IN BMC days, Austin and Morris had the column gearchange on opposite sides...
Rolls Royce had their (auto) column gearchange on the right. So fitted their indicator stalk on the left. Didn't realise they were continental rubbish.
Think Ford were the first to fit them in the UK.
No, thats the 1970s Jeremey Corbyn harks back to.
UKIP alone are trying to drag the nation out of a 19th century colonial empire into the 21st century...
My grandpa had two Imps: a D-reg baby-poo yellow/green one (like the dashboard photo) and then an H-reg bright red on with the big round gauges.
I remember the big black rubber toggles for fastening the rear windows shut: I think the windows were hinged at the front and opened on a strut, but had a rubber strap with knobbles on it which engaged with a slotted plate on the window frame to hold the window in the shut position.
Wolseley had they auto tranmission selector as a knob sticking out of the dashboard on the right hand side of the steering wheel - so RR weren't the only ones to have the selector on the right.
IMO car mfrs stil haven't got indicators right. Self cancellers are just a pain, they switch off when not wanted and don't switch off when wanted. Give me manual any day. And yes, I've lived with and much prefer manuals.
The one manual thing I really don't miss is the reversing light. That was annoying at times.
NT
I agree: Citroen don't/didn't have self-cancelling indicators and I preferred it like that. My dad had a GS with a conventional stalk but no self cancelling mechanism. that was OK. I didn't like the rocker switch that was used on some of the larger Citroens (CX etc).
I couldn't manage without reversing lights. Tail lights are not bright enough to see where you are going (to avoid kerbs, hedges, walls etc) when reversing if there's no street light nearby. My car has just one reversing light and I tend to put the rear fog light on and the hazard lights and dab the brakes - anything to throw a bit of light on the scene.
I think what he means is he doesnt miss *manual* reversing lights - i.e. happy to have them come on when the gear is slected.
As far as I remember, cancelling it was no harder than any other car. One advantage was that turning off the ignition automatically cancelled the signal, so it wasn't 'On' when you started up next morning.
The semaphore arms had festoon bulbs in that were powered only when the arm was fully out (at least on my 1959 Beetle).
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yes, I never saw the sense in a manual switch when they could have put a microswitch down by the gearstick. I got pulled for driving with it on unintentionally once - it was bound to happen at some point.
NT
Especially as the manual switch was often a user add-on, and came on a little metal panel that you screwed to the bottom of the dashboard - well out of your eyeline. If the light had been near the ignition, oil and indicator lights, you'd notice immediately.
No choke control on the early ones, they had a horrible automatic choke, guaranteed to stall at the first junction you came to on a still cold engine. Fortunately there was a manual conversion kit available with the control knob behind you under the front of the rear seat.
These days it would put on the parking lights. ;-)
And then there was the pneumatic throttle...
Like trucks with a hand on a stick.
Rolls Royce have never had a "column gear change" The gearbox is electrically operated. The thing on the column is an electric switch to control it.
My dad's Ford Consul began life with amber covers for the indicators, but they faded after a while, eventually getting close to white.
Chris
Someone devised a DIY scheme to add flashing to semaphore arms. There was sufficient lag in the magnetic circuit so that they stayed up whilst the light flashed.
How many years after their demise did it take before it was realised that having something visible at the side of the vehicle would be useful?
Chris
In message , Chris J Dixon writes
I do remember side indicator kits being available, comprising two indicators, one for each front wing. I added a pair to one of my cars, a MKII Cortina from memory, mid 70s.
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