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Hagerty Announces Top Ten List of 'Outrageous Options'



'Automatic Lit Cigarette Dispenser Tops List of Most Outrageous Car Options
Ever Invented'


TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- It is a common sight
these days to see someone speeding down the road with their cell phone
glued to their ear. To combat this, California just announced a statewide
ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving starting July 1st, following
in the legislative footsteps of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Utah and
Washington. Furthermore, cities in Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Ohio and New Mexico have enacted similar bans.

This has led to an onslaught of drivers utilizing Bluetooth enabled
devices to make their phone calls, whether it's built in to a vehicle or an
aftermarket ear piece. Bluetooth devices have truly become a useful and
highly coveted automotive accessory.

But not all automotive innovations have basked in the success that is
Bluetooth. Hagerty Insurance, the nation's leading provider of collector
car insurance, researched dozens of these unheard of -- and often eccentric
-- inventions to create a list of the Top 10 quirkiest and most "Outrageous
Options" ever invented for automobiles.

"We frequently exchange stories with our clients about the most
bizarre, oddball and, quite frankly, humorous options that have ever been
offered on automobiles," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty Insurance. "It
was really interesting to see how creative and dedicated car manufacturers
were in trying to anticipate the needs of drivers."

Hagerty polled its clients and staff to create the Top 10 List of
"Outrageous Options":

1. Automatic Lit Cigarette Dispenser -- As a "safety" item, this was an
aftermarket accessory designed to eliminate the distractions of lighting a
cigarette while motoring down the road. This option was unveiled in the
late 1940s and in one application was attached to a steering wheel.

2. Highway Hi-Fi (16 2/3 LP Player) -- This option was developed in
1955 and was offered as an option on 1956 Chrysler models. The drawback was
in the performance of the record player while encountering the smallest of
bumps, slamming on the brakes or taking a fast corner!

3. Destroilet -- An optional "Destroilet" gas incinerator-type toilet
was available for early 1960s Dodge motor homes, which was meant to
simplify waste disposal. After use, when the top lid was closed, a small,
thick metal lid would also close over the well at the bottom. A jet of
burning gas would incinerate the solid waste and vaporize the liquid. A
chimney to the outdoors carried the vapors away.

4. Electric Shaver -- An electric shaver that was powered by a
vehicle's electrical system was developed by aftermarket automotive
suppliers in the 1940s, and was an available factory option for a 1957
Chevrolet.

5. Automotive Swamp Cooler -- These were popular from the late 1940s
through the 1950s to help cool the interior of cars before air conditioning
systems became readily available. Swamp Coolers were available through the
aftermarket and attached to one of the car's windows. The theory was simply
to cool by evaporation. There was a reservoir for cool water, a wick to
soak it up, and it relied on air movement from traveling down the road to
force cooled air into the interior of the vehicle. These are highly
collectible now and are commonly seen at vintage car shows.

6. Steam Pressure Cooker -- This accessory mounted to the rear bumper
to cook food while motoring down the road. It routed exhaust gases through
the inner chambers of the cooker to provide the heat to cook the food.

7. Steering Wheel Watch -- In 1958 a steering wheel mounted watch for
was available on DeSotos.

8. Trafficators -- Back in the days before flashing turn signals, a
driver would flip a switch on the dash and a lit semaphore arm would swing
out of a panel on the appropriate side of the car and signal the driver's
intention to turn.

9. Swivel Seats -- These seats, available on a 1959 Chrysler, would
automatically swivel out as the door opened to make it easier for the
passenger to exit the automobile.

10. Talking Car -- In the early 1980s, the Chrysler LeBaron literally
talked. It would say phrases such as "Your door is ajar," "All monitored
systems functioning," and if you listened to the command of "Please fasten
your seatbelt," it would promptly reply with "Thank you!" The cars with a
taped voice were produced for only three years before Chrysler discovered
that consumers didn't care for a car talking back to them.

Hagerty is the leading insurance provider for collector vehicles and
boats in the nation and host to the largest network of collector car
owners. Hagerty offers collector car insurance, financing and roadside
assistance, as well as a variety of useful information resources. The
company works proactively on hobby legislation and supports the Collectors
Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation of the
hobby. For more information, call 800-922-4050 or visit
http://www.hagerty.com.


SOURCE Hagerty

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Those swivel seats actually sound pretty sweet

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hahhaaa, some of them are just plain........

Lil4X

I remember most of these and some actually worked pretty well, although most were a solution in search of a problem.

1. I never saw the lit cigarette dispenser, but I remember seeing an early TV ad for it. Pretty goofy, even then, I thought.
   
   
2. Highway HiFi really didn't work too badly, despite the low speed recording. After all, sound quality wasn't much in automobiles in that day, and people would buy "gadgets" just for show . . . pretty much like now. What killed the concept was no fault of the under-dash player that lived in a slide-out tray, but the record producers that never snapped up the new format, leaving buyers of the option pretty well limited to their demo disc.
   
