My best friends family was large and they had a big old van to fit everyone in it... on the floor was the dimmer, just like that...

My first car ('52 Buick Special) had the starter button under the accelerator, not beside it. You pushed the gas pedal to the floor to activate the starter.

The rubber on this photo looks suspiciously like my Grandpa's 1951 GMC Pickup.

re: " there would inevitably be a time when I had my foot on the clutch when I needed to dim the lights"....while true in theory, the reality was the 6v lights were so dim anyway the bright wasn't all that much of a change...

Renault Daulphine with a crank type starter if the battery was dead.

My first car was a 1963 Oldsmobile 98. It had two switches on the floor like that. One was dimmer. The other was an automatic station tune switch. You pressed it with your foot and the radio would tune to the next station it could find.

Looks like the floorboard arrangement of my '54 Chevy truck!

First vehicle I got to drive was my Dad’s 1954 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup. It had all of those pedals! It also had the “4 on the floor”, which meant granny low. You could put it in first, let out the clutch, climb out, and walk beside it.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
My first car ('52 Buick Special) had the starter button under the accelerator, not beside it. You pushed the gas pedal to the floor to activate the starter.

1950 Studebaker. Starter was under the clutch. Push the clutch pedal hard to engage the starter.

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:
My first car was a 1963 Oldsmobile 98. It had two switches on the floor like that. One was dimmer. The other was an automatic station tune switch. You pressed it with your foot and the radio would tune to the next station it could find.

Auxillary siren control on such equipped emergency vehicles too. Once or twice my foot hit the wrong switch

I knew them both. I also like the floor pedal to dim the headlights. I think the change occurred because the Europeans wanted it off the floor.

flashguy

My first car had the floor dimmer switch. I was tapping my foot to the music one evening and was pulled over for "flashing" a cop... took a bit of explaining to get out of that one.

Whoooo Hooooo! I only knew the one on the left!!!

Put me in the, I LOVED having the dimmer on the floor, camp.

I still have 3 cars with a floor dimmer.

And if you have no idea what the big pedal on the left is, you're a millennial.

When I was learning to drive a manual transmission I was out with my dad in a '63 VW Bug and it was getting dark, so I was also learning about dimming the headlights. Things that later become rote require some thinking when just learning - I depressed the dimmer button, rather than the clutch, to shift gears. To the VW's credit, the synchronizers did their job and it slipped right into gear anyway.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Renault Daulphine with a crank type starter if the battery was dead.

The Renault R-8 had the same (don't ask me how I know )...

Back to the "age test"...my '59 Chevy PU had the foot starter...on one occasion I totally ran out of gas on Bankhead Highway and used the starter and first gear to pull myself out of traffic...those were the days when people actually stopped and offered a push if needed...but the starter was all that was needed (two minutes later a car that had stopped to help push returned with a gallon (milk jug ) of gas from the station down the road to get me mobile again and wouldn't take a dime for his generosity. Remember those days?

Edit...there were a rash of accidents soon after moving the dimmer switch off the floor to the steering column...ever driver found at the scene of these accidents had his left leg intertwined through the steering wheel, apparently attempting to dim the lights when the crash occurred!

Not only do I know what all those are (and I also suspect an early 50's Chevy/GMC) but I've DRIVEN vehicles like that.

Dad had a '49 Chevy pickup with a granny-low 4 speed that I learned to drive in.

quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:
Flashback of lefthand lug nuts.

Ford F-350's, right-hand or left-hand, depending on the side. It not mistaken, rear wheels only. To fix the issue they had of the rear duelies coming off.

Left-hand on the driver’s side IIRC; reasoning being you won’t loosen the nut from the turning of the wheel?

I knew the dimmer button, but not the starter.

I'm 33, but have driven a few vehicles with the dimmer on the floor.

Worst was a friend's '66 Mustang. Hit the button driving at night & lost all lights. Luckily a quiet road in a small town. Had to 'drive by braille' and fiddle with it until the lights came back on.