I remember when cars had...

[ecotourist]

Oil bath air filters. I got to clean them during the oil change.

It seems to me the '63 Chevy II came with a circular oil bath filter. But being a new age guy and all, I replaced it with a paper filter at the first opportunity. My '65 Mercury Comet had a circular air filter with a paper filter as well.

A friend had an even older Mercury Comet 6 cylinder. One day one of the metal tabs that prevented the air filter housing from rotating fell off and was ingested by the engine. There were a lot of unpleasant clanking noises for a few minutes and then it reverted to its previous gutless sounds. Whether the tab was ejected through an exhaust valve, pounded into the top of a cylinder or got caught somewhere we never found out.

 

[ecotourist]

It’s a manual three or four speed transmission with a regular clutch. They put the overdrive unit on the end of the manual trans in a special housing. There was a knob to pull out under the dash or other means to disengage overdrive, so it then behaved just like a standard trans. There are certain rules to follow in using the thing to avoid damaging it. It usually converted on American cars the 1:1 final drive output to 0.7.
So if the axle was 4:1 it made it the same as a 2.8:1,giving a substantial reduction in rpm.

My '86 Volvo 740 Turbo had an overdrive. [Same maker as an Austin Healey overdrive.] It had a 4 speed manual with an electrically actuated overdrive unit tacked on. In its case there was an overdrive button on top of the gear shift. You could use the clutch when you engaged overdrive - or not. It worked just as well either way. Mine eventually conked out, but my mechanic was able to rebuild them - which he did for a very reasonable price.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I remember cars only having a driver's side sideview mirror.

 

[hrv]

Hey....my first car (87 Olds 98) had 2 of those things...and a chrome "luggage rack" on the decklid.

The thing I really miss from that car are - the fiberoptic bulb indicators ( 3 little "lights" on each fender for the front end, and 2 little red dots in the center of the headliner at the rear.)

Dont forget the opera lights. My 1980 Cordoba had them...Also the nice hood ornaments some cars had..

 

[twouvakind]

Five digit odometer

And the experience of actually seeing the mechanical roll over to say...100,000 miles etc

 

[vwmaniaman]

My 1929 Ford Town Sedan had 21" wheels and I could change the tube in the tire without removing the wheel. I changed the tires on my 1965 VW Beetle without removing the wheel too. No safety rims in those days.

 

[vwmaniaman]

I miss the fresh air vents on the cowl. Simple exhaust systems, fuel systems and cooling systems. Windows that rolled down all the way.

 

[spackard]

AM radio with CD triangles.
See CONELRAD

 

[94astro]

Single reservoir master cylinders, dual cylinders came around 1967, that was one of the best safety features ever.
How about fender skirts, way cool.

 

[pghvolvo]

I remember my 81 242 Volvo had a small rotating knob to adjust the heater and A/C, simple and easy to use. The other thing that car had I loved was kick panel fresh air vents in the foot wells. You could open or close them with a sliding bar. Also loved the crank open sunroof because simple is better than electric. With the kick panel vents open and the sunroof tilted up you got great airflow through the cabin without having to open the windows. I also liked the lower door pockets in my 81 and 87 Volvo's had a spot you could put a soda can in, instead of cup holders.

 

[Kira]

Said above, "Aftermarket Cruise Control with magnets wired to the driveshaft."
I remember seeing a DIY CC kit at a Sears.
It was at that exact point Sears became a joke in my mind.

 

[PimTac]

Real bumpers that would lock together if the right car hit you from behind. It usually happened on a busy street too so you had a audience as you bounced the rear of the car down so the driver of the other car could back off. Sometimes it didn’t work out as planned.

 

[b_b]

Haha. When I was a young boy in the early '60's, my older brother had a '57 Chrysler. I remember the radio in it was huge, and it had vacuum tubes. He must have put a newer radio in it at some point, because I got to play with the old radio. I would hook it up to a power supply in the driveway and watch all the tubes warm up and start glowing that warm yellow-orange color.

There were a lot of people then, that still drove cars from the fifties. Many of those ran on 6 volt systems and had generators instead of alternators.

When I was 17 I inherited my grandfather's '64 Chevy II. The transmission was a two speed Powerglide.

Through the '60's, every car I was familiar with had the air vents on the outside wall of the passenger and driver footwell. I didn't know anyone back then that owned a car with A/C.

the "powerglide" lol also known as the slip and slide.

 

[Snagglefoot]

...no seatbelts so you could be “ thrown clear” of a horrible wreck.

And we loved it!

 

[Wrenchturner44]

I hated dealing with fender skirts. When you changed the tire you had to take the skirt off and there was always lots of caked dirt, mud and road debris covering the latch mechanism.

 

[earlyre]

I still drive one of those! 1983 Mercedes 240d. Good stuff.

My nephew's '99 F150 ( 4.2 Essex, 5 speed) has no tach.

 

[Shel_B]

Does anyone remember the Nash models that had seats that folded down to make a sleeper? This feature ran from the early 40s into the 50s at least.

 

[Shel_B]

How about that huge "rear dash" that as a kid you could actually lay on while your parents were driving around, looking up at the sky? We'd always do that at night.

That was called a package shelf. I drove from NYC to SF in a 1960 or so Dodge with such a shelf, and one of the passengers, a very small man (abt 18-19 yo) actually slept on it all thru West Virginia.

 

[Shel_B]

Buick and Pontiac "straight eights."

I had a '53 "Poncho" straight eight ... torquey engine.

 

[JeffKeryk]

the "powerglide" lol also known as the slip and slide.

2 speed slushbox.