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

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A good old Mopar for me!

I just sold my 65 dart 3 months ago SL6 backed by a 904. Still have the 81 imperial. And my gas getter that may shock some of you. My old pick up I built 89 D100 with a EFI SL6 and a custom made over drive trans gives a nice 32 mpg with the air on.
 
LTD II

Hydralique LOL,  Yes she had the "mom o matic" reflex.  On her day to drive 1/2 the subdivision to grammar school in the winter, she could mom o matic, all the kids in the front  "bench seat".   When I was 20, I wanted an 2 door  LTD II so bad.  I really liked the "long hood" cars,  Chrysler Cordoba,  GM Triplets, Regal, Grand Prix, also the olds version. The name escapes me.  The article linked is LTD II,  I had no idea they were made in Atlanta.  In hindsight was just as well I could not afford the LTD II at the time.  It was not too long until we learned to line up for expensive gas, during the first energy crisis.  Something about the LTD II made it very attractive to car rental agencies.  Fleet pricing?   My boss at the time had one that was leased,  a very dark blue.  Strange the cars that capture your attention, it fit me like a glove. 34 years later and I still remember it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_LTD_II
 
On vinyl ...

I miss vinyl trim, too.

It wasn't something pretending to be something else. It was unpretentious, but it gave a soft feel and *just enough* of a touch of luxury to make the passenger compartent feel less like a vehicle and more like a room, or an extension of one's own home.
 
Pilarless hardtops! No center post on 2 doors, 4 doors and even wagons!

 

Stainless steel wiper blades. stainless steel wheelcovers. 

 

Power antennas! A gadget that causes problems in cold weather but that's something that really impressed me when I was a kid and I still like them today!

 

Body-on-frame construction, longitudinally-mounted engines and rear wheel drive. I know rear wheel drive cars are still available but I wish it was on almost every car like it used to be. 

 

Towing capacity.  

 

Bumpers that can withstand passing through 2 feet of snow, that won't scrape when passing over a curb or just when parking over it...  
 
Kevin's 64 Dodge

Sure brings back memories of my teen years. This was a "parents' car" so when my group first got their licenses, a lot of the time we had those cars to use.  Can still hear the "WHEE-TEE-TEE-TEE..." of the Highland Park Hummingbird when they were firing up.
 
'62 - '65 Mopar B bodies

were the perfect size car IMO... plenty of room inside but not too big outside, and the best handing US family car of the era. We too have a '64 Dodge 440 sedan, just like Kevin's, not as pretty, but a solid car from Denver, with 318 wide block and TorqueFlite, in metallic gold. 1964 was Dodge's 50th Anniversary year. Son & I just finished swapping a 40k mile 318 into it that came out of a car being parted as a donor for a 2 dr. It will become a daily driver for old car fun while finishing the '58 ChryslerWindsor.
 
Love the Dodge

I also had a 1964 Dodge same color, in San Francisco in 1984.

I loved PowerGlide nothing wrong with a two speed Automatic Transmission.
Turboglide and FlightPitch Dynaflow transmissions which were Continuiously Variable Transmissions, but did it with turbines.
Wide POWER BRAKE pedals that you could push with both feet for extra breaking power.
WonderBar Radios in General Motors cars and Town and Country Radios in Ford cars with signal seeking tuning and unbelievable AM radio reception.
Controlled Coupling Hydramatic Drive Stratoflight (Pontiac) Jetaway (Oldsmobile) you could feel the coupling fill for 1-2 and 3-4 shift very smooth but 2-3 was always a little rough, but you still loved the feel.
PN.DRIVE.LR AND PNDSLR transmission quadrants with R at the bottom only in General Motors cars, you always loved pulling the lever all the way down for reverse.
Automatic transmissions that you could push start because they had a rear pump, Torqueflite and most General Motors transmissions before the mid-sixties.
Rear leaf springs and not those huge struts that take up trunk space or space in a Wagon or Van.
Variable Ratio Power Steering, near center you turned a lot but ratio changed to a quicker ratio the farther you turned the wheel, fewer turns lock to lock when parking for instance.
Cadillacs with 4 cigarette lighters and 4 ashtrays.
Lincolns with the fake tire on the back, like Mark 7 and 8.
Cloth interiors like the Dodge had which is woven Nylon and will last almost forever.
90's Buick Roadmaster Wagons with the Factory LT1 engine almost the same as Corvette, but could get 25mpg.
Roll up windows, almost everything is power windows now.
 
moparwash

For me its a tossup, Thermoquad or Rochjunkster. Had them both and because of that I forever became a Holley lover. Thermoquad with the plastic float bowl was a joke and the Rochjunkster was a bear to rebuild and had the fuel filter in the dumbest location, screwed into the float bowl. Strip the threads and you better grab some Teflon tape lest you replace the darn thing.

