What do you miss most about an old car...

[norgeway]

I miss several things...power steering that works..I dont know of a car made today that you can turn with your little finger like old Chrysler products...for some reason, the designers think everyone wants a stiff, rough riding sports car...2 ,visibility...there is not a car built today that has good visibility..in the 50s and on most 60s cars, you can see all 4 corners,and the windshield and door posts were not big as 4x4 posts in the old days, 3 chrome...im sorry, but plastic bumpers are just as silly and cheap looking as they were when introduced,a floor mounted dimmer switch!! this could very well be my biggest pet peeve, after all these years, I still catch myself stomping the floor!,oh yeah...another real big thing...a bench seat, a D$%^ luxury car has NO business with floor shift and bucket seats...they are for sports cars only!!!also , bring back some decent interior materials and colors...now you can get grey or beige...what was wrong with beautiful white leather seats and red carpet and dash like a friends 77 New Yorker has!!!if gas wasnt so high...or if I was very well off, Id go back to an old car tomorrow.!...one more gripe...why the heck can knobs not be placed where they belong ..on the dash instead of having 2 or 3 silly stalk like things on the steering column...the only thing that should be there is the gearshift and signal light lever, light switches,wiper controls should be on the dash..along with the brake release,or better yet, the emergency brake yould release automatically...just as the headlights should dim automatically...im sure the auto makers will pay me no attention, but its a shame kids today will never experience driving a real car,,real metal, real solid and all made in the USA.

 

[cycla-fabric]

Vent Windows

I wish they would bring back the vent windows on the front doors, they were great for ventilation and air changes in the car.

Doug

 

[yogitunes]

speedometers that went AAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way across the dashboard.......

leg room.......for when in a frontal impact, you had time while suspended in air to write your will before making contact with the dashboard!

stationwagons.....that rear section was a playground on long trips.....or riding in the back of a pickup!

my new Jeep has the key back on the dash....that took a while getting used to again...but sorry, I always liked the shifter of any type on the floor!

these threads are always in the wrong forum for me to post......but we'll go with backseat space for fun!

 

[imperial70]

I agree. Vent Windows.

 

[ken]

As someone who appreciates vintage cars I would have to say just about everything.

Analog odometers.

Fuel pumps that arent inside the freaking fuel tank.

The ability to decide when to turn the headlights on or not have them on at all.

Non metric AMERICAN cars.

Steel wheels.

Fuel fillers located in the center so when you pulled into the gas station the pump hose would reach it from either side. What a logical feature!

Being able to diagnose w/o needing electronic scan tools. And being able to repair with basic tools.

"Full size" sedans that actually have rear leg room. The amount of rear leg room in full size cars today is a joke.

A better selection of colors both exterior and interior. You can have your car today in any selection of 7 shades of bland. I do not care for a black interior but today you're really up against it if you want anything but. Not that long ago you could still get, as an example, a red interior and the WHOLE interior was red. Including the full seats, door panels, carpets, pillar trim, dash, headliner. Today, if a maker even offers a "red" interior, its just a black interior with some red accents on the seats and door panels. That does NOT make it a red interior.

New car prices that a regular working guy could afford.

I could continue but Ive rambled enough...

 

[rinso]

I recently rode in a friend's 1963 Pontiac Catalina 4-door hardtop. (No center post)I was amazed at how little road noise got into the car at highway speeds on coarse pavement. No cranking up the radio to compensate. He told me that road noise suppression is a real challenge in today's unit body cars. (cars without separate frame and body)Not sure if he is right, but it seems to make sense. The car also had a very smooth ride.

 

[moparguy]

I agree with so many of the comments above... and would add radios and climate controls with KNOBS that are easy, immediate, and intuitive to adjust without taking your eyes off the road!!! What's with these touch screens that require focus on the screen and multiple actions to change one function!!! The same could be said for windows 8, but that's a whole different thread, lol.

And as for design, love them or hate them, each manufacturer had its own distinctive designs.... now, although claiming bold design, most cars are really variations on shared design themes.

And as for mechanicals, although many advances have led to dependable and economical engines, I will absolutely second the frustration with in-tank high pressure fuel pumps... they cost a fortune to replace while the old, engine mounted fuel pumps were an easy fix at home.

