The gas cap behind the license plate had one great advantage. When you went to a gas station, you did not need to decide which side of the gas pump unlike the under the tail light cap.
That is true. I still have a car like that. A 1985 chevy caprice classic. And No Trudeau, I did not take it in to get a meesaly $200.00 under your retire your ride program. I still got it.
I do remember my folks having a car with the gas filler can gas cap behind the license plate probably was the car we first had around the time would I be aware of such thing after I was born this would have to be sometime in the late 70s more than likely not sure if it was after this but not likely it was and yes we had that car a very long time apparently
I still own my 1971 Chevy Nova SS 350. The gas cap is behind the license plate. The automatic shift lever is on the steering column. The high beam switch is on the floor and I have wing windows. I’ll never sell that car. I’ve owned it for 53 years.
Out of all the really dumb takes on every feature they've brought up, this is seriously braindead. I'm still watching for the video of all the great cars. The commentary, while frustrating at times, is somewhat entertaining for it's stupidity.
@@jakederoy2715 A lot of 'content creators' intentionally include 'boners' in their dialogue in order to raise 'interaction' that increases their revenue from YT.
Heck, I remember my mom’s 85 Caravan and my dad’s 1990 Dakota had a vent lever under the dash that you could pull to let outside air in if you either didn’t want to or couldn’t roll down the window if it was raining, and I understand that used to be fairly common back in the day.
Foot dimmers were on the left side floor and offered no interruption of your foot on the gas pedal. They were not difficult to use, and they reduced the number of functions loaded onto the steering column. The move away from them made the steering column levers feel just that much more cluttered with functions.
Right. You are not using the clutch during highway driving, immaterial for automatic drivers. Those old time automotive engineers weren't as stupid as the millennials pointing out their perception of stupidity of the past. I hope to live until a time when the youngsters of that time are pointing out the vapidity and stupidity of the Tik Tok generation. They really have it coming. Remember the windshield washer pump that was next to the dimmer switch? I had a Fiat that incorporated a windshield wiper switch into the washer pump pedal. Tap the pedal and the wipers did one cycle. Fully depress the pump and you got washer fluid along with wiper activation. Slick for rallying. If it had had more than 42 horsepower I could have gotten into lots more trouble.
True story. Some teens stole a '56 chevy convertible from a car show. Joyriding, low on gas, stopped to put in a few bucks worth, couldn't find the filler (inside left tail light), busted.
It really looks like America Before gets most of their info from Wiki's and didn't actually live any of these features. It shows in their lack of understanding how these things were actually used.
You guys left out the best feature not found in todaze vehicles, the magnificent vent windows that were mandatory in cars without AC! My wonderful Dad had a couple that had powered vent windows, I’m too young to remember the first two I know were big Chryslers, but the one I remember fondly was the most amazing car Dad ever owned, a 1964 Imperial Crown Coupe! Before I had more than two siblings and there was plenty of room in those big cars, Dad chose two doors. The Imperial had powered everything including vent windows, his next car he ordered special when forced to trade in the Imperial was an awesome 1968 Chrysler Town&Country three row Beach Wagon! That had vent windows but were not powered.
“Many people found the buttons confusing…” If that were true, how did the same tech find a resurgence in the 2010s? When I was a kid we had two 1960s Chryslers that had the buttons instead of a lever. They weren’t confusing to operate.
You don't move your foot from the gas pedal to use the headlight dimmer switch; you use the brake pedal left foot. Easy, practical and efficient. Anyone finding this procedure difficult has no grasp of the concept.
@@aightm8some people did use their left foot for brake. People were used to using both feet because they used their left for the clutch. When they switched to automatic transmission it seemed natural to use the left foot for the brake. Of course, that was not a good method. Some tended to “ride” the brakes while driving because their foot was resting on the brake pedal, and then when they needed to stop quickly they could be stepping in the gas while slamming on the brakes.
taking the dimmer switch off the floor and adding it to the already complex turn signal lever was a very dumb idea. the left foot isn't doing anything anyway,, where did you get the idea about taking your foot off the gas pedal to dim the lights,,,,, have you even ever driven a car???
Trouble was,the dimmer switch in the floor would get full of water,dirt. mud,snow, ice salt,etc. Would get corroded and quit working and have to be replacws.
@@stevielease7952 Yeah,not so much. I am sure those who were pigs and wore shoes in the house were also the ones who tracked mud, snow, ice(?) salt etc. into the vehicle causing premature replacements necessary. I had a starter peddle on the floor also. Nothing is inconvenient when you learn to use it. Correct, I am old
Fender skirts, if built correctly, can affect wind resistance and make the car use less gas and also make it go marginally faster. That is why, among other things, Citroen used them right into the 90s
I worked at a gas station after school in 1968-1969. Instead of holding the plate down while filling it up with fuel, we would wedge the gas cap into the spring to hold the plate down and we could stand up and watch as the tank filled. We felt we were quite smart to figure that out.
@@jakederoy2715at 70 years old I cannot remember it not being illegal to smoke while fueling a car, even before self-service. But if you're dumb enough to have an open flame in the vicinity of gasoline fumes you deserve what you get.
My best friend had a ''75 (?) Olds Cutlass Supreme W30 with swiveling bucket seats, and they were pretty cool. It also had T-tops, which were prone to leaking in the rain. He had the seals replaced several times under warranty, but the problem was never completely resolved. They were also a pain to removed (heavy) and store in their case in the trunk. Surprised this wasn't one of the "useless" features in this video.