Remember the Mopar alternators that had external brushes that you could replace? And what about the 4-5 bin "brain box" usually mounted on an about-to-rust-through fender?

Remember when Mopar had an actual AMP gauge that gave you instantaneous information on charging rate? or lack thereof? I HATE gauges that read volts, hate em! But I'd take those over idiot lights any day!

Oh the days of choke pullofs, fast idle cam, throttle kicker, dashpot to close the throttle after key off to prevent dieseling.

Pop quiz.........do you remember the OSAC valve and what it did?
 
Yes, Rinso!

My grandparents had a '63 Catalina 4-door sedan (with center post, for you young folk). The only reason *I* don't have it TODAY is that my grandfather bought it with no a/c, no power steering, no power brakes, and no seat belts. Nearly 20 years later the docs told my grandparents their car had to have all of those things if they wanted to continue driving......sigh. The car was given to an older cousin a few years before I was old enough to drive. If my grandfather had sprung the extra $$ for those options, they'd've kept it for me. That car was so smooth and sooooooooooooooo quiet. With a 421, 4-bbl V-8 it flew like a bat out of hell, too.

What do I want back?

DIMMER SWITCH ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!
Vent windows
Back seat big enough for sex
Front seat big enough for sex
Ground clearance
Metal bumpers
T-tops, or even better: the ones that slid into the center section of the roof (Olds Toronado had that for a few years.
Yeah, those low dash a/c vents to keep everything cool. I miss those.
 
Dimmers . . .

Several people have mentioned liking floor mounted dimmers but I have to ask why . . . I’ve really detested them since an incident about 20 years ago when I’d been in Santa Monica late for business. By far the shortest way home is up the coast to Topanga Canyon and then inland to the Ventura Freeway. Topanga is a twisty rural two lane with little lighting and a 45 mph speed limit. My sister and I swap off cars frequently so I suppose she was using my Saab and I was in the old ‘66 Corvette that was her daily driver during the ‘90s (gas was still cheap!) Chevy loved those floor mount dimmers and that’s what the ‘Vette has.

I headed up the canyon after dark and because it was late with little traffic I had the brights on.  As I entered a sweeping right hand corner at about the speed limit I dropped down into third only to have a car coming toward me madly flashing his lights, no question I was blinding him. Problem was I couldn’t hit that damned stupid floor dimmer while the clutch was depressed. I remember finishing the downshift and then virtually sidestepping the clutch to get my foot off it and onto the dimmer. Topanga has some bad dropoffs that wouldn’t be good to explore in any car, let alone an old convertible, so I had a hairy few moments until my sight returned to normal. I felt bad for the other guy too since it was me who didn’t dim quickly and courteously. With a column mounted dimmer I would have been able to get onto it much quicker even entering a corner. No doubt some will say it isn’t a problem with an automatic but neither my sister nor I like them, plus the combination of the 327 small block and four speed is one of the delights of old Chevys that have them - it’s a splendid powertrain, fuel economy aside. I just can’t see any situation where a floor dimmer would have an advantage over a steering column dimmer.
 
I think that's the reason why Europeans didn't have floor switches for their dimmers. With very few automatics and smaller interiors, there wasn't a lot of space left to install a floor dimmer switch... My first cars all had floor-mounted dimmer switches but I got used to those mounted on the steering column very quickly! One thing I prefer with many old cars is their gas pedal that's hinged to the floor. My right foot naturally points outwards and on newer cars, it often slips off the accelerator pedal and sometimes gets stuck under it!

 

 And stainless steel wipers with replaceable blades are great too!  But it's getting harder to find replacement blades, they used to sell them at dealerships, at Walmart and auto parts stores but not anymore...
 
