Idiosyncratic features to be savoured
Discussion
Orange Rocket said:
Didn't the BMW M1 have the wing mirrors located at different points for an unimpeded view of the road during cornering or something?
They are in different places on the doors, but they need to be so you can see out of both from the drivers side.Drivers side
Passenger side
Drivers from drivers seat, good view through front quarter light
Passengers from drivers seat, good view through front quarter light
Drivers from passenger seat, view obscured by A pillar
Passengers from passenger seat, view obscured by upright
From above, also note just one wiper but three washer jets
On 90s (and probably earlier) BMWs - centre air vent has it's own temperature control, so you can have hot air to your feet and the screen and cold to your face.
E39 also has a Merc-style hinged wiper on the offside.
E39 touring with lift up glass panel in the boot - the rear wiper is attached to the glass, so it decouples when you open it.
Early E39s have a function to run the heater after the engine's switched off and the keys are out.
Lot's of 80s VAG products had the pneumatic central locking, certainly Golfs and Audi 80s from personal experience of changing the pumps to make them work.
I had an X-reg Audi 80 many years ago with a primitive stop-start system. There was a button on the end of the indicator stalk that you could use to stop the engine with it out of gear and clutch up. When you pressed the clutch again the engine would restart. Or something like that anyway - it never worked again after I overhauled the carb.
E39 also has a Merc-style hinged wiper on the offside.
E39 touring with lift up glass panel in the boot - the rear wiper is attached to the glass, so it decouples when you open it.
Early E39s have a function to run the heater after the engine's switched off and the keys are out.
Lot's of 80s VAG products had the pneumatic central locking, certainly Golfs and Audi 80s from personal experience of changing the pumps to make them work.
I had an X-reg Audi 80 many years ago with a primitive stop-start system. There was a button on the end of the indicator stalk that you could use to stop the engine with it out of gear and clutch up. When you pressed the clutch again the engine would restart. Or something like that anyway - it never worked again after I overhauled the carb.
feef said:
With all the references to the 2CV, I'm surprised noone has mentioned the windscreen washer.
It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
Fiat 128, and probably others, had the rubber washer button thingy too. Flud wasn't in a bottle under the bonnet but in a bag. Forward tilting bonnet with a light affixed half way up too. Spare wheel sat on top of the engine too if I remeber correctly.It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
rodericb said:
feef said:
With all the references to the 2CV, I'm surprised noone has mentioned the windscreen washer.
It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
Fiat 128, and probably others, had the rubber washer button thingy too. Flud wasn't in a bottle under the bonnet but in a bag. Forward tilting bonnet with a light affixed half way up too. Spare wheel sat on top of the engine too if I remeber correctly.It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
Funky Panda said:
The herald, vitesse and GT6 all have a manually powered screen wash from a bottle. It's surprisingly efficient. I can imagine the spare tire powered sprays led to many flat spares.
Apparently there was a valve that prevented the pressure getting too low for the spare to be unusable.From the user guide
The TVR T350 with the most convoluted fuel filler cap, which is a spherical cover that rolls back on itself via an aluminium handle on the inside of the hatchback. Difficult to describe but even makes fuelling up an occasion. Unmarked door exit buttons next to the window buttons, which are also unmarked, and exactly the same size and shape, and in the centre console next to the radio, nowhere near the actual doors. Seats that foul on the rollcage, a fuel gauge accurate to within 15 litres dependent on incline and G force. Not to mention the classic TVR trait of opening the doors externally via the underside of the door mirror, which is still probably the coolest thing on any car, anywhere.
rodericb said:
feef said:
With all the references to the 2CV, I'm surprised noone has mentioned the windscreen washer.
It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
Fiat 128, and probably others, had the rubber washer button thingy too. Flud wasn't in a bottle under the bonnet but in a bag. Forward tilting bonnet with a light affixed half way up too. Spare wheel sat on top of the engine too if I remeber correctly.It's not a powered pump, but a manual, thumb-operated pump that masquerades as a button on the dash.
Want a more powerful squirt? Just have to push harder/faster
Drive Blind said:
Trabi601 said:
Greza said:
Speedometer on the Fabia Vrs
10mph increments up to 90mph and 20mph increments after.
Surprisingly common. Not sure which of my recent cars has this - maybe the Boxster? (it's not here to check, though).10mph increments up to 90mph and 20mph increments after.
Makes sense I suppose with todays silly speedos that realistically you're rarely even going to use half the dial.
I think the main thing this thread demonstrates is how dull modern cars have become. On the odd occasion a manufacturer has tried to do something different they are roundly criticised (Fiat Multipla a good example).
Greza said:
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Most LHD VAG stuff from the 80s-00s have unequal size mirrors.
