what do I miss about the old cars
All the above-- ditto ditto ditto and ditto:
Most of all....
color coordinated interiors- for example if you got a green interior you got a GREEN interior alright. A green steering wheel, green carpet, gree doors, green upholstery, gree roof liner, green everything...etc. I had a '69 Camaro with a black interior, but that was OK because then it was an option I chose it and GM didn't tell me I had to have it, and not everyone had a black interior back then. Car makers had neat names for their interior colors. My '73 Mustang Convertible had a "Ginger" interior. Now you get a choice of "Boring Black", "Depressing Gray" and "Bland Beige." Ugh, I am color starved. Why is it that way? Answer: Economics (as in corporate greed) For example: You don't have to have five or six colors of steering wheel on the assembly line. You just need one--basic black.
Yes! power steering that really was and power brakes that really were
One of you asked where the pillarless hardtops went. You can thank Ralph Nader for that.
A car where you could change the spark plugs without dissassembling the engine.
On my sisters '66 Mustang, she had a six cylinder (straight six??) and you could almost step into the engine compartment there was that much room around the engine. Changine the plugs took maybe ten or fifteen minutes. And that included the time to gap them.
Metal dashes, my parents had a 56 (or 58) Studebaker Hawk with a BEAUTIFUL brushed (swirled) aluminum or chrome dash. It also had floor vents which really gave nice venting.
Do you remember when cars even had chrome trim on the brake pedal and the gas pedal!! Remember when your brake pedal even said "Power Brakes" on it (I guess in case you didn't know it already, ha.)
Someone also said they wanted words back instead of stick figures. Yeah to that! I remember reading a woman went to the car dealership where she had brought her car and said something was wrong. She told them on her dash a figure of a little man with a rifle over his shoulder kept lighting up! They tried to explain, without laughing, that this meant to buckle your seatbelt up. Supposedly a true story.)
My parents traded their Hawk for a '65 Ford LTD Blue everywhere--carpet dash doors, roof liner steering wheel, etc. With nice wood trims. Really rich looking and beautiful The rear speakers were up on the roof pillars. That was cool my sister and I each had a speaker right in our ear.
It was the QUIETEST care I think we ever had.
Remember framed glass? That's one reason my dad went with the '65 LTD over the '65 Caprice because the Caprice had gone to bare pieces of glass in the side windows. He thought that was cheap and dangerous. Of course Ford folllowed suit shortly thereafter.
Our 65 LTD had flow-through ventilation with a vent that was the length of the rear shelf below the rear wind and there was a switch for it on the drivers side of the dashboard (or dash as we called it then.)
My '69 Camaro had "Astro Ventilation" remember that?
Speaking of Chevrolet. I loved watching "Bewitched" because it was sponsored by Chevy and GM certainly took advantage to showcase their cars. Samantha and Darren always had these wonderful beautiful new Chevy cars to drive. (Darren was an advertising agent, I guess he could afford new cars every year, ha)
By the same token I also loved watching the, "Hazel" for the same reason as they were sponsered by Ford and you got to see all the new Ford models that "Mr. B" drove. My families 1965 LTD appeared in the opening credits one year and I thought that was really cool.
"Mr. Ed." was sponsored by Studebaker for awhile and it was neat to see the new models of Studebaker there, Lark, etc.
Most of all do you remember when it was FUN for the new model year to arrive. New models all came out in September. It was EXCITING to see them revealed. A few days before they were revealed they would be in the showroom windows with a canvas cover over them and on opening day the dealers where allowed to remove the cover and we would all ooh and ah at the new models. The one exception I can remember was 1964 when the Mustang was introduced by Ford in April. I was in 4th grade and that's all everyone was talking about. (Remember the Mustang jokes? for example: "How did John get hurt while he was working on his Mustang? Ans: "He tried to tighten its nuts and it kicked him.")
I am old enough to remember when Fords look like Fords, Chevy's looked like Chevy's, AMC's looked like AMC's and Chryler/Dodge ("The Dodge Rebellion wants You") also had its unique look.
Each year cars were redesigned at least cosmetically, and at least got a fashion make-up if not a downright redo. Now it's often difficult to even tell one brand from another. lol
[this post was last edited: 9/2/2014-13:09]
