Obsolete Car Features From The Past

through the years we have watched our cars become more and more advanced but many of the features that were built into these older cars are ones we remember fondly learning how to drive and getting your very first car was a big deal and that's why it's sad to think about the changes this video revisits some of my older videos compiling them into a longer more comprehensive presentation so please enjoy this compilation of obsolete car features from the past [Music] popup headlights were most commonly found on sports cars but Honda also liked to add them to their models these headlights could flip up and down and were concealed when they were turned off these type of Lights date back to the 1930s but vehicle light regulations changed over time and by the 1990s the pop-up headlight was facing extinction due to safety issues because of this manufacturers phased out this light configuration which would disappear altogether in 2004 the appeal of automatic seat belts is unknown but a lot of compact cars made in the 1980s had this feature if you remember getting into an older Honda Civic or Honda Accord you probably remember the seat belts sliding back across your shoulder the concept was that the driver and passenger would not need to remember to put on their seat belt because the car took care of that for you although intentions were good these seat belts required you to manually Buckle the lap belt which many people failed to do the seat Bel Motors would also often burn out or get stuck making buckling up nearly impossible so by the early 1990s this feature had been abandoned completely ReDiscover your past by digitizing your family's memories with Legacy box watch until the end of this video to find out more about preserving your legacy and then visit legacybox.com recollection car buyers used to complain about their antennas getting either stolen or damaged at the car wash so automakers decided to solve this problem by introducing power antennas these were used on cars well into the early 2000s and there were a lot of benefits to a power antenna but the drawback was that the antenna became more complicated to replace or repair and could cost hundreds of dollars fortunately over time automakers figured out how to incorporate the antenna into the design of the car and the power antenna became a thing of the [Music] past vent windows allowed passengers in a car to push out a little piece of triangular glass to let in some fresh air this was an essential design feature considering most cars in the first half of the 20th century didn't have air conditioning even during the 1950s air conditioning was reserved for the most luxurious cars vent windows showed up less and less as AC became cheaper and eventually standard in vehicles some of the very last vehicles to have this feature were the Ford F-150s and Dodge Rams from 1996 at the time landow roofs were considered the Pinnacle of American luxury these sometimes vinyl roofs Were Meant to look like a convertible and they were named after a horsedrawn carriage that came from landal Germany the only problem was that these roofs would deteriorate and eventually fall apart replacing the vinyl could be an expensive proposition and not something that many people wanted to deal with this style of roof fell out of sty Style by the 1990s although occasionally you still might find a landout roof on a new Cadillac heavily influenced by the movie Smokey and the Bandit and the fact that cell phones were non-existent some cars in the 1980s had the option to come with a CB radio the CB radio made two-way communication between cars really convenient but The Fad seemed to die off pretty quickly as cell phones became universally accepted CBS are still around though and many enthusiasts truckers and emergency responders continue to use the device and it seems that some reliable Technologies like CB radios never quite go out of style while General Motors was responsible for creating the removable T-top roof design many other automakers adopted it t-tops were an iconic part of the 1970s in 1980s the issue was that there were a lot of safety problems that t-tops had the first and foremost was the structural safety of the car which was compromised by t-tops then you had the leaking roofs and even damage to the t-tops caused by improper storage of the glass panels in the end automakers dropped this concept altogether although GM offered them as an option on some models up until 2002 [Music] like most features of early American cars front bench seating was a holdover from The horsedrawn Carriage allowing for extra passengers or just to give everybody a little more room the bench seat was a popular feature of the big American sedan safety regulations in the 1970s led to the bench seat declining in popularity but they remained in many trucks the introduction of the center console meant that many new cars simply didn't have the space but if you were a kid in the 1970s and 80s there is no doubt you rode around on that front bench seat the Crown Victoria was one of the last modern sedans to offer bench seating other than that bench seats and sedans were abandoned alog [Music] together as automakers worked to improve the interior quality of their vehicles Vel seats became very popular these seating options were meant to be more comfortable and luxurious and they could be found in all kinds of cars from Hondas to Cadillacs the only problem was that these seats would make you sweat for long summer trips velour seating wasn't ideal in addition to that they also didn't hold up very well breaking down and becoming flat within a couple years Chrysler ended up using velour seating up until the 1990s but for most it was a relic left in the 1980s remember car seats that had button tufting these were Ultra comfortable seats that made cars feel even more luxurious this type of seating was often included on Lower trim levels which GM was notorious for doing Chrysler was one of the last automakers to offer this in their K car Interiors over the years button tufting became just a fad that could often be found in the low Rock iders that were cruising the main streets of America nowadays seating is more comfortable than ever and leather is now the go-to upholstery for the car industry the visual of a family going on vacation in a wood panel station wagon wasn't just in the movies many car models came with fake wood panels along the sides while this wasn't badl looking at the time it was cheaply made causing the paneling to fall off or disintegrate many different cars used this wood paneling with Chrysler being one of the last companies to offer it on the Town and Country minivan up until 1996 today wood paneling looks great on Vintage vehicles and is a reminder of those family road trips in the family station wagon it's hard to find a car or truck today that has this in between the front seats for many of us we first learned how to drive by pushing in the clutch and Shifting the stick Into Gear manual transmissions just like many things have disappeared because of convenience and they have been slowly replaced with automatic transmissions that do the job of changing gears for you unless you are driving an older model vehicle or a sports car it's probably been a while since you've driven a four five or six-speed stick shift but there is no doubt you remember learning how to drive that very first car back when just about everyone Smoked Cigarettes