What are your 'weird' likes in cars?

[UltraWomble]

I do love pop up lights, too.

They almost make a Ford Probe interesting.

 

I too like to make sure my car can carry a dead body in the boot with ease....

 

[overrun]

I too like to make sure my car can carry a dead body in the boot with ease....

 

My daft mate insisted he could fit in the 'frunk'.

It's a valiant effort, no question!

[155V6]

Big 2-door saloons,4 headlights,hot hatches with no power steering(Metro GTI particularly)

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Rear wheel drive with no traction control or at least one you can switch off completely .

Turbo lag, I know it's supposed to be bad, but I love an old school thump in the back when the turbo finally wakes up Saab, Ford and Maserati's 80's offerings come to mind here.

Column changes , manual or auto- I will never own a post 1990 Bentley because of the move to floor change

(that and not being able to afford one, obvs)

Bench seats.

Steel wheels without trims on cars that should have alloys. I tried to get some 18" US Police spec steels for my Chrysler,but they cost more than 22" alloy and tyre packages.

American cars that keep rocking back and forth after the driver has walked way from the car- see Frank Cannon's Continental or Steve McGarrett's LTD.

[eddyramrod]

Rear wheel drive with no traction control or at least one you can switch off completely .

Turbo lag, I know it's supposed to be bad, but I love an old school thump in the back when the turbo finally wakes up Saab, Ford and Maserati's 80's offerings come to mind here.

Column changes , manual or auto- I will never own a post 1990 Bentley because of the move to floor change

(that and not being able to afford one, obvs)

Bench seats.

Steel wheels without trims on cars that should have alloys. I tried to get some 18" US Police spec steels for my Chrysler,but they cost more than 22" alloy and tyre packages.

American cars that keep rocking back and forth after the driver has walked way from the car- see Frank Cannon's Continental or Steve McGarrett's LTD.

McGarrett drove a Mercury Park Lane....

 

Ooh, I forgot - digidash

 

/note to self: must buy Tipo with a digidash

 

Oh, and saloons with a wiper on the rear window ... can these be retro-fitted to cars that never had them?

Never mind Tipo... what you really want is a Mercury Sable with digidash.  If only you knew someone who had one and was bribable with cash...

[catsinthewelder]

4x4 vans (Transit County I'm looking at you) but knobbley m+s's on something suitably tall do it too.

 

I really should put some on my VW because this

 

is cooler than another cunt wagon with chopped springs

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I've got a very soft spot for cars with strange wipers (was just reading another thread where this was discussed) and sinle wipers just do it for me in a big way. I live Mercs 'jumping' single wiper system and can watch them for hours! The jumping system was introduced becaus the Americans have a rule that says so much percent of a screen has to be cleared and the non jumping wiper didn't....

 

Once bought a Scirroco 'cause it had a single wiper....

 

Love the 'clap hands' wipers on old cars (Mercs a favourite).

 

Can't stand rusty wiper arms or tatty blades.

 

What are your odd likes?

The wipers on the Peugeot 604 and Mercedes W116/W126 are my favourites. 

 

My Jag has a single wiper. I quite like it, but the speed it moves on fast setting has to be seen to be believed. It has a lot of windscreen to cover.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Opening front quarter lights

 

I love the electric ones fitted to some posh American cars. Superb things.

[mat_the_cat]

4x4 vans (Transit County I'm looking at you) but knobbley m+s's on something suitably tall do it too.

 

Do these float your boat?

 

[DS20]

I am irrationally fond of the wipers found on Saab 900s - mostly the way that the driver's-side wiper covers twice the ground that the passenger's-side wiper does.  

 

 

Wash/wipe arrangements on headlights are cool, too.  Without them, the road muck at this time of year cuts the light output of old-fashioned glass-lensed headlamps right back.  

[derskine]

Clattery 80s diesels, cars without power steering (have never owned one), bonnets that open the wrong way (despite being annoying).

Beige shit.

[dugong]

Isuzu Piazzas eating Chevettes. 

[Tayne]

I too like to make sure my car can carry a dead body in the boot with ease....

 

 

 

You want a Range Rover for that.