I once had a 1993 Chevy Caprice and it had the gas cap behind the license plate. Convenient when there was a long line at the gas pump because I could quickly pull into the first spot that opened up and it didn't matter which side. The problem is that many cars of the early 90s and older with this feature have steel bumpers and a rear end crash could cause a spark and sever the fuel filler resulting in an explosion.
Late 1980's in Australia. I had a couple of cars with this. The mandatory shifting of the fuel tank to the front of the rear axle, preventing fires from rear end collisions, was probably responsible for killing off this feature.
Love the video however the high beam low beam switch belongs on the floor period. It's only foot gymnastics if you don't know how to operate a motor vehicle. My 85 ford f150 standard shift has it on the floor and I found it very practical to be on the floor. For me its easier to switch from high to low by pushing the switch with my left foot. Not supposed to use the right foot like the video said lol. Anyone agree?
totally correct. My (UK) 1965 Austin Cambridge had a foot pedal dimmer with a manual transmission. Left foot busy with clutch brake and dimmer but so easy
I still miss my first Cellnet phone. It was a carphone that I carried around in a rucksack and ran off a 12v battery (I was 17, didn't have a car. Still don't!) and worked pretty well for me, given many places I went to had such poor signal a handheld phone just wouldn't work. Think I could _just about_ get 30 minutes talk-time (~9h standby) from a fully charged battery, so probably just as well calls from it were about 50p/min! ☎💸🤣 Wish I still had it to this day. Damned solid piece of equipment, that was... ❤
RCA Victor made a car record player that played the disc upside down, held a stack of discs in an automatic changer mechanism that dropped the played disc down, played the next and used standard 45 RPM discs.
I can't wait until they get car phones like this. I have been waiting ever since I was a little boy for them to come out with shoe phones like they had on Get Smart and frankly I'm getting sick of waiting.
Those early car phones were hugely expensive when you consider what was required for duplex audio communication in those days. Often more than half the price of the car itself. And you lost half your trunk space.
@@ThatOldDude-wtf the phone I had in my car years ago was not as big as you think. The whole thing fitted in the console between the front seats of my car, and was also portable. The only things I did with it when I was setting it to car use was plug in the microphone, and plug in the external power plug to the lighter socket.
@@christophermarshall5765 You had one of the newer ones. The original ones they showed in the video were a UHF receiver/transmitter pair with a duplexer to allow simultaneous receive and transmit. These took up at least 4 square feet of floor space in the trunk and generated a lot of heat due to being filled with vacuum tubes. There was a control head in the passenger compartment that had the handset and other controls. You selected a channel that was not in use and made the call through an operator at the phone exchange who connected you to the land line you wanted to talk to.
Unfortunately push button transmissions are back in 2024 - many cars have them. I personally prefer the old school automatic shift lever - the only button is used to go from park to reverse
The Cyclops Eye light system reminds me of the Ford Tri-Motor and Ju 52 airplanes having three engines. However, there it made sense as it added important redundancy.
I owned a few cars with floor mounted headlight beam switch & my LEFT foot was used to operate it. I never took my foot off the accelerator to switch headlight beam from low to high, or vice versa. I know one piece of tech in a make of car that will have most people screwed. A manual transmission, otherwise known as a "standard", but NO clutch pedal. Yes, such cars were built. I drove one a few times.
My 69 Camaro with the 250 straight 6 had a torque drive transmission which was the Powerglide transmission without the automatic shifting between first and second. You started off manually in low and then shifted it to drive and the transmission would make the rest of the shifts on its own.
@@ThatOldDude-wtf no, the car I speak of is a Mercedes Benz 220Sb. Some of those cars have a “hydrak” clutch. It worked from the gear stick on the steering column. When you moved the stick to change gears, the hydrak clutch system would operate. It had a fluid coupling bolted to the flex plate, and that had a clutch fitted to it. The switch in the gear shift operated a solenoid, that controlled a vacuum valve, which operated the clutch. There was also a control switch that was adjustable for release and engaging of the clutch. It was a complicated system, but very effective.
Curb feelers are needed today for many low profile designer wheels. One gadget that went away years ago was a small prism that was attached to the top inside of the windshield, to allow the driver to see the color of the traffic light without having to crane one’s neck forward. Those would be handy today!
My 91 Saturn had the motorized shoulder belt, what a pain they were. When it was cold...i live in Michigan...they would often bind up and refuse to move!
Worked on foreign cars that the motors had no circuit breakers. We were having customers get their scarfs caught on the belts when opening doors almost choking them. American cars would kick back is resistance felt.
they were a real pain to get off to change the tire they had a mechanical slide mechanism to remove them..the mech was always full of dirt snow etc... the concept for fender skirts in the 1950s and 60s was to make the rear look lower than the front like a jet taking off..
I liked the fuel filler behind the license plate, it was great and was better when trying to fill up in busy gas stations and trying to get your vehicle on the same side as an available gas pump. The swivel seats were also great. The seat turned and would be good for some older people or people with physical limitations. The automakers did away with them to save money, don't believe anything else. The dimmer switch (hi/low beam) on the floor was much better than the systems we have today, you never had to take either of your hands off of the steering wheel. "Playing a game (25:00) of Twister while driving"?? Really? It was simple and safer than taking your hand off the wheel. It was not difficult to find the switch at all and you didn't have to take your foot off of the gas pedal, the button was on the other side of the floor, not on your gas pedal side.
In my old jeep you filled the gas tank by tipping the driver's seat forward and taking the cap off the tank underneath it. Easy to see when it was getting full except at night...
@@ThatOldDude-wtf That's great. It reminds me of my VW Bug having the battery under the backseat on the passenger side. Of course the seats had metal coils, what could ever go wrong, lol??
