rag joint .....

It happens that Jim GM4DHJ ... formulated :

Go on then, what is a rag joint?

One of these

NY used his keyboard to write :

I cannot recall ever having seen one on a car, though I have come across them on old machinery. I have seen like a rubberized doughnut in the places you describe, serving the same function. I can vaguely remember having fitted one long ago. It came compressed, with a metal band around it, which you cut after installing.

Why?

Lotus Elan on Wheeler Dealers - between rear differential and wheels. They went for CV joints as an upgrade for replacement.

ISTR them on landrovers - though whether that counts as a car or as old machinery I'm not sure.

That's a rotoflex coupling (as also used on the Hillman Imp)

A rag joint uses a flat sheet of reinforced rubber and cloth and was usually used on the likes of steering column joints to provide some small degree of articulation

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Not seen one with the interleaved rubber and fabric in use for quite a while now I've still got a brand new one at least 25 years and maybe a decade older sat in a factory box in the garage. Plus several knackered ones on old Triumph / Lotus racks acquired over the years

The safer, and indeed 'failsafe' replacement is far more common on the road

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Didn't lotus use a rubber rag joint in 70s cars?