Unique Features of old/new cars - Picture Post

[04GoaT]

Let's start a new game/thread of 1 off features cars have had or currently have. There's enough Motown car guys on this forum to expose some pretty cool things.

For instance while looking at some old cars from the 30-60s you find some pretty cool features that never really took off or were really unique for their time. Things like hidden gas tank fillers, power anntenas.....

Post a picture & description of that feature, car info, etc...

I'll start....

1970's Caddy with exterior thermometer on the mirror post.

 

[Bateater]

This could be interesting.

 

[chuck-norris]

1948 Tucker everything about that car was so ahead of it's time.

 

[1fstfox]

56 Belair tail lamp/fuel door.

 

[cjmatt]

I always thought the Traffic Light Viewer was cool

 

[Zarken]

Temp guage is a cool idea, I could see that being a retro bring back. The lamp fuel door, man that was a fire hazard waiting to happen. The stop light reflector, shit that needs to be standard issue now days, hard as hell to see those things sometimes. Even worse if your in slow traffice behind a semi truck. Not sure if it's red or green when you roll up to it.

 

[pferd]

I saw one of these at the Mopar auto show a couple years ago. I'd never seen the sliding doors before or after. Car is a 1954 Kaiser Darrin.

 

[Fryguy302]

These engines are 26-27 years old, and I always felt they were way ahead of their time:

I like the factory sequential taillights on the old Cougars. The turn signals blinked sequentially in the direction you were turning:

 

[Baldie]

These motors were way ahead of their time.

 

[lucky7]

maybe not the original for any of this, but it was well equipped for having a build date of 12/1986.

that thing was goddamn accurate. all the options there worked, too. the temp would show up on the screen, and would beep at you when it dropped below 35˚ to let you know that roads might be icy. modern day BMWs do the same, but at 32˚. it also had a check panel above the mirror that would tell you when you lights were out - and it told you exactly which one. when you were 1qt low on oil, etc, etc. pretty cool stuff for a 25 year old 3 series.

being nostalgic. it was my favorite car.

E30-1 by Dane Van, on Flickr

mercedes got the jump on lots of features in the S class though.
cool commercial.

 

[04GoaT]

I always thought the Traffic Light Viewer was cool

Damn, that was one of my fallbacks.


I've got one, but can't find a good description or picture of it. 1950's Packard, the hood opens in either direction via levers that are inside of the dash. You can kind of see the center hinge that pivots in either direction in this picture....

 

[04GoaT]

mercedes got the jump on lots of features in the S class though. cool commercial.

I'll have to find my pictures from the MB museum in Stuttgart. There's a picture from the 60's that shows their test chase vehicles. Due to the added weight of equipment they ran cables through the roof to a chase vehicle and the chase vehicle (a wagon IIRC) held all the equipment to make data recordings.

EDIT: Found a picture on Google. Known as the Messwagen (measurement wagon).

 

[lucky7]

^ awesome.

Tucker Torpedo - 3 headlights, the middle was the first adaptive. it was linked to the steering wheel.

Edsel Teletouch.

 

[lucky7]

NSU Ro80 - first 2-rotor car (wankel).

^ looks like a later one. i think it came out in the late 60's.

Iso Isetta with it's forward opening door and swiveling steering wheel. anyone see the top gear when james may parked too close to the wall and couldn't get out? :lol:

i know there are BMW isettas around, but 4 different companies built them. they were all a little bit different i believe, but Iso was the original (italian company).
they came w/ 3 wheels, as well as 4.

which reminds me of the funky one on woodward with the SBC hanging out the back. lol.

 

[04GoaT]

My great grandparents had an isetta, my dad and uncle used to push it around in the around the field by hand. Sometimes with the help of the 1937 Ford stake truck my great grandfather owned, which is being done by Reiters right now.

 

[lucky7]

^ cool!

citroen DS - while i think it's oddly stunning, the steering wheel is the unique part.

single spoke wheel, nearly vertical shifter and dash-mounted rear-view mirror. interesting car.

1947 Land Rover "Centre Steer" concept car.

designed as a truck for agriculture - steering wheel in the middle, like a tractor. removable passenger seats on each side of the driver, similar to a road version of the mclaren f1. also had a PTO hookup.

Mercedes Gelandewagen, otherwise known as G-wagen or G class. it's essentially the same underneath as it was when introduced in '79.

i don't know for sure, but i am fairly certain it's the first production car with both front and rear lockers, as well as a locking center diff. while some may say they look silly (of course, i like 'em. :lol: ), they're supposedly shockingly good off-road.

1907 Berliet race car - open valve train. cool shit.

Brooklands - 1907 Berliet-Curtiss Racer (BF 4364) by growler2ndrow, on Flickr


Brooklands - 1907 Berliet-Curtiss Racer Engine (BF 4364) by growler2ndrow, on Flickr

 

[cjmatt]

I like the factory sequential taillights on the old Cougars. The turn signals blinked sequentially in the direction you were turning:

my Lincoln had the sequential tails too, they were badass.The other cool thing it had was that the horn was built into the steering wheel ring, just squeezing the inside of the wheel anywhere would beep the horn

 

[COBRA90GT]

Definitely a cool thread - some neat features so far...