One extinct feature you would revive?

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Correct: Plymouth did not offer Fluid Drive in 1950. Not sure when it was finally offered, but '53 sounds about right.

 

And, initially, Chrysler offered a semi-automatic transmission back in 1939, on their TOL Airstream models I think. It used a fluid clutch but wasn't particularly efficient, I think. But it did make starting out in the higher gear possible; I think Carl Breer said it made driving in stop and go city traffic easier.

 

My '64 Plymouth Valiant has a Torque-Flight 904 transmission. It's a great unit; you can bump start it in 2nd gear. Which I have had to do on a number of occasions. Fortunately I usually parked at the top of a hill in SF during those days (late 70's) so it was easy enough. Finally I started getting better batteries. And remembered to turn off the headlights before I parked for work. I forget the technical reason why it was possible to bump start that tranny, maybe something to do with a pump.

 

 
 
Rich,

You could also push start an early 50’s Chevy with Powerglide by putting the selector in either low or drive and turning on the ignition, and either getting a push form another car or rolling down an incline like you did with your ‘64 Valiant and when it got to 15-20 mph it would start. I believe I’ve also read the same thing about FoMoCo cars with Ford O Matic transmissions in the 50’s and up to the very early 60’s.

Eddie
 
I would also look to revive the original scents of the detergents, softeners, etc. from the 50's - 70's. Today's fragrances are just too much and I still don't understand why we need 15 versions of Tide, Gain, etc... I understand the unscented stuff for those with allergies, but I am a little tired of smelling other people's laundry from 20 paces away.

Also, the same goes for bath soaps like original Safeguard, Zest (before it reverted to being just another soap), Lifebuoy and Lux and let's not forget Sweetheart Lime Deodorant Soap. All great products that were "discontinued".
 
You are correct Patrick. When I looked up when Plymouth first offered a Fluid Drive type of transmission I only focused on the info about Hy-Drive. I didn't notice that Power Flyte was offered mid model year in March ‘54. I only recalled that my grandma bought a new Plymouth Belvedere on ‘55 with the Torque Flyte automatic transmission lever on the dash. She traded her ‘46 Dodge with Fluid Drive for the ‘55 Plymouth with Torque Flyte and Power Steering. I mistakenly thought that this was Plymouth’s first fully automatic transmission. As a 4 year old I was intrigued by the dash mounted transmission lever.

Thanks for the correction.

Eddie
 
Um, it's TorqueFlite, not TorqueFlyte.

 

My '64 also has the push buttons on the dash. It's the first automatic transmission equipped car I ever owned, and the steering column controls has always sort of disappointed me. And passengers often seem highly entertained by the push button control.

 

 
 
Rich you are correct about the “Flite”, but I looked up an advertisement for the ‘55 Plymouth and this new automatic transmission was actually called “Power Flite”. And yes the pushbuttons for Chrysler product auto transmission were entertaining. My Dad bought a new ‘56 Plymouth Fury convertible and this was the first year for the pushbuttons.

As a 5 year old I used to sit in this car when it was parked in the garage and play with the pushbuttons for the transmission,pretending that I was driving it. I LOVED cars when I was a little boy and knew the make, year and model of everyone that I saw, something my Dad coached me on.

Dad didn’t keep the ‘56 Fury for long, he traded it in the next year for a new ‘57 Oldsmobile 88 convertible.

I drove several cars with pushbutton transmissions during the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. The most unusual pushbutton transmission set up was on the Edsel which had the pushbuttons in the center of the steering wheel.

Eddie

https://external-preview.redd.it/JG...a42c0c88902a518c29b6476dc70bdb5114de82d1[this post was last edited: 8/27/2021-12:24]
 
Bench seats

I love the idea of a bench seat but how did the driver get closer to the pedals if short in the leg dept? Did the whole seat slide back and forth?
 
Yes Ozzie the whole seat slide forward and backward. My Mom was only 4’9” and my Dad had to have blocks attached to the clutch and brake pedals so she could reach them on some of the cars we owned. She also always drove with a small pillow behind her back too.

Eddie
 
@eddie

Gosh it must have been hard to find cars that she could manage being such a petite lady?

I remember my Mum refusing to drive my dads car as it had a column shift and she was used to a floor one so she never drove till he bought a new car !!

I dare say nowadays it would be a nightmare especially for my car as I over a foot shorter than my husband he has the seat down and back while I use up and forward.... So glad we have a car with auto seats that adjust to who ever has the car key...

Austin
 
Ozzie

My Mom taught herself to drive in the ‘29 Model A Ford that my parents bought for $50.00 when they returned from their honeymoon in May 1948. My Dad had owned a ‘39 LaSalle, but when they returned from their honeymoon they only had $14.00 left and he was in Law School. So he sold the LaSalle for $500. and they bought the used Model A and used the remainder for living expenses.

Mom was feisty as hell and she used to say she could drive anything with four wheels on it and she did. The only car that my parents owned that she really hated was the ‘47 Cadillac convertible that they bought used shortly after I was born on ‘51. Even though it had a Hydramatic transmission there was still no power steering in ‘47. She said it drove like a goddamned truck, her exact words. She had loved the car that he traded for the Cadillac, a ‘42 Chevrolet Special Deluxe 2 dr sedan that they bought after the ‘29 Model A Ford, it was real step up from the Model A.

