunk compared to today's cars.
Glove boxes were larger.
My first car, a 1964 Toyota Crown, had two window cranks on the front doors. They were two different lengths, the very short ones were to open the quarter vent windows.
1969 LINCOLN CONT. 4 ASHTRAYS AND LIGHTERS
plot twist: the kids mouths are so wide open not from joy or surprise, but to absorb any loose nearby souls that they so obviously lack.