I had a '95 Town Car that came with a car phone because the first owner family had it in use at some point. Obviously, one of the latest models since soon after, cell phones were getting more abundant and affordable. It's a curiosity I should locate; it's yet in a box somewhere around here after I uninstalled it.
In automatic cars where your left foot is doing virtually nothing, the dimmer switch was a practical and logical feature. It moved the dimmer operation away from stalks that should have been reserved for wipers and signalling. The only benefit is the flasher operation which you didn't have with the floor setup.
I remember being in a car in the 1970’s that had those curb feelers, the driver was demonstrating them to us. I’d forgotten all about it until watching this.
My Dad And I both had 1979 Thunderbirds with Hidden Headlamps. Another feature Ford Had was the Quadrasonic Sound a Step above Stereo with Different sounds from all 4 Speakers! May have been during the 8 Track Era!
Opera windows were way before that! Watch American Graffiti, was that late 50's or early 60's Thunderbird? I haven't watched it in a long time! I use to know hahaha
My 76 cutlass 442 had swivel seats, great for a teenager at the drive in. The one thing you didn’t mention which I don’t think ever came back was the auto headlights dimmer that would charge when on coming car would approach. I worked more pop up headlights vacuum and electric than you can imagine.
Floor dimmer switched did not require you letting off gas pedal, it was activated with left foot. I am 55 most of my life was floor dimmer. Even in my wife's mini van I find myself many times using my left foot to dim or brighten. Muscle memory never fails only when a feature when removed.
I had a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan that had fender skirts. Problem I had was when I went to car washes, the skirt on the driver’s side would be removed by the car wash brushes.
In all my 50+ years on this planet I have never seen a car with curb feelers except in cartoons. It certainly didn't take the invention of rear view cameras to end them.
I hate when they dont so their research when doing these Videos. the worst offender is the dimmer switch statement on how its operated. You always knew where it was, and you did not have to remove your foot from the gas pedal!!!
My 1st car was a '64 Dodge Dart. Loved flipping down the lever to put it in Park. And the neutral button went in simultaneously. Then just flip the lever up, push a button, and go!
I drive Nan’s ‘64 Eldorado w/ center gas filler. Love it or Grandads ‘58 300D & I like the foot dimmer as it’s always easy to find & get in the dark from car to car u never had to fiddle w/ what done it’s on or what what u turn. & if u have a left foot, u never had to take foot off the gas or hands or eyes off the sap road & u can easily tap to flash quickly
I used a car phone in my house. Calling from where I lived to the city of Edmonton (where most of my family lived) was long-distance. But not with the car phone. Therefore, it was much cheaper to pay the car phone bill than any long-distance charges.
Remember a white n gold Laguna SS 454 Cu In with swivel buckets that tooled around town in the early seventies. Can’t recall exactly what year it was? 70-72 I’m pretty sure. Sweet ride!
There is so much more: Triangular glass vents, dashboard vents, fender vents, automatic antennas, engine hand cranks, carburetor chock, chrome or stainless hubcaps, headlight vipers, cassette players, even cd players are gone! Sunroofs are not popular anymore, ashtrays, bumerang antennas, pads on bumpers, headlamps, bench seats, that will transform into a bed, and much more
Yeah, like hood ornaments, analog clocks, T-Tops, Gull Wing doors, Suicide doors, Rumble seats, the station wagon's Way-back seat, exposed engines, backseat TVs, "Corinthian Leather" and crushed velour with buttons, rubber static straps, center hub spinners, and Super Pursuit Mode.
Pop up headlights disappeared about the time that daytime headlights became mandatory. No use hiding them when every time the car moved, they had to pop up.
Pop up headlights were actually banned for pedestrian safety, which opened the opportunity to use different headlights (besides the ubiquitous sealed beam unit, which was the only option available by law in the US). Later on, Xenon and LED shifted the whole design of headlights rendering pop-ups actually useless. Notice all headlights are sealed in these cars.
Hide away head Lites were a good idea if they were made right, the 1969 and 70 Cougar had a Vacuum cylinder that opened the headlights if vacuum dropped! There were real poor headlight covers like the ones on the 1967 to 69 Camaro that only opened half the time. Drove a 1969 Camaro and every time i turned on the lights I had to get out to open one headlight or the other.
In 1964 mom and dad bought a new Electra 225 Buick it had a button on the floor you could step on and change radio stations and a buzzer on the speedometer you could set so it would buzz when you got to that speed
My 1948 Mk.6 Bentley has none of this rubbish but is a delight to drive. Super comfort and much faster than the law allows. Utterly reliable and servicing I can do myself. My mother used to practice her regal wave from the back seat as I drove her to the local supermarket.
And when angled correctly, sucking out the cigarette smoke. It was handy to be able to flick the ash out the quarter window, then the butt, when done! 😅 PS I stopped smoking 24 years ago.
The first 450 NMT cae teleohone had very good rreach and could be used anywhere. As my father transported timber it was very uesful and connection was in my opinion better than todays phones.
This video has a number of errors. Most are covered in the comments below. Opera windows in American cars first appeared on the 1971 Eldorado. And they were NOT round. As for the center fuel fill under the plate, I loved it. Never had an issue and never had to drive to the "OTHER" pump. As for the foot dimmer swtch. I find that much saver than the lever. You left foot is always available. Not so your hands. If making a corner, and you are doing hand over hand, you can't get to the dimmer switch fast enough.
I heard a different story about push button transmissions. [ BTW I owned a '62 Chrysler and '64 Plymouth. Both worked fine. ] I read that the rental car companies were getting complaints and threatened not to buy anymore p.b. cars. I brought my '64 p.b. Plymouth to NYC in 1990 and left it at a parking lot with the valet. I had to go back to show the young immigrant how it worked. :-) Our new Honda doesn't have a PRNDL , and its a pitb.