I could go on... but finally how about NAMING cars again... instead of the alphanumeric designations that have zero meaning or excitement! What happened to Satellites and Barracudas and Eldorados and Sevilles... in their place we have "names" like CTS and MKZ and SRT on way too many vehicles!

 

[washman]

I miss

Torsion bars that can be adjusted.

Kelsey Hayes Rotors.

Torqueflight 727 tranny, the finest automatic ever made.

Gear reduction starters.

Copper and brass radiators that could be fixed.

greaseable front wheel bearings

Ballast resistors in the primary ignition circuit.

Basic, affordable copper core sparkplugs with 3/4 reach and 13/16 hex

The Airtemp RV2 A/C compressor, again the finest A/C unit ever found on a Detroit vehicle.

Rear leaf springs.

Vacuum operated HVAC controls

Copper heater cores

15 inch steel wheels that could be straightened if bent.

Glass "buss" fuses that, in a pinch, could have a foil gum wrapper mcgyvered to get you home.

Sealed beam halogen replaceable headlights, not the finicky bulbs or the useless plastic headlamp assemblies that end up being replaced due to hazing.

16 inch Anco USA made wiper blades that were the SAME on both sides of the windscreen.

Basic, affordable V-belts that did not have to use finicky belt tensioners.

Cast iron engine blocks and cylinder heads.

Ethyl gasoline with plenty of lead to guard against spark knock.

Breaker points and a dwell meter and a Delco distributor that had a window to adjust the dwell while engine was running.

Motor oil that was made and refined by individual companies, not a holding company like "Equillon Enterprises". Also basic grades, not 0w20 0w30, high mileage, SUV, Pickup, 4x4, Minivan, or other useless varieties.

Forged steel crankshafts and 4 bolt mains.

Painted stamped steel valve covers. No huge expanse of plastic covering an engine.

Water pumps that are NOT driven by a timing belt or timing chain.

Ford solenoids on the fender, easy to replace and easy to jump if it was defective.

External solid state voltage regulators that were user replaceable.

Basic Gabriel gas shocks front and rear.

Fuel filters in the friggin gas line to the carb or injection system, not buried in the gas tank.

Front suspensions with full adjustment for caster, camber, and toe in.

Greasable U-joints, preferably Spicer units.

Top mount battery posts, not the absurd side posts. Batteries that can be filled with distilled water.

Cast iron master cylinders that can be rebuilt.

Ditto for brake calpiers.

Turning and brake light bulbs that had colored glass, not a cheap amber film applied as in today.

 

[moparwash]

good stuff Washman!

You can tell by my screen name I dig Mopars and miss the same stuff you do!

 

[washman]

You know it moparwash!

You could always, I mean always, tell when a Mopar was being started........waaaaa waaaaa waaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaa, then it would miss, fire, miss again, waaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, then the spin down of the bendix drive, wait, hit the key again........waaaa waaa waaaaa waaaaaa then the smell of gas from the crappy Carter Thermoquad 4 bbl!

Oh how I miss replacing a choke pull off or throttle cracker solenoid......................sigh..............

 

[countryford]

Three speed manual transmissions on the column(3 on the Tree).

 

In addition to the vent windows, the kick panel vents. Open them up to keep the cool air, down by your feet, where it gets warm.

 

Wide White Wall Tires

 

Full Wheel Covers that are made of metal and have design, not the cheap ugly plastic crap.

 

[danemodsandy]

One Thing....

....Serviceability!

I recently scrapped a 2002 Taurus that had burst its heater core. Coolant was leaking into the passenger compartment and it was either fix it or don't even think of driving the car.

The problem was, that generation of Taurii had their heater cores buried deep, deep behind the dash. The instructions for replacing the core begin something like this: "Unfasten the steering column and lower it out of the way. Remove the dashboard from the car, unplugging all connectors as you go."

The cost of having that done is around $1000 for the labor. Contrast that with the one heater core I've done myself, on my old '78 Ford Fairmont. I opened the glove compartment, squeezed a little latch that allowed the compartment to drop down out of the way, and there was the heater core right behind it. Four studs held the core in place; all I had to do was to remove four nuts from them and pull the old core out after removing hoses from the underhood side of the firewall. Installation was the reverse of disassembly; the entire job was something like an hour.