cars came equipped with cigarette lighters in the front and back seat these lighters could be pushed in and they would heat up then after a few seconds they would pop out to let you know they were ready to use today these sockets have been repurposed into electrical outlets used for auxiliary DC power which charges phones and other electronics in the car if you had a car with pushin cigarette lighters then there is no doubt that car had ashtrays installed in it the front dash usually had a nice big ashtray that slid out like a drawer if you weren't using the little vent window on the door to flick your cigarettes then the ashtray was the next best thing for those that didn't smoke these ashtrays were used to hold change the back seats also had access to ashtrays but these were usually small flipout ones that were either in the door or mounted on the back of the front seat remember rich Corinthian leather this was a new name that Chrysler came up with to make you think that the Interiors were nicer than they actually were Ricardo montabon was the pitch man and his accent along with the Exotic word Corinthian made people think they were getting the most luxurious and rich leather on the planet when in reality it was just the same leather found in other vehicles the advertising campaign was a memorable one though lasting from the mid 1970s through the 1980s [Music] there was a time when three-speed manual transmissions were controlled by a shifter attached to the steering column this became known as three on the tree and many student drivers Learned to Drive using this column shifter the gear shifter mounted on the steering column was common from the 1940s through the 1970s and the term three on the tree was countered by four on the floor which meant that a four-speed gear shifter could also be mounted to the floor of the car manual might be the best way to describe automobiles prior to the 1990s even the windows rolled up and down by cranking a handle in One Direction or another this was also true with door locks they had to be pulled up or down to lock or unlock a car door push button automation has become the norm now but the days of having more reliable and less complicated systems for operating a vehicle are something that many of us miss about the older generations of cars have you ever turned your high beams on by stepping on a switch that was mounted on the floor before the switch was integrated into the steering column high beams were operated with your left foot these buttons could be found in cars into the 1980s but they slowly began to disappear because the switch would get jammed up with dirt or accidentally turned on because your foot would [Music] wander all of us have fond memories of riding in the back of station wagons the rear-facing seat in the way way back was always the best seat in the car from here you could see all of the other cars behind you and it made for some fun to wave and make faces at the other cars driving by this seat could also be folded away to give you trunk space for all the groceries [Music] too car radios have evolved over the years from amfm radios to at track and cassette tapes but in the 1990s you began to see aftermarket radios being sold that had a detachable face this was a time when car radios and speaker systems were popular with thieves and so the idea of removing the face plate provided extra protection against your car getting broken into but let's face face it most of us never removed the face because it was a hassle to carry around car keys are another thing that have changed drastically over the years it used to be that when you bought a car you received two keys one was a round key that opened and locked the doors while the other key was square and operated the ignition General Motors was especially known for having two keys and they even resisted switching over to just one key for the longest time today we have remote control key fobs that operate everything on a car so the jingle of keys in your pocket is another thing you rarely hear anymore the wheels of a car have undergone changes Through The Years too tires used to be fashionable with wide white walls that were Ultra popular in the 1950s these tires looked great but were tough to keep clean but nonetheless they were still offered as an option on cars as the decades past hubcaps were also something we used to see covering the lug nuts of a wheel this protected them from dirt and grime but also became a decorative Accent on many cars lastly there was a time when cars used to come with a full-size spare in the trunk as cars have become smaller and space in the trunk limited cars today are outfitted with a small doughnut tire that is only meant for temporary use as I said earlier radios have evolved we have seen them go from just a radio to having the latest portable music technology at track tape players were the first then they became compact cassette tapes then CD players were introduced which offered Superior Sound now all of these are gone and we are left with Bluetooth technology that connects to our phone and plays anything you could ever want but there was something special about having those old features that remind us of our younger years filling up your car with gas is something that we all are familiar with but knowing where the gas cap is used to be a little more tricky the fuel tanks in older cars were in different locations therefore the gas cap could be on the right or left side of the car or even behind the rear license plate you would have to flip down the license plate to find it which made for a funny scene in National Lampoon's Vacation as Clark tried to gas up the family truckster the hood of cars used to be adorned with a fancy ornament that let you know what make of car it was these mini metal sculptures looked like they were in motion even when standing still but eventually they became a safety issue for pedestrians the fixed mounted ornaments first became spring-loaded then car makers began to use logo emblems that laid flat on the hood and now many of them are just incorporated into the front grill of the car recollection Road and Legacy box both believe it's important to preserve the past if you're like me there's a box of your family's treasured home movies and photos tucked away somewhere and Legacy box can help you preserve them digitally the process is a simple and safe solution for converting your home movies and photos to thumb drive or to the cloud just send in your legacy box filled with old VHS and camcorder tapes film res and pictures and get back digital copies that can be easily enjoyed shared and kept organized it's that easy Legacy boxes trusted by over 1 million people and it's all done right here in the USA get started preserving your past today go to legacybox.com recollection to get an incredible 55% off by today to take advantage of this exclusive offer and send in your memories when you're ready go to legacybox.com recollection to save 55% while supplies last F if you enjoyed this video consider watching the other videos in this series while you're at it hit subscribe and share recollection road with someone you know as always thank you so much for watching

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 297,679

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, retro, vintage, america, usa, cars, obsolete, features, stick shift, ashtray

Id: krzPf_4W6OE

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 16 2024