Blind Alleys in Car Design

[R9UKE]

Plus it was another thing to go wrong.

And this from a man with a thing for 10-year-old exec-spec Renaults!

 

 

Thought I'd use the key phrase that people attack me with!!

[andrew e]

Pop-up headlamps negatively affect the NCAP pedestrian ratings, so they had to go.

 

Is NCAP the reason for gearsticks and handbrakes vanishing?

[R9UKE]

Is NCAP the reason for gearsticks and handbrakes vanishing?

 

Nope. Dogging is the reason.

[M'coli]

Another would be in-line FWD arrangements with the gearbox ahead of the engine.

[Craig the Princess]

Automatic seatbelts, do these still exist in the US? I always thought they were FTW!

[Felly Magic]

Aerials in the heated rear window element. As fitted to mid range Scrotes, Onions, Jellymoulds & Mk3 Grandads in the late 80s

[Skizzer]

Aerials in the heated rear window element. As fitted to mid range Scrotes, Onions, Jellymoulds & Mk3 Grandads in the late 80s

 

Lots of cars still have these, I believe. All the modern German things I had did, though my current Skoda has a reassuringly external aerial poking out of the roof in a very 1989-carphone sort of way.

 

Edited to add something constructive: Backward sloping rear windows (Ford 105E Anglia and Classic, Citroen Ami):

68 Ford Anglia by kenjonbro, on Flickr

[Father Ted]

Is NCAP the reason for gearsticks and handbrakes vanishing?

 

Nope. Dogging is the reason.

Interweb post of the week. Thank you.

[tonedepear]

Aerials in the heated rear window element. As fitted to mid range Scrotes, Onions, Jellymoulds & Mk3 Grandads in the late 80s

 

Modern SAABs still do, certainly. Although they also have a sharkfin for mobile phone jiggery pokery, and if that's not installed, a dummy shark fin to cover the hole in the roof.

[DSdriver]

Seeing that pic of the Anglia, have we had two tone paint jobs yet? (Only I seem to have slept through a few pages of this thread)

[Albert Ross]

The DS3 has 2 tone paint......

[cort16]

3 passenger door cars.

I see Hyundai are doing this with their new Velostar but I just can't see the benefit other than giving the driver a huge door they've no chance of opening in a car park. Not a bad looking car to be honest but I wonder if they'll switch the 3rd door over for rhd like Mini didn't with the clubman?.

http://www.hyundai-car.co.uk/veloster/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_term=hyundai_veloster&utm_campaign=Veloster

 

Those Mini clubman and countrymans are an offence to humanity.

[DSdriver]

[Skizzer]

Making a massive design statement out of having a spare wheel:

 

Rover 3500 V8 by Kingsdude/Dave, on Flickr (Dave, are you on here? There's all the ingredients for a fine spotting thread on your Flickr account)

 

Which reminds me - white wall tyres.

 

And searching for that pic, found another design blind alley - swivelly mini-skirt-friendly seats:

 

 

(More Chrysler 300F porn found at http://cascadiaclassic.blogspot.com/2011/11/1960-chrysler-300f-convertible.html)

[eddyramrod]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, that Chrysler! Yes please! Do we have an emoticon for slavering?

 

Meanwhile, whitewalls?

These were less than 4 months on the car when I took it to the autotest event in May. How "new" they are now, after that treatment, is up for debate!

[Felly Magic]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nice Grandad!

[Cavcraft]

Swivelling seats were an option on a few cars I believe. I had a Maestro with one once, the lad who bought the car was made up as his mum was disabled and it was a God send for access/egress.

[Negative Creep]

They seem like a good idea to me. I guess they wouldn't meet safety regs though

[tonedepear]

Motorhomes still manage to meet safety rules with swivelling front seats still iirc?

[R9UKE]

Aerials in the heated rear window element. As fitted to mid range Scrotes, Onions, Jellymoulds & Mk3 Grandads in the late 80s

 

Renault Laguna II has this. It's one of the many things known to give up.

[Cavcraft]

Those swivelling seats fix into place when facing front so should meet any H&S reg's.

[DSdriver]

Aerials in the heated rear window element. As fitted to mid range Scrotes, Onions, Jellymoulds & Mk3 Grandads in the late 80s

 

Renault Laguna II has this. It's one of the many things known to give up.

 

When I first got my Volvo 940 estate I wondered why the nearside rear window (side facing) had a heater element in it.

[R9UKE]

When I first got my Volvo 940 estate I wondered why the nearside rear window (side facing) had a heater element in it.

 

Is THAT what that is??? I thought it was some sort of safety feature on the glass as it said "Side Impact Protection System" below it. Didn't click with me either, thanks for solving that one!!

[eddyramrod]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nice Grandad!

 

Thank you kind sir. It's for sale, you know...

[Felly Magic]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Nice Grandad!

 

Thank you kind sir. It's for sale, you know...

 

Trigger?.....

[eddyramrod]

It would certainly be an epic Autoshite drive back.... but I don't see it, it's well over his budget.