Today's cars have too many key parts located as if they hung the part in space and built the car around it.

 

[turquoisedude]

The vent windows for sure!!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Bench Seats... Buckets are for CHEAP Cars and Sporty Cars and maybe Trucks...

A column shift, but I would love a dual-gate floor shift (Auto & Manual in the next car that I drive...)

Climate Controls that are LEVERS, not look-alike Knobs and why can't the Temp. be NUMBERS, like: 65 70 75 80 85 like back in the day, instead of everything being DIGITAL and having the Driver and Passenger having to set their OWN? (Though that's something my WIFE who's always COLD would like, in addition to Heated Seats!) And bring back everything in LETTERS not a Medical Body Sketch of a Seated Human Being w/ arrows directed at him where the heat is going?! (Or the "person" right there on the dash, getting poked at in order for directing the heat, air or A/C)

COLORS--INTERIOR Colors--I wanted a GREEN in '95 and had to go high in the line for it (Mercury Cougar) just to find the car it was in could not quite match as far as quality or affordabilty was concerned!

More EXTERIOR color choices would also be nice!

Knobs on the DASHBOARD, OFF of the Steering Wheel! Pretty soon that's where everything will be and your hands will be spread out WIDE to drive the thing!

A Parking Brake that's a PEDAL!

A Glove Box that's LIGHTED, no matter what kind or size or class or make or model of vehicle you get! (Tried to put my OWN in, 'cause I liked how Gaar Grimswald's revolver in the Burnt Umber Ciera in FARGO, sat there in the dramatic glow, then he grabbed it--"OH, DADDY!" shouted Karl Showalter, afterwards...!) at least the trunk or luggage compartment has a light... Same for under the dash & under the hood for the Midnight Mechanic!

GAUGES--for Oil & Volts, not just Temp & Fuel and get rid of the TACH in cars that DON'T NEED THEM!

--More to come...

-- Dave

http://

 

[petek]

Lots of all those things... but one that really strikes a chord mentioned above is the lack of color choices especially with the interiors. I dislike black interiors and gray interiors are a close second. It seems everyone jumped on the bandwagon and seems to have stuck since BMW and MB began offering black interiors in the 90's and won't go away.

I loves my little 07 Mazda with the light tan interior, bright and cheerful inside but all they offer now are black and grayish interiors.

 

[xraytech]

For me I miss, a true full sized sedan(thus why I cling to my Park Avenue)
Colored interiors, I miss the burgundy and navy interiors, vent windows, wire hubcaps, carriage roofs, and my biggest things are a front bench seat with flip up console, and an automatic transmission with the gear shift on the column

 

[wayupnorth]

I miss all the things mentioned above. Although my new Silverado has a full split bench seat with flip up console so I can comfortably have 6 people. It has the column shift and emergency brake pedal, BUT I cant shut the expensive halogen headlights off and am constantly pushing the wrong steering wheel button. The battery is hidden way in the back of the engine compartment so it is next to impossible to give someone a jump start. My first car, a 63 Rambler was so user friendly, you could change the oil and filter without ever climbing under it and it had vent windows.

 

[firedome]

pretty much all the above...

and almost everything but the cheapest new cars have leather... I hate leather! Bring back Velour!!

 

[NYCWriter]

What I miss ...

… most of you have already covered.

"speedometers that went AAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the way across the dashboard....... " YEAH BABY!!!

I miss actual BUTTONS on the steering wheel for the horn. My mom's '73 LeSabre had them, and even my '88 Accord LXi had them. I can't stand having to punch around on the steering wheel LOOKING for the car horn!

Someone mentioned knobs and switches earlier. YES!!! And not just *not* on the steering wheel, but a return to KNOBS and SWITCHES -- period! Enough of these multi-function tiny black buttons designed for Lilliputian fingertips. And enough with this "climate control" bullshit. Nowadays when I rent a car, I have to pull over for a good 20 minutes just to figure out how to change the interior temperature. And it usually involves scrolling through a damn computer screen. I miss being able to just push a lever from "blue" to "red", and a second lever to turn the fan from "off" to "high". That's all we ever needed.

Bench seats. YES! I remember when a "luxury" sedan could COMFORTABLY fit six adults.