Tow Bar Electrics 7 or 13 pin plug

[Sam]

Before the requirement was dropped the Reliant had a blanking plate fitted. This was removed if required after the change. We sold a number of vehicles with the plate which we modified later.

[Harry Bloomfield]

NY formulated the question :

Reversing lights were always an option, when they became standard I would guess in the mid 1990's, but never included on all cars even then. I remember adding fogs to my 1980 SAAB and putting them on to use as reversing lights (standard fit), because my reversing lights had failed. The fog warning had failed so I forgot and left them on. I got less than 100yds before being pulled by two motorcycle cops and reminded :-)

Fogs appeared late 1970' early 1980's as an option. Many manufactures just used the add on after market housing in the early years of them being a requirement. By the 1990's the were included in the usual lamp clusters at the rear.

[damduck-egg]

Were they one of those things that started out as being yet another gadget found in motor accessory shops on a Saturday morning and fitted over the rest of the weekend by those who loved to tinker with cars for any reason and possibly illegal as being too bright under the regulations of the time? Though unlike many such gadgets they were actually seen as being useful and the law changed quickly so they went from illegal to being a requirement in a very short period of time or had the law been changed before they appeared in Halfords etc.

G.Harman

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I suspect the need for rear guard fog lamps became apparent (or guessed at) after those crashes on the then rather new motorways in fog. Which was also one of the reasons for the 70 mph blanket limit. Although never quite saw the logic of that, as 70 mph is far too fast for restricted visibility anyway.

No idea if rear guard fog lights do improve safety, though. Very difficult to get any accurate data.

[Max Demian]

How about some three wheelers where you could start the (2 stroke) engine in reverse if you wanted to go backwards?

How about some big motorcycles that had a reverse gear?

[Max Demian]

There was a cheap way of adding rear fog lights where you wired extra red lights to the brake lights and fitted a switch under the dashboard that turned the brake lights on - meaning you didn't have to put extra wires to the rear. But these were illegal as you didn't have any extra lights when you were braking.

Then high level rear lights came in, confusing traffic cops, who thought they were illegal.

[Roger Hayter]

snip

Their misuse in light fog certainly causes danger, speed, distance and other vehicles difficult to distinguish.

[Sam]

Yes, how about them.

Some engines would start and run in reverse if started at the wrong part of the cycle. It wasn't a design feature or a selling point.

After the regulations changed I believe three wheelers like the Trojan, Heinkel and Isetta could start the engine in the reverse direction as part of the design.

[charles]

I thought the 70mph limit was introduced, by Barbara Castle (who didn't drive). as a way of saving fuel.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Don't think so..

saving lives I reckon

they are at least something that stops you being rear ended so easily

[NY]

I think the 70 mph limit was for safety, because some sports cars (E-type Jag etc) were road tested on the motorways at silly speeds well in excess of

100 mph, and it only took one pillock to move into the right-most (*) lane without checking that it was safe to do so, and you had a very serious, probably non-survivable crash.

Saving fuel came later: the temporary 50 mph limit on all roads was in the

70s at the time of fuel shortages - maybe a dispute/war in oil-producing countries.

They allow cars behind you to see you further back than they would be able to otherwise. Unless you have an object (eg a car) in front of you in thick fog, whose distance from you can be judged by the spacing of the lights, it is very difficult to know how far ahead you can see. You can try to judge it by counting the number of dashed white lines you can see down the centre of the road, but that's imprecise. Some people woefully overestimate how thick the fog is and drive absurdly slowly (which is safe but over-cautious, leading to people being tempted to overtake) whereas many people underestimate the thickness and drive far too fast.

In fog, I tend to try to keep the lights of the car in front of me just in sight but at a safe distance for the speed, with an extra factor of safety, rather then let them get out of sight and have nothing in front of me but blank fog.

(*) I say "right-most" rather than "lane 3" because not all motorways in early days had the standard three lanes: some only had two. There are probably some stretches of road even nowadays which are classed as motorway but only have two lanes.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) wrote on 09/03/2017 :

The 70 limit came in as a result of the fuel shortages and increasing car speeds generally. I seem to remember it was originally to be only a temporary measure.

[Max Demian]

The 70 limit was purely for safety; the 50 limit was for fuel economy in the 70s:

[Tim+]

Nope. That was the 50mph limit.

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It was introduced soon after a very bad crash in fog - with the press saying 'something must be done' And some stories of fast cars being tested at high speeds very early in the morning. It may well have been in the pipeline for some time, though.

70 mph in those days wasn't going to save much fuel. It was more like the top speed that many cars could cruise at - and faster than plenty could manage indefinitely.

[NY]

It seems weird to think of many cars in the 1960s being unable to reach 70 and overheating if they did for long distances, when I should imagine every car that's made today can do 70 for hour after hour. Also, with the drum brakes in 60s cars, what would the stopping distance be like if they needed it in an emergency?

The only time I've had to do a full emergency stop was in the first car that I had with ABS, and that was from about 20 mph when a car pulled out of a side road. I gave me the confidence that I could slam full on without holding back to avoid skidding and could steer out of the way onto a kerb at the last minute when I'd got down to a low speed. I'd already practised an emergency stop on a deserted road so I knew what the repetitive pulsing of the brake pedal felt like and what to expect if I ever had to do it for real.

Before that all my cars had disc brakes all round, so I still had quick stopping - had to stop fast once to avoid a pileup on the motorway, but I'd seen wreckage fly in the air a few seconds earlier in the distance so I had warning and it was balancing stopping to avoid hitting things in front with giving as much warning so I didn't get rear-ended. Shame the hazard light switch on most cars is a long way from the steering wheel - only on on car (I think it was a Fiat) was it on the end of the indicator stalk with the horn on the spokes of the wheel.

[Tim+]

Well that's easy. Just look at the stopping distances quoted in the Highway Code. Don't think they've been updated since forever. ;-)

Tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Remember that before motorways (and autos) top gear performance was thought very important. Being able to climb hills without changing down. Which led to many UK cars being very low geared. VW knew with the Beetle that high gearing made for a long(er) engine life and relaxed cruising. Since Germany had the first motorways.

Very true. Before Jaguar discovered disc brakes, it was possible to fade their drums to nothing with a single stop from high speed.

[dennis]

Yes why did it take Jaguar from ~1900 until the 1950s to discover disk brakes? The Germans managed to use them in 1942.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I dunno. You can make drum brakes work ok - Rolls managed that very well. They didn't fit discs until the '60s.

But didn't the D Type Jaguar do so well at Le Mans in the '50s because it had discs - when the competition was still on drums?