VW automatic parking brake. etc

[Tim Watts]

My steering wheel centre is padded but is still the horn push. I hate stupid buttons - can never find them when the need arises.

[charles]

it was quite "interesting" as a rally navigator to see all the electrics dying when making hard landings on bumpy surfaces. I assume the power lead was shorting to chassis somewhere.

[NY]

Likewise for rows of switches on the dashboard above the gear lever, to be replaced by stalks for the essentials like indicators, lights and wipers.

Some of the Jags (Mk 2, S type, XJ6) had about 10 identical rocker switches in a row, distinguished only by words below them, which must have required drivers to take their eyes of the road for ages to make sure they turned on the wipers rather than the panel lights.

Locking front seat backs in two-door cars were another welcome innovation. My mum's Morris Minor had seats which hinges forward, kept horizontal only by the weight of the occupant. The passenger one also hinged between the base and the back as well as the base hinging where it was attached to the floor. I was sitting in the front seat with my little sister sitting in the back behind me, when my mum had to stop sharply to avoid a pillock who had pulled out in front of her from a side road. Sister shot forward into seat back which pushed me forward out of the seat (though I'd probably have done so even without the "help" of my sister) and I hit my head on the metal dashboard. Ouch! Highly polished leather seats made it all the more likely that I slid forwards, whereas modern fabric would have at least offered a bit of grip.

No seat belts fitted (or capable of being fitted after-sale, we were told) in a car of that age. Bodywork (eg B pillar) and floor pan between seats not strong enough to take the belt and buckle mounts, we were told, when dad enquired how to avoid anything like that happening again. Lovely car - but a death trap by modern standards!

[Jethro_uk]

Nothing compared to what I saw in Kenya, leaving the Masai Mara ...

(Our convoy of 2 vehicles was ****ed anyway. One had a failed started, so had to be push started every morning. The other had a slight diesel leak :) )

As we were going along - about 40mph - were were *overtaken* by a car with the bonnet up, and a man standing on the front bumper with his hands inside the engine. Presumably holding something vital in place. The driver was leaning out of the window to see to steer. I was pig sick I had run out of film on the safari, but those were the days.

[Jethro_uk]

It was also interesting to note differences in design - particularly across the iron curtain. I recall my dad commenting that the aluminium drums on Ladas were not some breakthrough russki high tech, but in fact had been old-hat in the 1950s (when Lada acquired the design). Similarly, they used hydraulics an awful lot. Presumably because it was easier or cheaper to manufacture (maybe the LH/RH issue affected this) than cables.

[NY]

Especially when those horn buttons are positioned a long way from the rim of the steering wheel to accommodate lots of buttons for adjusting radio volume and operating cruise control. I always have the think where the horn buttons are and stretch my thumb away from the rim of the wheel to reach the button. The end of the indicator stalk (as on a lot of earlier French cars) is a better place than the centre of the wheel or a long way from the rim, though close to the rim is probably the best of all.

[NY]

Ah so maybe more recent Minors had the ignition key and dashboard modified from the earlier "classic" round gauge and four switches below it, in the centre of the dashboard. I only know my mum's 1960 Moggie, which was probably one of the first without a split screen and with the gauges in the centre rather than on the original Moggie (as I saw in a recent episode of Partners in Crime) being viewed through the steering wheel .

Were any Minors ever made with the ignition switch on the steering column to allow a steering lock, or did that innovation only come in after the Moggie ceased production?

[News]

In message , Bob Eager writes

Ditto Mk III Zephyr and Zodiac. I liked column change, and can still remember exactly where each gear was, 40 years later. Out, back then up, for reverse. The linkage on the Zodiac was very worn, so I had elastic bands wrapped around the joints.

[News]

In message , Tim Streater writes

OK, I give up. What's got four bums and keeps you warm?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sort of. Never been quite sure when a relay become a contactor. I've tended to use it for a multi-pole device which likely incorporates some form of over current protection. Like you'd use with a three phase motor.

On a car, they're all relays to me.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd say that most unusual. Unless a pre-engage type where there is a solenoid to pull the pinion into mesh before applying current to the motor. Which is near universal these days. But also usually have a relay, as the solenoid takes a fair bit of current.

Older cars with an inertia drive generally had the starter relay mounted on the scuttle or inner wing. Wherever gave the shortest route for the expensive high current starter cable.

[Huge]

I bought one from a scrapper. Had to unbolt it myself from a car four up in a pile of them, that creaked and swayed back and forth as I wound the spanner round.

I imagine those days are gone.

It was the right colour, though.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Eh? Plenty cars have a bench rear seat and seatbelts.

[Muddymike]

In message , Tim Streater

Esso blue of course, fancy you not knowing that :-)

Mike

[Huge]

[Adrian]

And I know a few with bench front and seatbelts.

And there's plenty of new cars with the gearlever on the dash, probably some on the column, too.

[Tim+]

That was the arrangement on my parent's first Renault 4. Having first and reverse so close made it handy for "rocking" the car when a wheel had got bogged down.

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Remember the Morris Oxford and Austin Cambridge? Both made by BMC and fairly similar mechanically. But the column changes on those were different - on the Morris, the low gears towards the steering wheel, on the Austin, away.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Right hand floor gearchange, like the Riley Pathfinder and older Rolls etc. That's posh. ;-)

[NY]

For the benefit of use whose weren't around at the time, what's the connection between four bums and paraffin? Or am I being very slow on the uptake?