It just didnt translate to all the RHD variants most PH'ers are used to.
It just didnt translate to all the RHD variants most PH'ers are used to.
I believe it was the same on the Lupo. This was to allow the blind spot mirror on the driver side.
Speedometer on the Fabia Vrs
10mph increments up to 90mph and 20mph increments after.
Edited by Greza on Tuesday 28th March 22:34
We've seen various ways of opening the bonnet but how about the clamshell tailgate of the Chevy Kingswood & other related Buick & Oldsmobile models?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5utBRHv9dfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5utBRHv9dfs
My current daily, is a Seat Ibiza (formula sport 
). It's got a funny habit of whacking up the blowers (I think it also does the air recirculation thing) when you engage reverse. Something about stopping you reversing into your exhaust gasses and poisoning one's self.
That's some proper last minute bodge to a poor design issue, I'd say, or else it would be the law on all cars! Although, probably just a VAG thing.
Also I had an Alfa 75 and the push button entry buttons on the doors as another "feature" was pretty retro, being as most door handles pivot now. It's funny how all of the idosyncracies previously mentioned, I hadn't thought of as such but that slide out glove box tray was a bugger if you accelerated hard enough when it wore its latch mechanism to empty its contents onto the floor!
pics aren't of my old 75
). It's got a funny habit of whacking up the blowers (I think it also does the air recirculation thing) when you engage reverse. Something about stopping you reversing into your exhaust gasses and poisoning one's self. That's some proper last minute bodge to a poor design issue, I'd say, or else it would be the law on all cars! Although, probably just a VAG thing.
Also I had an Alfa 75 and the push button entry buttons on the doors as another "feature" was pretty retro, being as most door handles pivot now. It's funny how all of the idosyncracies previously mentioned, I hadn't thought of as such but that slide out glove box tray was a bugger if you accelerated hard enough when it wore its latch mechanism to empty its contents onto the floor!
pics aren't of my old 75
dorset_clive said:
My old 1980s Volvo 240 had fresh air vents in the footwell...lovely on those (very occasional) hot sunny days!
As did my 1974 144 but I never did quite figure out how to work it properly. That car had the handbrake on the right, a Fairey overdrive on the steering column and the computer for managing the Boch C-tronic fuel injection was under the driver's seat with a screw that adjusted NOx emmissions in real time. Had the record low NOx emmissions for the garage I used even though it really liked a drink.I am loving this thread. There have been a few laugh out loud moments. Here are a few of mine.
Skoda Estelle choke was tucked in beside the handbrake, that took some finding. Could be used as a boost to get out of junctions (every little helps)
Skoda Favorit had a really handy rechargeable torch with a charger hardwired into the loom.
Changing a wheel on a neighbours gen1 Discovery found the wheel chocks in the engine compartment as the handbrake was on the drivetrain, not the wheels.
Citroen C5 has the handbrake on the front wheels.
T4 Caravelles (SWB only) had that really handy parcel shelf that effectively have you a 2 storey boot.
My Subaru Legacy had a sidelight switch on the top of the steering column for low lighting moments.
If you put the rocker switch for the emergency indicators half way on a Mk1 Escort (and I would assume Mk2s as well) it made the whole lighting circuit live and you could play with the wipers and the indicators. Try this on a Mk3 Escort and fuses blow (sorry dad!)
Hammock seats in Mk1 Pandas along with the narrowest gear lever knob in history.
The unequal wheelbase from one side to the other in cars like the Renault 19 as the torsion beams were the full width of the body.
No-one seems to have mentioned that Citroen BXs were popular as minicabs back in the day as you couldn't wheelclamp them on the lowest suspension setting.
The manual winder under the bonnet of a Porsche 928 to get your headlights up if the motor (or more likely the switch) failed.
The stop-start facility on the top of the range Fiat Regatta 100 which given 80's Fiats was an act of faith, not to mention the Tipo's digital dash which made up for the thoroughly reassuring galvanised body panels with a reassuring electrical minefield.
The system in a VW T5 Transporter that throws an engine warning light every so often to make you open the bonnet and check stuff. All fine and well but the switches have a habit of failing. (Maybe not one to be savoured!)
On cars with A series engines the choke was operated by pulling a lever out and turning it to lock it in place. If you didn't lock it, it went in slowly. The lock used to fail, so owners used clothes pegs to hold the choke open - one normally, two for cold days.
A friend of mine had a Hillman Minx which used to slip out of fourth gear, so he used to hook his leg around the gear lever. It was months after he had replaced it before he got out of the habit in his next car.
A friend of mine had a Hillman Minx which used to slip out of fourth gear, so he used to hook his leg around the gear lever. It was months after he had replaced it before he got out of the habit in his next car.
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