I didn't see Chevy's 1959 cruise control. I bought a 1959 Impala that was loaded in the late 1970s. It had a circular dial on the dash with numbers ranging from 20 to 80, if I remember correctly. You would set the dial at 50, for example, and when you reached or exceeded that speed an extremely annoying buzzer would fill the passenger compartment. That meant you either slowed down or shut off the buzzer, usually, it was the later. I only saw this device in this one Chevy and never again, understandably.
Seatbelts were useless up until the 1970's at least in Canada when they became mandatory. That coincided with the entire world going down the drain as everything has been downhill since the 1981 recession.
The gas cap behind the license plate had one great advantage. When you went to a gas station, you did not need to decide which side of the gas pump unlike the under the tail light cap.
😊right, or left, as the case may be
You mentioned a 1964 T-Bird, but showed a 1958 model. What gives?
and the center worked well also because fuel spillage went on the ground not running down the paint
That is true. I still have a car like that. A 1985 chevy caprice classic. And No Trudeau, I did not take it in to get a meesaly $200.00 under your retire your ride program. I still got it.
I do remember my folks having a car with the gas filler can gas cap behind the license plate probably was the car we first had around the time would I be aware of such thing after I was born this would have to be sometime in the late 70s more than likely not sure if it was after this but not likely it was and yes we had that car a very long time apparently
I still own my 1971 Chevy Nova SS 350. The gas cap is behind the license plate. The automatic shift lever is on the steering column. The high beam switch is on the floor and I have wing windows. I’ll never sell that car. I’ve owned it for 53 years.
Back in the day, I definitely would have dated you for your car. 😉😄😄
@@kelf114 damn chill out grandma
I always like the floor mount dimmer switch you just use your left foot.
Cadillac,Pontiac Buick ,Lincoln and Chrysler had the auto dimmers when another cars lights were detected. I’ve yet to see that on new cars these days.
Out of all the really dumb takes on every feature they've brought up, this is seriously braindead. I'm still watching for the video of all the great cars. The commentary, while frustrating at times, is somewhat entertaining for it's stupidity.
Why are you comparing car curb feelers from 40 plus years ago, to vehicle cameras of today?😮 I can't wrap my head around this gigantic leap😮
@@jakederoy2715 A lot of 'content creators' intentionally include 'boners' in their dialogue in order to raise 'interaction' that increases their revenue from YT.
1941 Chevrolet had one. left foot.
No mention of the small triangular vent windows in the driver and passenger side front windows?
Before AC was popular.
Heck, I remember my mom’s 85 Caravan and my dad’s 1990 Dakota had a vent lever under the dash that you could pull to let outside air in if you either didn’t want to or couldn’t roll down the window if it was raining, and I understand that used to be fairly common back in the day.
They were called quarterlights
They were talking about useless features. Vent windows and such were actually good features.
The purpose of the side vent windows was to let cigarette smoke out of the cabin. Today, smokers are few and far between.
If your AC ever dies, you will wish you had wing windows.
Foot dimmers were on the left side floor and offered no interruption of your foot on the gas pedal. They were not difficult to use, and they reduced the number of functions loaded onto the steering column. The move away from them made the steering column levers feel just that much more cluttered with functions.
TRULY I TRULY REMEMBER A LOT OF THOSE SPECIAL FEATURES WHEN I WAS A KID .
The left foot was used for the headlight dimmer, no reason to lift your right foot off the gas pedal.
this guy has never seen a floor mount light dimmer switch .Ask him about vacuum wipers??
Right. You are not using the clutch during highway driving, immaterial for automatic drivers. Those old time automotive engineers weren't as stupid as the millennials pointing out their perception of stupidity of the past. I hope to live until a time when the youngsters of that time are pointing out the vapidity and stupidity of the Tik Tok generation. They really have it coming.
Remember the windshield washer pump that was next to the dimmer switch?
I had a Fiat that incorporated a windshield wiper switch into the washer pump pedal. Tap the pedal and the wipers did one cycle. Fully depress the pump and you got washer fluid along with wiper activation. Slick for rallying. If it had had more than 42 horsepower I could have gotten into lots more trouble.
Now the brights are always on
The flip up gas filler cap on the back fender was too cool.
True story. Some teens stole a '56 chevy convertible from a car show. Joyriding, low on gas, stopped to put in a few bucks worth, couldn't find the filler (inside left tail light), busted.
It really looks like America Before gets most of their info from Wiki's and didn't actually live any of these features. It shows in their lack of understanding how these things were actually used.
Very well put.
There are many features added to cars today that are freaking worthless and cost a fortune to fix.
They are designed to lever the cost of the vehicles and the maintenance.
@ilsavv I agree. In my opinion it is shameful.
How about modern useless features like lane assistance and the panic button?
You guys left out the best feature not found in todaze vehicles, the magnificent vent windows that were mandatory in cars without AC! My wonderful Dad had a couple that had powered vent windows, I’m too young to remember the first two I know were big Chryslers, but the one I remember fondly was the most amazing car Dad ever owned, a 1964 Imperial Crown Coupe! Before I had more than two siblings and there was plenty of room in those big cars, Dad chose two doors. The Imperial had powered everything including vent windows, his next car he ordered special when forced to trade in the Imperial was an awesome 1968 Chrysler Town&Country three row Beach Wagon! That had vent windows but were not powered.
Thanx for the video. I like the pushbutton transmission. Had one on an early 1960s Plymouth Valiant.
