Column gear changes on old cars

[rogera]

I agree Ray - that's one of the biggest failings with modern cars.

[Didier]

Old cars had lots of failings, one being the lack of a heater.

My first personal car was a Renault Dauphine, it had an heater, but it could only be switched full on or full off !
I tried to install a thermostat to have some kind of automatic control, but it didn't work, either it didn't start or didn't stop...

Didier

[Pat Seaman]

I used to travel to gigs in the mid 60s in a 997 Mini Cooper, rather than being crammed into our bass players unreliable old Bedford van. Being an early Mini Cooper, the heater control was a brass tap on top of the cylinder head, which was inconvenient, to say the least. I soon changed that to a cable operated version, as fitted to the later cars. The heater came in handy during the summer, when the car was inclined to overheat, since it could be used as a supplementary cooling system! Needless to say, it was essential to keep all the windows open. We used to accept all of these things as part of the motoring experience.

[anniv 63]

Hands up all those who fitted a Speedwell, Peco, or if you were realy minted an Abarth
big bore exhaust to your beloved Mini/ Cooper/ S types
Vroom Vroom now you had "That Sound" combined with the lovely whine of a Cooper
gearbox!!!
Guilty my lord for waking the neighbours with an exquisite noise!!!

Mike

[Pat Seaman]

They certainly sounded nicer than the "wet fart" exhausts that kids are fitting on Saxos & Corsas at the moment.

[jimuc]

First car was a Triumph Mayflower (Square car)
It had three speed column change and a heater.
Next was a Ford Consul again three speed column change, bench seat, heater AND a radio - sheer bloody luxury. Only drawback was the vacuum wipers !!!
My mate had the Zodiac (Flash B**tard)

[ecca]

The old Ford 400E van was a nightmare to stop, especially with all the gear in and lots of steaming couples all snogging in the back.

My brother-in-law scrapped his Humber Super Snipe so I took the electric wiper motor and the brake servo from it before it was towed away.
I fitted the wiper motor to replace the useless vacuum wipers no problem, that was a huge step forward except that it had to be in the cab, right by my right knee. Highly dangerous and would certainly have crushed my knee in the event of a collision.
The brake servo proved a little more tricky and , in fact, I piped it up backwards so that the harder I applied the brakes the more pressure it applied against my foot. I had a hair raising ride round the block back home before I got to swap the pipes round.
Prior to fitting this you literally had to stand up deperately pulling on the steering wheel to stop the bugger.
Happy days.

[cockroach]

Regarding face level ventilation when a heater is in use, the old cars had something which modern ones don't- namely quarter-lights!

They were also handy if you smoked- kept the interior clear as the smoke escaped - and the quarter lights could be reversed to direct air to the driver's face...enabled good ventilation without draughts or rain entry from open windows..

I must admit, I find that modern cars also lack room for their size and due to their designs- low tight fitting seats, very low roof, and obstructive centre consoles etc

What used to be considered big cars actually are quite small and lightweight compared with their modern equivalents...it's interesting to see an old car in modern traffic and compare them to equivalent modern cars. Small cars REALLY were small especially compared to modern equivalents...look at the current Mini and an original version!

[RayL]

What used to be considered big cars actually are quite small and lightweight compared with their modern equivalents

A lot of it is to do with width.
Huge numbers of suburban houses were built in the 1920s and 30s with garages suitable for the cars of the day - Austin 7s and the like - quite narrow cars. Today's cars are much wider and even if they fit through the entrance, there is no room to open the car door.

Unfortunately, modern garages also seem to be designed for Austin 7s so the garage either becomes a storage/junk room or is converted into an extension of the house.

My own garage is big enough to reverse the car in, but is a tight fit through the entrance so I fitted a vertical reflective strip on the door frame as a marker when I am looking over my shoulder during the reverse and a white paint stripe on the wall to line up with the nearside wing mirror to prevent going back too far. If I get the reversing angle even slightly wrong it's time for the touch-up paint!

[Uncle Fiesta]

"Wiper Wallahs".

Ooh, I say - not politically correct old chap!!