Adverts with the strapline-

"If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen"

Tax applied for on a piece of very old sun faded paper in the tax disc holder.

Please pass running in , in the rear screen of cars.

Opening quarter-vents in the front windows of cars: slightly open and they were excellent demisters; fully open on a hot day and you got a terrific blast of good fresh air, far better than anything that comes through dashboard vents.

Made a good ashtray as well.

Getting points when filling up in order to buy numerous sets of drinking glasses (my parents still have [and use] their Esso lot from the early 1980s!).

Rovers.

on the same theme of "hearing"...

Car engines pinking under load and engines running on after being switched off.

My mum had a Fiat 500 (circa 1970s) that used to go on for several minutes. Usually had to put the car in gear and let the clutch out gently to "stall" it.

The other thing we do see now (but didn't back in the 1970s and 1980s) is people queing up in petrol stations with a basket full of the weekly shopping. Takes blooming ages sometimes!

What about blokes doing DIY on their cars at the weekends? Used to see a lot of it about years ago but I rarely see anyone now. I doubt if most people check their oil, tyre pressures and lights - ever.

Edited by csgmart on 21/03/2016 at 17:22

People washing their own cars in their driveways - it's too cheap to get it done by the Rumanian guys in supermarket carparks and disused garages. (Until BREXIT time anyway!)

I seem to be the only person in my street who washes their own cars.

There was a craze for putting a small sign on the boot with the name of the county together with the relevant coat of arms. Quite a handy hint for a subject of conversation when hitch-hiking. And that is something else one rarely sees.

Black plastic louvre rear windows
Protective reflectors on doors
Sunroof with wind deflector
'Humourous' items - moony men, "things" coming out of your boot - hands/fingers, cat's rear end etc
Autoreverse cassette players being a luxury item
Rear centre lap belts

I grew up in the 80s...

Reports of acid rain...

Back in the 80s, it was the next big disaster waiting to ruin us. Lower pollution seems to have sorted it :)

We get Sahara dust (Sand) instead!

Those fly deflectors that were fitted to the front top of the bonnet, for some reason I always associate them with old Mercs.

Feu Orange and Magic Tree air fresheners seem to have vanished. And when did you last see an electric aerial zooming up (except on a Honda or Jag at the golf club?)
Aftermarket spoilers at the rear (e.g. 1980s BMW 3 series) and front (Leyland's atrocious "facelifts" of the superannuated Marina and Allegro probably killed this particular fad forever.)
The Fischer "C box" cassette holders, once beloved of upmarket Vauxhalls, have died along with the in-car cassette players.
Aftermarket steering wheels (incompatible with the multi-buttoned, airbag-equipped monstrosities steering today's cars)
Aftermarket gearknobs resembling skulls and other satanic paraphernalia or the ubiquitous Argos faux mahogany/gold-trimmed number with the all-essential illuminated LCD clock and stopwatch.

In Spain a few weird and wonderful add-ons have long been consigned to the history books. It was once common to see an adjustable pen-shaped plastic brace (with a sticky pad at each end) wedged between dashboard and windscreen, apparently to prevent (toughened?) windscreens from shattering upon impact from a stone chip. A bar fixed between the front head restraints (in pre-rear-seatbelt days) kept inquisitive children from diving (or presumably being thrown during a crash) into the front seat space. Nudge bars allowed atrocious drivers to bash their ways in and out of tight parking spaces. A square enamel sign bearing a yellow triangle inside a blue square was fixed to the front bumper (whatever that was!) to warn that the car or van was towing a trailer behind.
Old-school taxi drivers still keep an adhesive panel stuck to the dash, with a monthly calendar in one window, a photo of the kids in another and an image of the local saint in the third to keep everyone nice and safe!

Edited by Bilboman on 22/03/2016 at 22:20

People pulled up by the roadside to push out the rest of their toughened glass windscreen once a stone chip has shattered it. This used to a be a regular sight on cross-country A-road journeys in the 70s. (Before I was actually driving myself you understand)

And something we do see, but shouldn't - all those cars with only one headlamp working because they're so wretchedly complicated you have to get a main dealer to put ina bulb! (Mainly Fords & VWs I suspect.)

I had a screen go at 70mph on the A38 towards the M1 - went with a bang like a .45 Colt Auto (I had one at the time for target shooting!). This was in a firm's car, fortunately had my safety glasses with me so after clearing the bits was able to drive it back, it's ok if you keep all other windows shut.

Totally agree about the one headlamp problem, some just don't seem to get them fixed, use foglamps instead. I suspect the manufacturers design them as hard to replace to drum up business for their dealers' service bays.

Invalid carriages.

"Pressure washers, not wipers, are mandatory on HID headlamps"

I really can't see the point in this useless piece of EU legislation, squirting water at a dirty headlamp glass achieves what exactly?

At least when Volvos used to be equipped with washers and wipers on the headlamps, it was possible to keep the headlamp glasses clear in any weather or road condition.

I don't disagree - I had headlamp wash/wipe on a few Vauxhalls and it was very effective - anecdotally said to be unreliable but I never had any issues - the advantage of wash/wipe was that even if the headlamps where covered in muck during the daytime, a few applications would clear them completely - with high pressure washers, it'll keep them clean if they start clean but won't clean then if they start dirty.

My new Touareg has 25w HIDs which don't need washers, it's over that where its mandatory, but still find that even clean water spots scatter the light so I get into the habit of wiping then clean every time I stop.

Can't argue wuth No.6 there - probably, alongside electronic parking brakes (for the love of God, why? What was wrong with handbrakes? Electronic parking brakes also use battery power [essentially fuel] - hardly an 'environmentally-friendly measure?), the worst 'new feature' of modern cars is them having even the space-saver spares removed.

I wonder if, if you do get a puncture and have to use the 'space-saver' wheel/tyre, where does the original one go? If it can fit in the same space under the boot tray as the space-saver, then why can't we all have the option (or standard fit with a no-cost option for a space [weight] saver) of having a full-size spare; if not, are we supposed to stow a big, heavy, possibly wet/muddy tyre in the main part of the boot (messing that all up) or on the back seat if we're lugging lots of shopping etc home?

What a stupid idea either way, especially as the 'tube of goo' doesn't work or for very long (what happens on a Sunday when all the tyre outlets are closed or you're in the middle of nowhere and still are 50+ miles away from your destination? All this to save a few kgs in one area to be able to have more gizmos in another. I'd rather have the full-size spare.

The list of "extras." When buying an Austin pick-up (really a Morris Minor with an Austin badge) the late 1960s, the following were extras:

Seat belts

Spare wheel

Passenger seat

Heater

If you go back only a bit further, I think Land Rovers charged extra for door locks.

Not seeing but hearing, I remember as a kid I could tell a mk2 Fiesta by the engine noise instantly, and a diesel Transit from a diesel Transporter.

The two Fords mentioned above had very distinct engine noises for standard 4 cylinders work horses.

I used to like the sound of a Morris minor when you lifted off the throttle.

Anything with a manual choke.