I have a push button transmission in my 2024 Ridgeline right now
Vehicle I drove in Driver's Ed. 1964.
“Many people found the buttons confusing…” If that were true, how did the same tech find a resurgence in the 2010s? When I was a kid we had two 1960s Chryslers that had the buttons instead of a lever. They weren’t confusing to operate.
I was recently in some GMC SUV. 19,000 miles on it. Push buttons and that was it.
No mention of the history of automobile air conditioning ☹️
How do know, were you driving the family car ”as a kid”??
@@zeebest1004 he was paying attention
@@BartlettTFD That doesn't quite fit under the scope of the title, does it? "14 USELESS Old Car Features That FADED Into History!"
You don't move your foot from the gas pedal to use the headlight dimmer switch; you use the brake pedal left foot. Easy, practical and efficient. Anyone finding this procedure difficult has no grasp of the concept.
You brake with your left foot?
@aightm8
Left of the brake pedal, left foot.
@@aightm8some people did use their left foot for brake. People were used to using both feet because they used their left for the clutch. When they switched to automatic transmission it seemed natural to use the left foot for the brake. Of course, that was not a good method. Some tended to “ride” the brakes while driving because their foot was resting on the brake pedal, and then when they needed to stop quickly they could be stepping in the gas while slamming on the brakes.
taking the dimmer switch off the floor and adding it to the already complex turn signal lever was a very dumb idea. the left foot isn't doing anything anyway,, where did you get the idea about taking your foot off the gas pedal to dim the lights,,,,, have you even ever driven a car???
My first car had this feature; it was set beside the clutch pedal so you operated it with your left foot.
@@tomhaskett5161Obviously your left foot WAS already doing something, unlike implied by the original comment.
Trouble was,the dimmer switch in the floor would get full of water,dirt. mud,snow, ice salt,etc. Would get corroded and quit working and have to be replacws.
@@stevielease7952 Yeah,not so much. I am sure those who were pigs and wore shoes in the house were also the ones who tracked mud, snow, ice(?) salt etc. into the vehicle causing premature replacements necessary. I had a starter peddle on the floor also. Nothing is inconvenient when you learn to use it. Correct, I am old
yes awesome. the dimmer switch belongs on the floor like it is on my 85 ford f150
Fender skirts, if built correctly, can affect wind resistance and make the car use less gas and also make it go marginally faster. That is why, among other things, Citroen used them right into the 90s
transport trucks are using them now
When I was a kid every car we owned had the gas tank filler behind the license plate.
Another feature of the Tucker 48 was its engine, a Franklin engine which actually was a helicopter engine that was used in the Bell 47.
We never had curb feelers here in Denmark. I ordered some for my wife's car right away.
🤣
we had them in Los Angeles. I remember the sound it was common. Decades passed between their demise and rear view cameras.
I worked at a gas station after school in 1968-1969. Instead of holding the plate down while filling it up with fuel, we would wedge the gas cap into the spring to hold the plate down and we could stand up and watch as the tank filled. We felt we were quite smart to figure that out.
And when the guy had a smoke in his mouth, he would turn his head slightly so as not to ignite the fumes, I think.
@@jakederoy2715at 70 years old I cannot remember it not being illegal to smoke while fueling a car, even before self-service. But if you're dumb enough to have an open flame in the vicinity of gasoline fumes you deserve what you get.
Some fold down plates had a designated spot to place the cap to hold the plate down while fueling. I think it was mid 70s gm vehicles.
@@jakederoy2715 cigarettes will not ignite gas fumes, it takes a spark or open flame.
@ronchatex2867 sure
The curb feelers basically for tires with huge lrg whitewall tires
Opera windows always remembers me to the pimp mobiles.😂
The curb feelers were more about not scuffing the whitewalls on the tires. Can't have that happening.
How can anyone forget the window wings. Often when all windows were closed they would whistle a happy tune until another wing or window was opened.
I think you mean "wing windows".
Some had a rotary handle, similar to raising and lowering the main window. With careful control you could sometimes play a tune like on a theramin.
@ThatOldDude-wtf What is a theramin? Is it anything like a theremin?
My best friend had a ''75 (?) Olds Cutlass Supreme W30 with swiveling bucket seats, and they were pretty cool. It also had T-tops, which were prone to leaking in the rain. He had the seals replaced several times under warranty, but the problem was never completely resolved. They were also a pain to removed (heavy) and store in their case in the trunk. Surprised this wasn't one of the "useless" features in this video.
still have push button transmissions
Piano drive system.
And more reliable than ever
I think there are touchpad transmissions now
I doubt there's any mechanical connections even with a shift lever these days.
yes my 2022 Lincoln has them
The gas cap behind the rear license plate lasted into the 80s...
dont like gas behind t
rear lamps😮almost impossible to find if using someones car or rentals
I once had a 1993 Chevy Caprice and it had the gas cap behind the license plate. Convenient when there was a long line at the gas pump because I could quickly pull into the first spot that opened up and it didn't matter which side. The problem is that many cars of the early 90s and older with this feature have steel bumpers and a rear end crash could cause a spark and sever the fuel filler resulting in an explosion.
Late 1980's in Australia. I had a couple of cars with this.
The mandatory shifting of the fuel tank to the front of the rear axle, preventing fires from rear end collisions, was probably responsible for killing off this feature.
Love the video however the high beam low beam switch belongs on the floor period. It's only foot gymnastics if you don't know how to operate a motor vehicle. My 85 ford f150 standard shift has it on the floor and I found it very practical to be on the floor. For me its easier to switch from high to low by pushing the switch with my left foot. Not supposed to use the right foot like the video said lol. Anyone agree?