 

Body in the boot by Mr T - thats me, on Flickr

[greengartside]

Some of the things have probably been said already but..

 

Original dealer plates, tax disc holders etc. Original rubber floormats, the old 'Champion' wiper blades that were sort of stepped in shape (if I can find a picture I'll show you), the 'ping' noise of old Fiesta/Capri doors closing shut, the sound of the old Mk2 Fiestas, the whine from a Metro/Mini, the engine note from a Mk5 Cortina in 1st and 2nd gear, indicator tell-tale noise in the Mk1 Focus, the clattery tappety noise of a Mk3/4 Astra 1600 8v on start up, same with the 2.0 Mk1 Mondeo. The door ajar/ice warning computer on the Mk1 Sierra Ghia's, any car with a 'Flashback' rear window sticker or indeed any car with period modifications, tastefully done of course. The sound of a 3-cylinder engine (I'm talking Corsa/Matiz here) - don't know why, just sound like they're trying to be a V6.
 

[Junkman]

Massive steering wheels, really the bigger the better.

Fins for wins!

 

You, sir, are ready for a 1961 Imperial.

 

 

[dugong]

You know when something's so ridiculous it goes full [sq]ircle and becomes sensible again?
That's what that Imperial is doing. 

[Junkman]

Interestingly, this thread has awakened a like in me, that I hitherto wasn't aware of.

Manual gearboxes are indeed acceptable after all - if they come in column shift flavour.

[xtriple]

Citroen Cx mk11 door mirrors! Just awesome and worth the entry fee alone.

[martybabes]

The buzz of the fuel pump at idle, from an Orion 1.6i Ghia.

Preferably when accompanied by a Peco BB4.

 

God that reminds me - I had an Orion Ghia Si (130 PS) from new and that had such a distinctive sound on tick-over.  I could hear it (and recognise it) from miles* away simply because of that special sound.

 

 

 

And another thing: do you remember that all Bedford CA vans (common as muck in the 1960s and early 70s) always had the front bumper ends a-wobbling?

[Noel Tidybeard]

the noise from a bmc b-series with twin su's- i'm looking at you sherpa coupe and marina tc

[oman5]

Anything with a column change manual and bench seat, this is by far the most space efficient way to do it.

Anything with more than 4 cylinders, or less than. 4 pots are boring, no off beat sound.

Morris minor exhaust fart on the over run.

Reliant 3 wheeler squeezed fart exhaust sound.

The high pitched whirring noise made by an Austin maxi,

BL transverse gear whine.

Vw/volvo D24 engine sound at 2400 rpm

[twosmoke300]

The sound of a smiley transit with a 2.5di

[320touring]

Wherever possible it has to be the estate version, and must have the 2nd from top engine. This is so you can never tire of the phrase

 

"I dont know why they built the 2.0- it uses the same amount of fuel as the 2.5, and goes like the 1.8"

[2MB]

'Warm' hatches (and saloons) like 205 XSs, nova SRs etc. somehow cooler than the quickest versions

[AlabamaShrimp]

Fiesta mk1 and 2 engine/exhaust noise. The tappets rattling on a fiesta with a valencia engine. Really anything fiesta!

 

80's cars but mainly fords. Original left alone email cars, no mods*. Front opening bonnets

[jonny69]

I like the clack-clack noise that bear-claw latches make when you pull the door closed - and how easily they close.

[steve_earwig]

Body coloured painted dash and door trim.

You'd like this Toyota then, the child that owned it before us painted everything that he could get off the inside without a screwdriver the same metallic blue as the outside (he also filled it up with blue leds so at night it was like getting into a swimming pool):I suppose it was easier than fixing all the dings and scrapes on the outside

 

I've always thought that the less of the ouside colour you can see on the inside, the posher the car.

 

Oh, back on topic, I like Avengers. Apparently that's weird.

[sierraman]

I've just got to have an arm rest up front to lean on.

[MrBiscuits]

Rostyle wheels.

Vinyl roofs (black only)

 

My father is a long standing proponent of the latter, having had one on his Skoda 130GL into the mid 90s.

[babydriver]

I like the sound of Town and Country tyres on Land rovers, I still remember them on standard cars in the 70's