Gee, most of that stuff was from another century. Sadly, I remember nearly all of those things, but I don’t remember ever going to a dealership for service. There were too many shade trees around.

Bytes, my 1960 Dodge Seneca with inline 6 and 3 on the tree had a tube radio. It took a while to warm up, but played just fine. I remember listening to all the 60s music with the volume all the way up. The inside rear view mirror was on top of the dash instead of hanging down from the windshield frame. Great old 4 door boat. I could take a bunch of friends with me. The drum brakes were scary (non existent) if you went through a puddle. You had to ride the brake pedal to dry the drums. This was common on all drum brake cars.

quote:

I could take a bunch of friends with me.

Or your girlfriend to a drive-in movie.

My Dad had a '57 Chevy Bel-Air....

Don't forget that bar around the inside of the steering wheel to honk the horn.

Having to start it with a screwdriver after the key broke off in the dash mounted ignition switch (Chevy trucks)

Most of the things listed in the OP, I really don't miss. I didn't see points distributors mentioned. Points are great, until the rubbing block wears down and closes up the gap (the spark is generated when the points open), or a condenser shorts out, or the distributor cam wears nearly round and the "rebuilt" distributors you got were no better. It was a good thing you could fix most of this with a pocketful of tools on the side of the road, because you did a lot of that. A book of matches served to sand the points with the striking surface, and you use one side of the cover as a feeler gauge to set them, or both sides together to gap your plugs.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
How many of you characters have ever driven a car with a 'Spark Advance' lever on the steering column? Now we're getting back in time....

yes I do.
on the left side,right lever was cruse control.

I remember the following:

Ash trays
Cigarette lighters
Vent windows
Tube tires.
Radio ariels.
Running boards.
Chrome bumpers.
Rear fins.
Analog radio dials.
Choke knobs
Pushing gas pedal to the floor to engage choke
Column shifter
Hand crank windows.
Carburetors
No seatbelts.
External sun visors.
Stash areas behind the rear seat.
Oil bath air cleaners (Not on a car)
Non adjustable seats
White sidewall tires
Floor Mount Head Light Dimmmer Switch
No Air Conditioning
Manual (not power assist) brakes
Bias Ply Tires
AM Only Radio
8-Track Player
Cassette Player
Bench Seats front and Rear
Full Size Spare in the trunk (every car)
Bumper Jacks
No Airbags
Lap & shoulder belt separate
Manual Adjust mirrors for day/night
1 Side Mirror standard (left)
Manual Adjust side mirrors
No rear-defrost wires
No third brake light
Chrome accent strips

Wondering what was more fun: Chasing down a 6v choke for a Plymouth or installing UConnect in a Dodge.

Minidisc factory radios (1994)?
A manual transmission with a torque converter (1949)?
Powertrain, Body, and Lighting OBD codes in 1987?
An 8 Track radio for 1985?

Torsion bars and transverse leaf springs seem to be a recurring theme...

My Grandpa's new 1953 Oldsmobile did NOT come with a defroster or even a heater.

My uncle was a Cadillac fan; his 1949 sedan had the optional stove-pipe shaped window-mounted air conditioner/swamp cooler blowing over a pan of water by the fan driven by forward motion of the car.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
I remember the following:

Ash trays
Cigarette lighters
Vent windows
Tube tires.
Radio ariels.
Running boards.
Chrome bumpers.
Rear fins.
Analog radio dials.
Choke knobs
Pushing gas pedal to the floor to engage choke
Column shifter
Hand crank windows.
Carburetors
No seatbelts.
External sun visors.
Stash areas behind the rear seat.
Oil bath air cleaners (Not on a car)
Non adjustable seats
White sidewall tires
Floor Mount Head Light Dimmmer Switch
No Air Conditioning
Manual (not power assist) brakes

Bias Ply Tires
AM Only Radio

8-Track Player
Cassette Player
Bench Seats front and Rear
Full Size Spare in the trunk (every car)
Bumper Jacks
No Airbags
Lap & shoulder belt separate
Manual Adjust mirrors for day/night
1 Side Mirror standard (left)
Manual Adjust side mirrors
No rear-defrost wires
No third brake light
Chrome accent strips

Came here to post "bias ply tires" but beat. Still surprised it took until Page 3.

How many had an FM converter for their AM only radio?

Remember the Plymouths with the push-button shifter?
Oh, how we abused those cars.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

I could take a bunch of friends with me.

Or your girlfriend to a drive-in movie.

My Dad had a '57 Chevy Bel-Air....

Do you remember where the gas cap was on the 57 Chevy?

Jim

My Dad bought an ancient truck to use around the farm. I don't remember the make or year. It had one windshield wiper that was manually operated from inside the cab by the driver.

Wooden spoke wheels.
Wire spoke wheels.
Oil damped carburettors.
Split windscreens.
Dashboards that were really boards.
Ditto floorboards.

Nobody had 4 wheel drum brakes and a single circuit master cylinder?

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

I could take a bunch of friends with me.

Or your girlfriend to a drive-in movie.

My Dad had a '57 Chevy Bel-Air....

Do you remember where the gas cap was on the 57 Chevy?

Jim

Was that the one under the flip up tail light?

When I was about 16 I wanted to take Grandpa's '72 Oldsmobile into "town" (Columbia Falls, MT about 15 miles away). He thought about it and then said no, because "the kids will break off the aerial". I had to go ask someone what an aerial was...

I have been through all three pages and am old enough to remember every one of these things about cars even the hand operated windshield wiper on the drivers side. I actually drove a car that had one, it was not a restored collectors car.

The one thing I do remember that no one mentioned was using a hand crank to start the engine. There were no electric starters in the very early days. Most of these cars and trucks were gone by the early early 50's when I was old enough to pay attention. Living on a small farm, I was introduced the these when my father borrowed an old hand crank flatbed truck used to collect hay bales. He dutifully told me about the possibility that the crank could "kick-back" if not you were not careful. He told me a friend of his when he was a boy had his arm broken in such an incident.

Having had more than a passing interest in cars over the decades I have come to the conclusion there were no "good old days" for cars. The good days are now.

A pull cable for over-drive!!! Yep in my first truck. 3 speed on the tree and pull OD with a painted steel dash board. Also manual stearing, damn that was hard sitting still!!!!!

Vacuum-operated windshield wipers! These were used as late as the mid-1960s (on Rambler/AMC). They worked only as the engine vacuum was high. If you wanted to, for example, pull out and pass somebody in the rain, the acceleration would drop the vacuum and the wipers would quit. To fix this, they put an auxiliary vacuum pump on top of the fuel pump. Speaking of fuel pumps, an electric one was unheard of; they were all engine driven off an extra camshaft lobe.