90% of new drivers today don't have the mental ability to understand how awesome this feature was and still is.
totally correct. My (UK) 1965 Austin Cambridge had a foot pedal dimmer with a manual transmission. Left foot busy with clutch brake and dimmer but so easy
Try it in heels !
They also broke frequently, very expensive to replace. I think $25.00 😳
They always siezed up. Hated them. We would rewire them to the dash. They may be ok in southern states that seldom see snow but no good in the north.
After about the third replacement you also had to replace the terminal ends because they had rotted off from the salt.
I had a bag phone with the magnetic antenna you put on your car roof and carried the actual phone in a shoulder bag! 😂😂😂 We got it from Cingular.
I still have two in my garage, if anyone is interested.
I still miss my first Cellnet phone. It was a carphone that I carried around in a rucksack and ran off a 12v battery (I was 17, didn't have a car. Still don't!) and worked pretty well for me, given many places I went to had such poor signal a handheld phone just wouldn't work. Think I could _just about_ get 30 minutes talk-time (~9h standby) from a fully charged battery, so probably just as well calls from it were about 50p/min! ☎💸🤣
Wish I still had it to this day. Damned solid piece of equipment, that was... ❤
@@jimtownsend7899 I like the idea... ❣
...But I anticipate shipping and importation to the UK might be a _bit_ of a headache! 🇺🇸📲🛃🇬🇧😋
RCA Victor made a car record player that played the disc upside down, held a stack of discs in an automatic changer mechanism that dropped the played disc down, played the next and used standard 45 RPM discs.
I can't wait until they get car phones like this. I have been waiting ever since I was a little boy for them to come out with shoe phones like they had on Get Smart and frankly I'm getting sick of waiting.
@@Thomas-yr9ln I had a car phone similar to this one.
Those early car phones were hugely expensive when you consider what was required for duplex audio communication in those days. Often more than half the price of the car itself. And you lost half your trunk space.
@@ThatOldDude-wtf the phone I had in my car years ago was not as big as you think. The whole thing fitted in the console between the front seats of my car, and was also portable. The only things I did with it when I was setting it to car use was plug in the microphone, and plug in the external power plug to the lighter socket.
@@christophermarshall5765 You had one of the newer ones. The original ones they showed in the video were a UHF receiver/transmitter pair with a duplexer to allow simultaneous receive and transmit. These took up at least 4 square feet of floor space in the trunk and generated a lot of heat due to being filled with vacuum tubes. There was a control head in the passenger compartment that had the handset and other controls. You selected a channel that was not in use and made the call through an operator at the phone exchange who connected you to the land line you wanted to talk to.
Excellent video. Thank you
1:17 When wide white tire disappeared demand for curb feelers decline. Always an accessory.
Unfortunately push button transmissions are back in 2024 - many cars have them. I personally prefer the old school automatic shift lever - the only button is used to go from park to reverse
I would love those curb feelers back. It would help me to parallel park much better lol
The Cyclops Eye light system reminds me of the Ford Tri-Motor and Ju 52 airplanes having three engines. However, there it made sense as it added important redundancy.
I owned a few cars with floor mounted headlight beam switch & my LEFT foot was used to operate it. I never took my foot off the accelerator to switch headlight beam from low to high, or vice versa. I know one piece of tech in a make of car that will have most people screwed. A manual transmission, otherwise known as a "standard", but NO clutch pedal. Yes, such cars were built. I drove one a few times.
yep, my 85 ford f150 has it on the floor and I rather have it there.
My 69 Camaro with the 250 straight 6 had a torque drive transmission which was the Powerglide transmission without the automatic shifting between first and second. You started off manually in low and then shifted it to drive and the transmission would make the rest of the shifts on its own.
The VW with an electric clutch operated by the shift handle knob?
@@ThatOldDude-wtf no, the car I speak of is a Mercedes Benz 220Sb. Some of those cars have a “hydrak” clutch. It worked from the gear stick on the steering column. When you moved the stick to change gears, the hydrak clutch system would operate. It had a fluid coupling bolted to the flex plate, and that had a clutch fitted to it. The switch in the gear shift operated a solenoid, that controlled a vacuum valve, which operated the clutch. There was also a control switch that was adjustable for release and engaging of the clutch. It was a complicated system, but very effective.
@@christophermarshall5765 The VW one was also complicated and only available for a short time.
Curb feelers are needed today for many low profile designer wheels.
One gadget that went away years ago was a small prism that was attached to the top inside of the windshield, to allow the driver to see the color of the traffic light without having to crane one’s neck forward. Those would be handy today!
Yes. The large wheel, low profile tyre sidewall unintentionally created a new automotive service. Repairing kerb damaged alloy wheels.
Properly set side view mirrors eliminate the need for curb feelers.
My 91 Saturn had the motorized shoulder belt, what a pain they were. When it was cold...i live in Michigan...they would often bind up and refuse to move!
Worked on foreign cars that the motors had no circuit breakers. We were having customers get their scarfs caught on the belts when opening doors almost choking them. American cars would kick back is resistance felt.
A half deployed shoulder belt is better than no shoulder belt. NOT!!
The light switch on the floor was easier and cheaper to repair than the switch on the column.
now every vehicle has electronic push button & dials.....not outdated!
But the buttons are attached to silicon, not a mechanism. Much more reliable.
@@Tipman2OOO as long there is voltage present. Chrysler push button system was very simple and reliable
Touch screens don't count. Not really vehicle controls, more like fly by wire, plug and pray.
