Saw a Shogun today with a wing mirror at the front passenger side, literally on the wing. Presumably to help "Mrs" Shogun manoeuvre the car.
Made me think though - when did mirrors move from wings to car doors, who was first to do it and what prompted it? I'm pretty sure my mum's Escort Mark 1 were on the wing but Mark 2 on the doors?
Also, looking at cars around now, it shows how much aerodynamics have came on that very few cars now could actually support these mirrors due to the slope of bonnets and wings!
Cars of old must have been very boxy!
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I pretty sure they moved to the doors instead of the wings because it would be a lot easier than getting in and out of the car to adjust you mirrors everytime you needed to.
I am not sure why they would provide better visibility on the wing than the door though.
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Better visibility on the door 'cos you are closer to the mirror therefore get a bigger view. But you do have to move your line of sight further from road ahead to the door mirrors.From what I remember of the wing mirrors they were pretty useless because they had such a narrow angle of view if flat glass, and if you had convex everything was so small you couldn't see much anyway. First car I had with door mirror(s) was a 1975 Renault 4, though I had bought a removeable one which clamped to the door frame long before that and shifted it between cars (including a 1971 Cortina which had wing mirrors) Seem to remember someone telling me that the first door mirrors were on a Citroen - either the DS or CX but don't know if it's true.
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Wing mirrors certainly used to be a pain to adjust, it was really a two man job to get it right!
IIRC that was the reason that they were moved to the doors, I believe there was something introduced into the Construction regs about all mirrors needing to be able to be adjusted from the driver's seat. Also, of course, the field of view for a given size of mirror is much better the closer you are to the mirror. As to the date about 1975 seems to ring a bell.
Cockle
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Shoguns with the 'wing' mirrors are likely to be imports from places like Japan as they are quite common over there. It's surprising how many modern cars in Japan have these wing mirrors. Also why do we call them wing mirrors these days?! I suppose they're 'door' mirrors when you think about it!
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That may have been a Jap import. They frequently fit an extra wing mirror on the fender, no idea why.
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O/side door mounted mirrors became a legal requirment in E&W in the 70s.
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Taking very cautious issue with Pugugly's comment about door mirrors becoming a legal requirement in the mid 70's ,the M.O.T. regulations state that cars used after August 1st 1978 require "an exterior mirror fitted to the O/S " . It does not specify where on the O/S , stating only that the mirror must be visible from the driver's seat . Do C&U regulations and MOT regs. vary ? DeeJay .
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From memory.....it does not actually stipulate in Con and Use where the mirror should be placed, but IIRC it was on the door because of Type Approval regs at the time, which the regs actually refer to.
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I think you'll find that it's because Japanese Roads are so crowded they need to see down the side of the vehicle to squeeze past things. Many imported MPV's also have a mirror mounted at the rear to show the bumper so that the driver can reverse right up to things, this suggests that parking spaces are rather on the tight side as well.
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That Shogun was a Pajero, a much better vehicle,and the extra mirror is for parking in very confined spaces.
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www.roads.dft.gov.uk/vehicle/standards/consum/05.h...m
if you want all the gory details.
The following applies to vehicles first used after 1/6/1978.
Mirror requirements
The tables below summarise the number, type and standard of mirror required to be fitted to various types of vehicle. In addition, the following requirements should also be met:
i) each mirror must be fixed to the vehicle in such a way that it remains steady under normal driving conditions;
ii) each exterior mirror on a vehicle fitted with windows and a windscreen shall be visible to the driver, when in his driving position, through a side window or through the portion of the windscreen which is swept by the windscreen wiper;
iii) where the bottom edge of an exterior mirror is less than 2m above the road surface when the vehicle is laden, that mirror shall not project more than 20cm beyond the overall width of the vehicle or, if the vehicle is drawing a trailer which is wider than drawing vehicle, more than 20cm beyond the overall width of the trailer;
iv) each interior mirror shall be capable of being adjusted by the driver when in his driving position;
v) except in the case of a mirror which, if knocked out of its alignment can be returned to its former position without needing to be adjusted, each exterior mirror on the driver?s side of the vehicle shall be capable of being adjusted by the driver when in his driving position. This requirement does not prevent such a mirror from being locked into position from the outside of the vehicle.
Cockle
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It would appear then that no-one , not theC&U regs., not the Type Approval bods or even the MOT gurus , ever said "stick 'em on the doors ".They just made it impossible to do otherwise with their requirement that the exterior mirror on the drivers side must be capable of being adjusted by the driver whilst sitting at the wheel .A splendidly British solution ! DeeJay .
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