I miss old Jaguars that is what I grew up with is those Xj6 that had that huge 6 cylinder in it and the ride that they had was

wonderful.My Mom and Dad had (MOM)Volvo 740Turbo Wagon and(DAD) Jaguar XJ6 I loved the sound of that turbo when it was in full

boost and the stereo in both were great.I remember the Jaguar had speakers under the rear seats and  had

the strangest key it was round not like your normal key it was more like a screwdriver with these things on the end.If you left your

windows down it would raise them while locking the car.Mom preferred  her Volvo she did not like my Dads Xj6 or his 300E she

said that when it rains the single wiper would make her dizzy or something.That was my first car was his old 300E and it was the

best car I ever had that thing would fly the radio sucked but, it was a gorgeous car for a 85 the cruise control was ingenious push

it forward for faster and pull back to go slow I got it when it had 150k miles and I put another 130k on it before I sold it.

 
 
Gotta Light Up! Where's the ASHTRAY?! Where's the CIGARETTE LIGHTER?

Oh, NO! Two other things missing! Gotta throw my butts out the window or find a place to snuff my 'rette on the floor if there's a cop behind me!

Two other things that I miss... (Though I really don't smoke anymore...)

-- Dave
 
Cigarette ashtrays-dimmer switch and other features

My everyday driver (2007 Lincoln Town Car) has 3 ashtrays. My 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark 4 has 5! The ashtray in the middle of the dashboard is huge. All of these ashtrays have lighters with them. the dimmer switch is on the floor and so is the switch to change the radio stations if you want to do it that way. The instrument panel looks like a tv screen, with all of the gauges right in from of you. Power door locks, power windows, power vent windows. The gear shift indicator lights up at night with different colors for different gears. Yellow for neutral, green for all forward gears and red for park and reverse. All of the main windows go all the way down, level with the doors, not like today where the rear windows go down part way. Lots of foot room and room for 6 people. Lots of power ( 430-V8) power brakes and power steering. Unibody const. no rattles at all. Chrome for days and a pretty turquoise-blue paint job.
 
Gary, do you have pictures of it and of the interior, I'd like to see that. I really like the 1958-60 Lincolns! 

 

This one has a few add-ons!

 

 
I miss horizontal speedometers, seeing an acre of hood in front of you centered with a hood ornament in between peaked fenders. I miss the sound of a 4bbl carb at wide open throttle on a big block V-8. I miss low beam headlights that would stay on with the high beams. Triple note horns. Engines that were super easy to work on and maintain. And I miss in the rare event the car broke down, you could keep it running with duct tape and bailing wire if needed until you could get to the parts store. Oh and real chrome not plastic. Actually I just miss chrome period. And full room for 6 people.
 
Oh and the one thing I miss most of all, being able to buy just windshield wiper refills instead of having to buy the whole blade assembly, one piece at a time.
 
I miss the hand throttle

I had a 47 dodge,it had an electric choke,like all of the Chrysler cars at the time,but it was the only one to still have a split hood and a hand throttle on the dash,it was nice for warming it up on a cold day.Brakes on those 40s and fifties Chrysler products were good but the Gms and fords would crap out on you going up and down mountains,they would get hot,Chryslers had Lockheed brakes 2 wheel cylinders per front wheel,a real pain to bleed to get air out of them but they were the best.I drove my 54 Desoto cross country and a 57 Desoto coming back and coming down the mountains thru Ashville NC They held good the whole way.That used to be some drive in the 70s and before,a good test for your brakes though.
 
I drove my brother's <span class="irc_su" style="text-align: left;" dir="ltr">2008 Lincoln Navigator and it was like a blast from the past.I could not stand it but, I don't really </span>

<span class="irc_su" style="text-align: left;" dir="ltr">like S.U.V.s. save for our Acura Turbo which I love to drive...Here is a pic of the interior dash shot that I found it did not </span>

<span class="irc_su" style="text-align: left;" dir="ltr">stay like that long Car and Driver blasted them..
</span>

volsboy1++3-8-2014-21-43-58.jpg
 
(Hi) - so much to love...

(I've been here for years but just signed up again -- this is my first post).   Ken nailed it above so some of my likes may sound like echoes --

 

-  Colors -- the colors.   Nothing gets me going like a green or blue car with white interior!  I love white interior.

- Ala carte ordering. Old cars are full of surprises -- two examples of the same make, model, & year car can offer completely different driving experiences.

- Remember when engines were painted actual colors? How I love the maroon Buick engines, "Ford Blue", Chevy Orange, Goldsmobile, the light blue Pontiacs, etc.