~13:11 I'm pretty sure that's Tom T Hall. 😊
You had me at 'curb feelers'
If you see a car with curb feelers you’re probably driving through the hood
Push button autos may have gone the way of the Dodo but has been reborn in modern cars that have a dial on the console.
Many modern cars have push button automatics hyundai kia etc all have them
I have always hated fender skirts. They look so stupid.
they were a real pain to get off to change the tire they had a mechanical slide mechanism to remove them..the mech was always full of dirt snow etc...
the concept for fender skirts in the 1950s and 60s was to make the rear look lower than the front like a jet taking off..
I have owned one car with fender skirts. They stayed firmly planted in the trunk as the hangers had rusted off years before.
I liked the fuel filler behind the license plate, it was great and was better when trying to fill up in busy gas stations and trying to get your vehicle on the same side as an available gas pump. The swivel seats were also great. The seat turned and would be good for some older people or people with physical limitations. The automakers did away with them to save money, don't believe anything else. The dimmer switch (hi/low beam) on the floor was much better than the systems we have today, you never had to take either of your hands off of the steering wheel. "Playing a game (25:00) of Twister while driving"?? Really? It was simple and safer than taking your hand off the wheel. It was not difficult to find the switch at all and you didn't have to take your foot off of the gas pedal, the button was on the other side of the floor, not on your gas pedal side.
In my old jeep you filled the gas tank by tipping the driver's seat forward and taking the cap off the tank underneath it. Easy to see when it was getting full except at night...
@@ThatOldDude-wtf
That's great. It reminds me of my VW Bug having the battery under the backseat on the passenger side. Of course the seats had metal coils, what could ever go wrong, lol??
@@notsosilentmajority1 At least you weren't likely to have a real heavy person in the back seat of that car.
I had a '95 Town Car that came with a car phone because the first owner family had it in use at some point. Obviously, one of the latest models since soon after, cell phones were getting more abundant and affordable. It's a curiosity I should locate; it's yet in a box somewhere around here after I uninstalled it.
Glad to see The front bench seat is good to go
Slide the front seat back and there's no need to stop to move to the back seat.
In automatic cars where your left foot is doing virtually nothing, the dimmer switch was a practical and logical feature. It moved the dimmer operation away from stalks that should have been reserved for wipers and signalling. The only benefit is the flasher operation which you didn't have with the floor setup.
The Flasher operation in all of my vehicles is on a dashboard switch.
When you are driving on an open road, the floor mounted dimer switch worked great, even on a manual car. I would prefer it there.
My 2017 COntinental (as well as other current Lincolns) have push button drive.
My 2017 Lincoln MKZ has push button granny also.
Same here with a 2023 Cadillac. It's called an "electronic precision shift", but it's really just an old school push-button.
I remember being in a car in the 1970’s that had those curb feelers, the driver was demonstrating them to us. I’d forgotten all about it until watching this.
My Dad And I both had 1979 Thunderbirds with Hidden Headlamps.
Another feature Ford Had was the Quadrasonic Sound a Step above Stereo with Different sounds from all 4 Speakers! May have been during the 8 Track Era!
Loved the Triumph Spitfire video with Chrysler audio 😂
Opera windows were way before that! Watch American Graffiti, was that late 50's or early 60's Thunderbird? I haven't watched it in a long time! I use to know hahaha
My 76 cutlass 442 had swivel seats, great for a teenager at the drive in. The one thing you didn’t mention which I don’t think ever came back was the auto headlights dimmer that would charge when on coming car would approach. I worked more pop up headlights vacuum and electric than you can imagine.
my 2024 Honda CRV has the auto headlight dimmer
I miss the fiber optic indicators in in the fenders indicating that your headlites are on.
City busses at least in Europe very commonly have pushbutton controls for their 4-, 5- or 6-gear automatic transmissions.
USA buses, as well.
Istill like the foit switch for high beams, the only problem is water and in the winter salt corrodes the switch.
Floor dimmer switched did not require you letting off gas pedal, it was activated with left foot. I am 55 most of my life was floor dimmer. Even in my wife's mini van I find myself many times using my left foot to dim or brighten. Muscle memory never fails only when a feature when removed.
I had a 1953 Kaiser Manhattan that had fender skirts. Problem I had was when I went to car washes, the skirt on the driver’s side would be removed by the car wash brushes.
In all my 50+ years on this planet I have never seen a car with curb feelers except in cartoons. It certainly didn't take the invention of rear view cameras to end them.
I hate when they dont so their research when doing these Videos. the worst offender is the dimmer switch statement on how its operated. You always knew where it was, and you did not have to remove your foot from the gas pedal!!!
Maybe a right hand drive car?
@@lrich8181put all the cars in this video are American
Had one when I had a 1964 Dodge Dart. I love it and would get another one.
My 1st car was a '64 Dodge Dart. Loved flipping down the lever to put it in Park. And the neutral button went in simultaneously. Then just flip the lever up, push a button, and go!
@@jimtownsend7899 I also had a 1964 Dodge Dart. Had a broken shoulder at the time, could not have driven without the push button trans.
My father's 63 and 66 Imperials had push button gear shift. Ironically my 2024 Hyundai Palisade also has push button!
I drive Nan’s ‘64 Eldorado w/ center gas filler. Love it or Grandads ‘58 300D & I like the foot dimmer as it’s always easy to find & get in the dark from car to car u never had to fiddle w/ what done it’s on or what what u turn. & if u have a left foot, u never had to take foot off the gas or hands or eyes off the sap road & u can easily tap to flash quickly
I miss the pop up head lights, as a kid I was always amazed as a kid when my aunt had a car with one
In states that used salt as a winter deicer on roads, corrosion was a problem for floor dimmer switches.
