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car features gone away

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Old 02-10-23, 06:04 AM
  #1  
bitkahuna
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Default car features gone away

ok nostalgia fans, here's a video for you.

i had a honda prelude with flip up headlights.

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Old 02-10-23, 07:05 AM
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Haha, great minds. I watched this yesterday and was going to post it!

I remember how cool it was when my "mom and I" got a car that we didnt have to unscrew the antenna to go through the car wash. My Dad's cars all had power antennas.
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Old 02-10-23, 09:57 AM
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I liked all of those features on the video myself....except for the automatic shoulder-belts.

A number of classic items that the video did not mention...whitewall tires (another one of my favorites, except for cleaning them), two-tone paint, a much wider variety of paint-colors than today when everything is white/gray/silver/black, crank-down windows that did not run the risk of electrical failure or jamming, REAL spare tires/wheels, counterbalanced hood-springs that eliminated the need for manual prop-rods (they are different from gas struts that can fail), and ash trays/cigarette-lighters.
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Old 02-10-23, 10:24 AM
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I think you will find very few people who prefer crank down windows lol
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Old 02-10-23, 10:56 AM
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Boring....I started the video.... stopped about 2 minutes in...

Moving on...

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Old 02-10-23, 04:36 PM
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Originally Posted by SW17LS
I think you will find very few people who prefer crank down windows lol

Well, yes, I'll admit that electric windows are convenient, but the motors and regulators are two potential weak points. In fact, I've encountered weak or failing regulators in two of the vehicles I've owned. And people sometimes forget that, if an open door is exposed to any rain or water-drippage, It can seep into the tiny crevasses in the controls and short things out. If I have to open a door for any reason in the rain, I usually grab a towel I keep in the car for such occasions and briefly cover the controls with it until the door is closed again. Seems to work.

And, in the older Subarus with the frameless windows in the doors, whether hand-crank or power, a common problem was the glass window-panels getting jammed on the guide-rails inside the doors....those frameless windows are one feature I was glad too see go.

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Old 02-10-23, 05:54 PM
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Only thing I miss is the ashtray and foot high beams, the former makes a great phone tray/mini trash can and the latter would be easier than the stick. No I don't use the auto highs in my cars.....
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Old 02-10-23, 06:36 PM
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Originally Posted by mmarshall
Well, yes, I'll admit that electric windows are convenient, but the motors and regulators are two potential weak points. In fact, I've encountered weak or failing regulators in two of the vehicles I've owned. And people sometimes forget that, if an open door is exposed to any rain or water-drippage, It can seep into the tiny crevasses in the controls and short things out. If I have to open a door for any reason in the rain, I usually grab a towel I keep in the car for such occasions and briefly cover the controls with it until the door is closed again. Seems to work.

And, in the older Subarus with the frameless windows in the doors, whether hand-crank or power, a common problem was the glass window-panels getting jammed on the guide-rails inside the doors....those frameless windows are one feature I was glad too see go.
This is something that just isn't really a problem anymore. I have never had any issues with power window motors going bad, including cars I have had for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Originally Posted by Striker223
Only thing I miss is the ashtray and foot high beams, the former makes a great phone tray/mini trash can and the latter would be easier than the stick. No I don't use the auto highs in my cars.....
My S560 has an ashtray, which i thought was crazy. It holds my tin of mints and my parking garage card now
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Old 02-10-23, 07:05 PM
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Originally Posted by SW17LS
This is something that just isn't really a problem anymore. I have never had any issues with power window motors going bad, including cars I have had for hundreds of thousands of miles.
I don't either, now that I cover the window-switches when exposed to rain.



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Old 02-10-23, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by SW17LS


My S560 has an ashtray, which i thought was crazy. It holds my tin of mints and my parking garage card now
Since this is a vehicle of German design, perhaps smoking is not quite the social-taboo in Germany that it now is in the U.S. But I don't recall seeing ash trays in other recent German-designed vehicles.
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Old 02-10-23, 07:12 PM
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Originally Posted by mmarshall
Well, yes, I'll admit that electric windows are convenient, but the motors and regulators are two potential weak points. In fact, I've encountered weak or failing regulators in two of the vehicles I've owned. And people sometimes forget that, if an open door is exposed to any rain or water-drippage, It can seep into the tiny crevasses in the controls and short things out. If I have to open a door for any reason in the rain, I usually grab a towel I keep in the car for such occasions and briefly cover the controls with it until the door is closed again. Seems to work.

And, in the older Subarus with the frameless windows in the doors, whether hand-crank or power, a common problem was the glass window-panels getting jammed on the guide-rails inside the doors....those frameless windows are one feature I was glad too see go.
I have good news for you! You probably do not need to do that in a car as new as yours, they actually design them to be resistant to that exact situation.

Manual windows are the exact same as a powered one, difference is just that they use a motor vs not

Last edited by Striker223; 02-10-23 at 07:17 PM.
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Old 02-10-23, 07:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Striker223
I have good news for you! You probably do not need to do that in a car as new as yours, they actually design them to be resistant to that exact situation.
OK, Thanks....that's nice to know if true. But, of course, a little precaution never hurts.
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Old 02-10-23, 07:16 PM
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Originally Posted by SW17LS
This is something that just isn't really a problem anymore. I have never had any issues with power window motors going bad, including cars I have had for hundreds of thousands of miles.



My S560 has an ashtray, which i thought was crazy. It holds my tin of mints and my parking garage card now
Same, I have some really old cars and one has extreme miles and it's totally fine. Most of the time when I need to replace a window motor/regulator it's almost always not the actual motor. Exception is GM/Ford, those just die at random....

See! Aren't the trays useful! I'm sure the reason your car still has it is the demographic who buys the S-class
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Old 02-10-23, 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by Striker223
Only thing I miss is the ashtray and foot high beams,
Early 70's Toyota Crown had the foot switch, but it was for auto seeking the radio. Analog dial driven with a motor that would stop at each station.
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Old 02-10-23, 07:45 PM
  #15  
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Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
Boring....I started the video.... stopped about 2 minutes in...
Moving on...
agree not well produced... pro tip - you can change the playback speed of youtube videos... change to 2.0x and it will be more entertaining.

Originally Posted by mmarshall
And, in the older Subarus with the frameless windows in the doors, whether hand-crank or power, a common problem was the glass window-panels getting jammed on the guide-rails inside the doors....those frameless windows are one feature I was glad too see go.
my lc500 has frameless windows. i am not concerned.
one thing modern cars with frameless windows do is crack them about a 1/4 inch when you attempt to open the door. i think that avoids the jamming.

Originally Posted by mmarshall
OK, Thanks....that's nice to know if true. But, of course, a little precaution never hurts.
well unless one is in a hurry and that's a waste of time.

Originally Posted by SW17LS
Haha, great minds. I watched this yesterday and was going to post it!


Originally Posted by mmarshall
I liked all of those features on the video myself....except for the automatic shoulder-belts.
yes they sucked. i think the subaru legacy wagon i had way back (my ex to be specific) had those. it wasn't really a bother though.

A number of classic items that the video did not mention... [snip] two-tone paint
we recently discussed a maybach vehicle with 2 tone paint so they're out there.

a much wider variety of paint-colors than today when everything is white/gray/silver/black
check out pics in lc500 forum, there's a new yellow one, orange, green, blue, red, and those 'boring' colors.

counterbalanced hood-springs that eliminated the need for manual prop-rods (they are different from gas struts that can fail)
hood gas struts failing? when was the last time you heard of or experienced this?
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