Uncle Phil
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Yeah, and that was not real helpful when it was pouring down rain and you were headed down the highway ...
Old Enough To Remember?
- Thread starter Shuey
- Start date
Andrew Shadow
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When the column mounted dimmer switches first appeared I thought that the switch was better left placed on the floor for the simple reason that your left foot had nothing to do most of the time under the conditions where you would be toggling between high and low beams. The problem of water and salt destroying the floor mounted switches had long been solved by having the switch housing made of plastic and covered in waterproof rubber. What really killed the floor mounted switch was the addition of the ability to flash the high beam lights. This requires having both an on/off and a momentary switch. Both of these functions are much more easily handled by the hand operated switch.
I had this discussion with my dad decades ago, when I sad that high-beam is the 'normal' light position, and low-beam is for in-town and in traffic.
As headlights evolved, they got brighter to the point that they were too bright for many conditions, and the dual-brightness system was developed.
Thus, the floor button was a dimmer switch, and not a brightener switch. Just because the function was relocated to a stalk switch doesn't alter that.
My headlights are always on high-beam, car or bike, except when they need dimming.
Andrew Shadow
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I just recently read that the above is more appropriate.
Wish my 66 bug had gas heater. Froze my ass off, and tube radio didn’t always work.
My 70 bug did have a gas heater.
Both took me to the west coast and back.
Fun cars!
Few years ago I installed one of those Gas heaters in our 74 Ford Econoline Camper Van, work great for 3 weeks till the chamber rotted out, Bug shop gave me another one which never worked as good as the first one. 10,000 BTU's warmed the camper pretty quick. Funny Story about the Van, bought it from the wife of a friend that unfortunately passed away, she hated the Camper finding it was always cold ,32 years they owned it. long story short, Ford had installed the wires to the Fan backwards.
Not unknown. I once owned a Ford Escort and the heater always blew cold. Turned out the blue and red had been put on the wrong way round. So to get hot air you had to move the slider to the cold position.
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I remember the floor mounted dip switch well....
On one occasion I was driving with my GF to pick up my dad from work in his VW split screen camper van....(1200cc engine....) and wondered why it sometimes crunched the gears on down shifts.... I realised why when I found I had been using said switch instead of the clutch..... oops.....
The heater on that was pretty useless given it was air cooled and the engine was a long way from the vents at the front....
Speaking of the engine.... all 1200cc of it..... not the fastest vehicle VW ever built...
On one occasion I was driving with my GF to pick up my dad from work in his VW split screen camper van....(1200cc engine....) and wondered why it sometimes crunched the gears on down shifts.... I realised why when I found I had been using said switch instead of the clutch..... oops.....
The heater on that was pretty useless given it was air cooled and the engine was a long way from the vents at the front....
Speaking of the engine.... all 1200cc of it..... not the fastest vehicle VW ever built...
I have owned many VW transporters/campers and a couple of Beetles. One very cold winter when I was visiting my cousins on the Canadian border the temperatures dipped to about -20 degrees. At the time I had a 1966 VW bus. I remember getting into the bus one cold morning and when I sat down it sounded like I was sitting on a pile of potato chips. The vinyl seat covers had hardened up from the extreme cold and the covers shattered when I sat down.
even my dog liked it, it was the greatest car ever made the 65 American Pontiac with the wrap around frame could almost not roll over, even with the 421 2+2 package. The car beat everything in 61 and 62 and in my opinion is the pinnacle of racing. Mine is only a base model [389] with a meagre 425 ft/lbs at some odd 2600 rpm but they used these cars to, guess what, pull their race car trailers to the track
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Correct me if I'm wrong, Canada called it a Parisienne , was there any differences between countries, other than the name? Friend of mine had a 283 with a powerglide till he hit power pole,put all of Richmond out of Power even Vancouver international airport. I believe that was Remembrance day 1979 . Your's from the picture looks like it is in mint condition. To think its 60 years old.
My mom drove a 66 2+2 with the 421 in it, the worst part on the car was its twitchy steering. It was a huge boat of a car. White with a bright red interior, the wide track really did make it corner well for such a big car.
[edited] One of my buddies from way back hit the only pole between gatneau and ottawa [well, I guess that must have been long time ago and it's a told story] where was I going, but can you imagine?
The American Pontiac is the car. I had a '66 Canadian Grande Parisienne almost fifty years ago which still in my opinion is the Pinnacle of American Automotive styling we will never see the like of again.
After I rebuilt that 396 I got blasted by an American white '65 in two city blocks. I did not enjoy that, I caught up with him and he explained that it was just a two barrel 389
I was nothing less than chosen to buy that car forty years later, one can never imagine these sorts of things, but as fate might have, didn't go well.
In Canada, Oshawa had a chasis line. We didn't get the tempests and the we didn't get the other midsize cars; instead we got a lot of badged over chevelles and so on. I have a beaumont which is a chevelle with pontiac bits and a [really quite terrible console, but oh well].
All of the Pontiacs [of which I love dearly] that were made available for here were built on Chevrolet chassis in Oshawa. And all of the Beaumonts which are chevelles were made here as well.
My Buick though... is the car that I hope to live long enough to see through. I bought this for almost nothing
This car wasn't the car of my dreams, it is the car of my dreams.
The American Pontiac is the car. I had a '66 Canadian Grande Parisienne almost fifty years ago which still in my opinion is the Pinnacle of American Automotive styling we will never see the like of again.
After I rebuilt that 396 I got blasted by an American white '65 in two city blocks. I did not enjoy that, I caught up with him and he explained that it was just a two barrel 389
I was nothing less than chosen to buy that car forty years later, one can never imagine these sorts of things, but as fate might have, didn't go well.
In Canada, Oshawa had a chasis line. We didn't get the tempests and the we didn't get the other midsize cars; instead we got a lot of badged over chevelles and so on. I have a beaumont which is a chevelle with pontiac bits and a [really quite terrible console, but oh well].
All of the Pontiacs [of which I love dearly] that were made available for here were built on Chevrolet chassis in Oshawa. And all of the Beaumonts which are chevelles were made here as well.
My Buick though... is the car that I hope to live long enough to see through. I bought this for almost nothing
This car wasn't the car of my dreams, it is the car of my dreams.
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ST1100Y
Site Supporter
Granny had such, hand crank operated though...Got my hand caught in one when I was a kid...
We even had similar, also crank operated ones at car wash places; very convenient to wring your rags and the deer-skin... long gone though...
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ST1100Y
Site Supporter
VW Beetle had the window washer powered by the inflation pressure of the spare wheel... in odd weather you often ended with a flat spare... (at least it reminded you to top it off)Anybody remember when the windshield wipers were operated by vacuum pressure instead of an electric motor?
The 1050cc Fiat 127 Fiorino (my first service van) had a small rubber button/bubble you squeezed with your thumb to "pump"...
Vehicles where simple and easy to fix back then...
Look at the prices for a window washer pump for any of today's models...
my dad worked on big trucks so i was never bothered by the ones that had air starters
my first car was a '68 volvo i think it had the dimmer switch built in the turn signal stalk, i know my Fiat 124's did
my first car was a '68 volvo i think it had the dimmer switch built in the turn signal stalk, i know my Fiat 124's did
ST1100Y
Site Supporter
Yep, old joke over here:
Q: you have an Alfa Romeo Spider oncoming who is flicking his high beams; what's to be expected?
A: he's about to turn left!
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