   
3. The "Destroylet", while briefly popular on RV's later found a home in boats and aircraft when dumping overboard fell into official disfavor. It was expensive and rather complex compared to the alternatives. Today they are still used in many of our national parks - in public restroom facilities. They are environmentally friendly and it seems only Uncle Sugar can afford them.
   
   
4. I had an old Remington razor that would work on 12v, but I only tried it once. It seems driving on the freeway, looking in the rear-view mirror while shaving offers at least two ways to kill yourself simultaneously.
   
   
5. In the days before AC became available to average family cars (circa 1957, although Cadillac, Lincoln, and Chrysler had them earlier) Swamp Coolers were pretty popular. It looked like a 2' section of 8" stovepipe that mounted in the passenger-side window. With the glass rolled up to about an inch and a half from the top, air was rammed into the leading end of the pipe and a 1-1/4" grill delivered cooled air into the closed car.
   
   Two cotton sash cords hung out of the grill and you were expected to pull one or the other every 15-20 minutes. This action rotated a fiberous mat mounted on a drum that ran the length of the pipe through a water trough that kept the mat wet. You stopped every 3-4 hours and filled a reservoir on the pipe with water before continuing down the road ramming air through that wet blanket and exhausting it into the car. It consumed no power and was one of the more reliable parts of the car.
   
   They worked very well in a dry climate where the water evaporated quickly, just as modern swamp coolers in homes do. The automotive Swamp Cooler worked well on the highway, but without a bit of speed to ram air through them, they couldn't develop the air circulation necessary in town. Several manufacturers tried to supplement their swamp coolers with a 12v fan mounted in the intake and powered from the cigarette lighter, but they were pretty weak and didn't really help. The popularity of air conditioning later sent most of these units to the junkyard, despite their success.
   
   
6. I never saw a steam pressure cooker, although I have no doubt someone came up with one. Pressure cookers were the microwaves of the 50's, cooking full meals in 20 or 30 minutes, versus 2-3 hours for a pot roast.
   
   
7. I do remember DeSoto offering the steering wheel watch, although I never saw one. They were in those glamorous TV ads, and I recall the watch was "self winding" so that by turning the steering wheel, you kept the watch mounted on the center of the hub, fully wound.
   
   
8. Trafficators were popular on European sedans, particularly in prewar France. A few migrated to these shores after the war where I think I recall seeing them on postwar Packards. They were effective, but over here where they were rare, and a little confusing.
   
   
9. The swivel seats originally available on '59 and later Chrysler products were mechanically linked to the door. Push the door open or closed and the seat rotated in and out. A friend had a '77 Monte Carlo that had the same feature. Pretty neat, but probably more complex than useful.
   
   
10. The talking car was a maddening piece of technology perpetrated mainly by Chrysler. This rather sexy if mechanical female voice reminded you to fasten your seat belt and monitored most of the dashboard functions. The vaguely stilted language would inform you "Your door is a jar . . ." to which you'd reply, "No, it's a DOOR, STUPID!" Falling somewhere between obvious and annoying, most people after buying the option, disconnected it within a week. People who experienced a malfunction with the voice messaging were known to become rather violent attempting to disable this mechanical nanny.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

I want a Destroilet in my car!!!

Iceman

I agree that the swivel seats sound kind of cool. I could see Lexus adding that to the executive rear seat option on the LS600hL...

The talking car is back, in case anyone here hasn't noticed the proliferation of navigation systems lately. My RDX will even ask (in a similarly stilted if sexy voice) for the passenger to please fasten their seatbelt if it is unlatched while the vehicle is moving.

tuan92129

The swivel seat idea actually sounds cool.
Now...what about those automatic seat belts from the 80's?
BTW I thought those were the coolest thing ever when i was little..

Big Andy

That is pure genius - I would take up smoking just for a gadget like that!

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

When I saw the thread title, this is what I thought of - I've actually used swivel seats on a friend's old beater.
They are indeed cool but a bit of a nuisance and not needed since the car door/seats are so wide open that it's easy getting out of the car anyway.

mmarshall

I agree with many of those listed above, but these, IMO, are the two most outrageous ones to date:


BMW's I-Drive




Audi's MMI




Nothing, IMO, that I have seen in 40 years of driving is more outrageous than these two devices.

Koma

iTrader: (3)

I hated those. My dad's 86 Cressida had them and they were obnoxious. If you're short they would try to strangle you.

JDMUSCLE

iTrader: (1)

BMW''s idrive certainly tops the list of useless inventions....but there are more....

1) offered from 91-93 benz s-series, power rear view mirror ....one on the inside!!
2) auto seat belts....

cant think any other for the moment!!

SLegacy99

My neighbors had a Buick that did this. I can frequently remember them to tell the woman to shut up.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

what about (I think)cadillacs signal that shows you which way your steering wheel is turned??

Iceman

I've actually wondered for awhile now why no luxury automaker offers this. Particularly in the top-line models where luxury=excess and pampering your every whim is the goal, it seems a bit of a pain to have to wriggle up and fumble around with a manual rear-view mirror. I fully expected the LS460 (or at the very least the LS600hL) to offer this as a minor point separating itself from the competition...