Fender skirts had no function. They were just bling.
The additionof air bag only increased the requirement to wear seatbelts to keep the occupant from recieving the full impact of the inflating bag.
I used a car phone in my house. Calling from where I lived to the city of Edmonton (where most of my family lived) was long-distance. But not with the car phone. Therefore, it was much cheaper to pay the car phone bill than any long-distance charges.
Remember a white n gold Laguna SS 454 Cu In with swivel buckets that tooled around town in the early seventies. Can’t recall exactly what year it was? 70-72 I’m pretty sure. Sweet ride!
74 I believe
There is so much more:
Triangular glass vents, dashboard vents, fender vents, automatic antennas, engine hand cranks, carburetor chock, chrome or stainless hubcaps, headlight vipers, cassette players, even cd players are gone! Sunroofs are not popular anymore, ashtrays, bumerang antennas, pads on bumpers, headlamps, bench seats, that will transform into a bed, and much more
Yeah, like hood ornaments, analog clocks, T-Tops, Gull Wing doors, Suicide doors, Rumble seats, the station wagon's Way-back seat, exposed engines, backseat TVs, "Corinthian Leather" and crushed velour with buttons, rubber static straps, center hub spinners, and Super Pursuit Mode.
am radio is fading away
Pop up headlights disappeared about the time that daytime headlights became mandatory. No use hiding them when every time the car moved, they had to pop up.
Manufactures these days don’t care what their divers think.
Many of these are great ideas I wish still existed
Pop up headlights were actually banned for pedestrian safety, which opened the opportunity to use different headlights (besides the ubiquitous sealed beam unit, which was the only option available by law in the US). Later on, Xenon and LED shifted the whole design of headlights rendering pop-ups actually useless. Notice all headlights are sealed in these cars.
Hide away head Lites were a good idea if they were made right, the 1969 and 70 Cougar had a Vacuum cylinder that opened the headlights if vacuum dropped! There were real poor headlight covers like the ones on the 1967 to 69 Camaro that only opened half the time. Drove a 1969 Camaro and every time i turned on the lights I had to get out to open one headlight or the other.
In 1964 mom and dad bought a new Electra 225 Buick it had a button on the floor you could step on and change radio stations and a buzzer on the speedometer you could set so it would buzz when you got to that speed
My 1948 Mk.6 Bentley has none of this rubbish but is a delight to drive. Super comfort and much faster than the law allows. Utterly reliable and servicing I can do myself. My mother used to practice her regal wave from the back seat as I drove her to the local supermarket.
OK, you win.
Rubbish? Seek help…
Yes the triangular directable vent windows did a great job of sucking air into the car
And when angled correctly, sucking out the cigarette smoke. It was handy to be able to flick the ash out the quarter window, then the butt, when done! 😅
PS I stopped smoking 24 years ago.
Also, indicators that you used to show other motorists that you were gonna turn left or right
The fender skirts were still available on Pontiacs late into the 80’s.
Ive always wondered how much more advanced we would be if we brought current technology to the past. Like, could we actually have flying cars?
I never had a problem with the floor mounted dimmer switch, though I am tired of the turn signal lever operating the windshield wipers.
America Before missed the most salient and important ones: Kerosene Lamps and Crank start levers.
You lost me right away at the pop up headlight comment lmao
I STILL use a curb-feeler at the right front fender. I ordered a set online. There is no practical use to have one on the left side in the USA.
The first 450 NMT cae teleohone had very good rreach and could be used anywhere. As my father transported timber it was very uesful and connection was in my opinion better than todays phones.
I always thought curb feelers were a good idea.
My 2022 Lincoln has pushbutton gears
Curb feelers were not useless. They compensated for not having features like power mirrors that are easily moved or a rear camera.
This video has a number of errors. Most are covered in the comments below. Opera windows in American cars first appeared on the 1971 Eldorado. And they were NOT round. As for the center fuel fill under the plate, I loved it. Never had an issue and never had to drive to the "OTHER" pump. As for the foot dimmer swtch. I find that much saver than the lever. You left foot is always available. Not so your hands. If making a corner, and you are doing hand over hand, you can't get to the dimmer switch fast enough.
I heard a different story about push button transmissions. [ BTW I owned a '62 Chrysler and '64 Plymouth. Both worked fine. ] I read that the rental car companies were getting complaints and threatened not to buy anymore p.b. cars. I brought my '64 p.b. Plymouth to NYC in 1990 and left it at a parking lot with the valet. I had to go back to show the young immigrant how it worked. :-)
Our new Honda doesn't have a PRNDL , and its a pitb.
My 2020 Lincoln continental and my wife’s 2022 Lincoln corsair have push button transmissions.
Chrysler LeBaron
_A door is a jar_
I know, but that's what we heard. 😂
I didn't see Chevy's 1959 cruise control. I bought a 1959 Impala that was loaded in the late 1970s. It had a circular dial on the dash with numbers ranging from 20 to 80, if I remember correctly. You would set the dial at 50, for example, and when you reached or exceeded that speed an extremely annoying buzzer would fill the passenger compartment. That meant you either slowed down or shut off the buzzer, usually, it was the later. I only saw this device in this one Chevy and never again, understandably.
My parents had that feature on a 1960 Buick station wagon. That buzzer being annoying does not accurately describe that buzzer.
My 1984 Hurst Olds cutlass has it behind the plate, but would be nice to have 1 behind the turn signal light, maybe in the future
Seatbelts were useless up until the 1970's at least in Canada when they became mandatory. That coincided with the entire world going down the drain as everything has been downhill since the 1981 recession.