Once he passed the Bar Exam in ‘52 and while Dad was still alive we had a new car every 6 months, he just couldn’t help himself. It was thrilling for me, because we were always riding around in a beautiful new car. You name it, we had one at one time or another. But after he died in ‘62 that was the end of the steady stream of new cars.

Both of my parents were fast, but excellent drivers. Car rides with them were always fun.

Eddie [this post was last edited: 8/27/2021-13:40]
 
Eddie, my mom complained about our '51 Lincoln Cosmopolitan's steering too.  It was a bear to drive that thing over twisting mountain roads, even with automatic transmission.   By contrast, the '57 Lincoln Premiere was a dreamboat with power steering and air conditioning that blew out of vents in the ceiling at all four corners.  It had big fat clear plastic ducts that came up from behind the back seat to move air to the two rear outlets.

 

One interesting thing about the '57 was that it had not only the foot switch on the floor for the high beams, but it had another one to tune the radio while driving.  It would put the tuner into "scan" mode when driving outside of urban areas where reception was spotty at best.  I can remember the hum that would come from the speaker when my dad would use is left foot to scan for reception.  For years he wouldn't tell us how the radio was tuning itself.
 
Most of my earlier vehicles (pre-80's) had the floor mounted dimmers and they would rust in place usually on high. My sister had a '58 Fairlane convertible with a magic-bar scanner on the radio face. Didnt do much as there was 3 AM stations back then you could get here. Flicking the turn signal lever is so much better, I think.
 
I had a ‘55 Cadillac Coupe de Ville that had a Wonderbar tuner on the radio. The Wonderbar homed into the nearest strong radio signal every time it was pressed. It also had the optional Electric Eye Headlight dimmer. It was called Autoronic Eye, and it really worked very well.

I used to do a lot of night driving on two lane roads then and it never failed to dim the lights at just the right time and and soon as the oncoming car had passed the lights went right back to high beam. I spoiled me for the little time I owned this car.

I bought this Cadillac in 1974 when it was already 19 years old and had 180,000 miles on the odometer. This was during a gas shortage and I traded a paid for ‘69 Volkswagon for this Cad that I saw when I was driving down Hwy 101. I pulled of the hwy and bought the Cad for $995.00 and left that gas saving bug behind. I was impulsive and just had to have that Cadillac.

I once had 8 passengers plus myself in the huge old boat, 5 in the backseat and 4 of us in the front, back in my wild partying days.

After the novelty of the Cadillac wore off I traded it for a ‘74 Chevrolet Nova 2 dr. coupe, painted Lemon Yellow, which turned out to be very appropriate as if there was ever a lemon, that Nova was it!

Eddie [this post was last edited: 8/28/2021-17:38]
 
Our '57 Lincoln had the dash-mounted electric eye for high beams, but it wasn't sophisticated enough to bump down to low beams when you were coming up behind another vehicle on a dark road.
 
.
From Wikipedia:
 
TorqueFlite (also seen as Torqueflite) is the trademarked name of Chrysler Corporation's automatic transmissions, starting with the three-speed unit introduced late in the 1956 model year as a successor to Chrysler's two-speed PowerFlite. In the 1990s, the TorqueFlite name was dropped in favor of alphanumeric designations, although the latest ZF-based transmissions with the eight-speed automatic has revived the name.
 
Oh, and the pushbutton transmission controls were phased out in 1965. So my '64 Valiant is one of the last iterations of that, I think.
 
 
wow too many to read all

BENCH SEATs def tired of losing things and tearing up my thin skinned up skinny hands and arms.
Def push button car radios/ With a Big ON / Off power knob..... not "the tiny can't read or feel well to find nearsighted me stuff. Hate MOST digital crap most of the time too.
I think we might still have a push in Button car radio. wish I could locate it w/ o spending hrs doing so
What about call a psychic to tell us where we put a....n objects or filed something.
and local temporary, honest guys that will work and not have to pick up and drive them back. also not "ogling their In love with" SMART PHONES.
heck I could go on
Oh what about honest people that repair stuff period like HVAC. Others the don't call you back period.
Only couple of guys locally did a fine job the rest Ah half but a furnace. coatuld have Co2 ed me still not right
Several month to see your dentist in this small hick town.
Local Radio station. "TRADIO"gone too and local big outdoor twice a week FLEA MKT gone too. Bunch of sceary cats in this town RAH
OH what about honest CL posters and ones that delete their ads when an item is sold I heard Facebook has the same problems as Im not a member and this "Catcha" check off stuff to see CL replies
I could say even more. LOL
Blessings all
 
"Seek & Scan"

car radio tuners are electronically integrated in the audi system and when equiped steering wheel buttons. Wunderbar tuners, Aeronutronic search (Ford), etc. no longer needed. Remember Delco Reverbs?
Now what I do miss are like the Marantz thumb wheel blue lit tuning dials.
 
I’ll second the car radio seek and scan, I’m so peeved the last car that had that feature was my 2003 Honda Civic, and I actually like my radio automatically finding the stations for me…

At least my wife’s 2018 Toyota Corolla does…

— Dave
 
Butter

I just found out about this feature this year on my grandparents 55' whirlpool refrigerator, the butter warmer in the door! Never have to try and scrape hard butter across toast in the morning. Sad thing is that it's the only thing on the fridge that doesn't work.
 

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