- I even like hearing these cars start up.   Acute ears can ID a Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick, Ford, Chevrolet, or Chrysler V8 by the sound of its starter.  GM cars used the same starters but each of the five marques still have a distinct sound. The moan of a Rochester Quadrajet at WOT sends chills up my spine.  

 

-- Speaking of sounds, I love the way the old car horns sound -- especially 60s -70s Ford 2-note horns and the GM 3 and 4 note horns.   On the inside, I so much like hearing real buzzers instead of "chimes".    And the Cadillac "doorbell" of the 70's and 80's  -- anyone remember that?  LOVE!

- NO INTERNATIONAL SYMBOLS on the instrument panels -- I can read English. Bonus points if the gas gauge is labeled "GASOLINE".  Older cars usually have more visible warning lights: a large red "box" lights up and the lettering would be black.  Since the 90's only the word (or worse yet -- some symbol) itself lights up which is not as attention-getting.  

- Old cars are serviceable by the average person.

 

-- Old cars have glass headlights that don't cloud up in less than five years.   Pretty much every bulb in an old car can be found at a chain auto-parts store too.

 

-- Old cars have low beltlines.  Visibility is excellent because the passenger compartment is so open (well, maybe not the '71-'73 Mustangs!).  I can drive down the road with my arm comfortably resting on the window sill.  


-- Wheelcovers were made of stainless steel and had so many interesting designs -- none of today's 5-star generica business.   Many had those multi-color 3D Lucite plastic emblems in them -- most didn't keep their colors that long, but they were beautiful.  The Buick TriShield emblem was red, white, and blue back in the day... and speaking of Buick: Wildcat.  My favorite car name of all -- and what gorgeous machines those are.

 

- Old cars are just so incredibly beautiful. I love how the designers weren't inhibited by drag coefficients, "safety-first!" and focus groups back then: they took chances.  When I drive an old car, I can actually see what color the hood is while admiring its angular and/or curvy lines.   

 

Oh yeah, many old cars had "real" mechanical analog clocks in them (which I collect).  

 

Oops -- that was a bit much, sorry!

Joel
 
Joel, that was another great list of many of the fun and great things with old cars! Something that I enjoy doing when I look at old cars is imagining the person who placed the order (many times you can tell when a car was ordered as opposed to bought off the lot, because of a very unusual set of options)... like a friend of mine just bought a 1978 Chrysler, it was ordered up with the full super deluxe leather interior, power seats, power locks (still unusual in 1978), tilt wheel, and of course AC, power steering and brakes... but with crank windows and an FM delete on the radio!!! You could really order whatever combination you wanted! I am sure that it was far less efficient for the factories, but it is what made a car very personalized, and what makes it fun to pick out the options and see all the variations now.

Another thing, many people have mentioned dashboard gages, which I always like to have. A couple of fun trivia items on earlier warning lights... I give GM a pass at eliminating the temperature gage, only because I enjoyed their "cold" and "hot" temperature lights! And I always thought it was interesting that long after GM upgraded from generators to alternators, their dash warning light was still marked "GEN".

And here is to interchangeable parts from your local auto store... you mention headlights as a very expensive new example. But others include radios... remember when they were a standard size and you could upgrade or replace later with an aftermarket radio that fit in the dash? Now they are all integrated in, if it breaks, good luck. Mufflers were pretty generic, too, and could easily be replaced. And tires! Used to be they had a sidewall for a good ride, if not the best handling. So many cars now have the super low profile tires in very odd sizes sometimes different front and rear, and they are very expensive to replace (as are the car specific alloy wheels that get damaged from potholes since there is no tire depth to protect them).

Finally, car related... I miss the AAA Triptiks! Nice handy small page-by-page map directions for your trip. Gave you a great sense of where you were in the larger world and things that you could see.
 
wayupnorth wrote:
"Ramblers were the first to have the dual master cylinders for braking."

I believe Rambler was the first low-priced car to have a dual master cylinder in 1963. Cadillac had them a year earlier in 1962.

Hudsons had a mechanical backup at the bottom of the brake pedal.

Ken D.
 
OSAC

Oh boy how I hate the EPA! Had to love it when one of them darn things went bad... You could see the black cloud for I mile or the spark knock! Having no vacuum advance or full advance is no fun. I had an 82 dippy with an SL6, we went on a little road trip and osac valve went bad. What a fun drive home at 0330 in the morning. All the emission crap came off the next day!
 
Thermoquad

The Thermoquad had a wood pulp resin body. The o rings would go bad and flood the motor all the time.
 

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