What's your fetish?

[theorganist]

I would love a car air freshener with that smell.

[Tamworthbay]

Long bonnet, four headlights, bonnet hump, sloping rear end, small spoiler, big doors. A mk3 Capri basically, but a 68-69 Camaro SS would do.

[DeeJay]

 

 

You're talking about cars?

 

Forget that.

[sierraman]

Mondeo Mk2s usually have a fairly distinct smell to them, usually piss wet through carpets.

[timolloyd]

I’m obsessive about knobs, of the gear variety. I like them small and delicate. While I’ve owned a couple of Landies and don’t mind a van now and again, my ultimate motoring pleasure is a stubby little one surrounded by leather.

[chodweaver]

I could very easily develop a fetish for gear knobs, but I have accidentally been subject to a course of aversion therapy as follows:

 

My Dad's Marina had the smooth black plastic one with a disc insert showing the gear layout. But the disc would pop out whenever the car warmed up in the sun, so the effect was spoiled.

 

Our first camper had, what my FiL informed me, was a painstakingly crafted Saracen's head knot fitted over the gearknob. Lovely. Except this was now very old and covered in the sort of black waxy deposit that such fabrics accumulate from lots of mucky hands. So again, the effect was spoiled.

 

My treasured possession, the XM of mechanical perfection* and flawed body has the faux leather gear knob complete with fake stitching. Said stitching has started to split and in a fit of OCD one day, I pulled at the split until the entire knob became three pieces and no longer stayed on its decidedly sharp plastic frame. Replacements are expensive and rare.

 

I don't have a lot of luck with gear knobs...

 

ETA The saving grace is the LT's gear knob. Solid, almost completely spherical, probably made from some thermosetting plastic, it has just the slightest amount of rotational play that ends with a metallic click - and this comes from the bottom of the gear stick, not the knob itself, so there is a satisfying weight to be felt when twisting the knob cw and ccw, which I tend to do before and after each gear change, because OCD, and because each gear change in the LT must be both carefully considered before execution, and savoured.

 

Welcome to the madness at the core of my soul.

[pandamonium]

Wheel trims. The more flat and disc-like the better...

 

 

 

A couple of cars I've owned to prove my point .. 

[Simonsays]

I cant even begin to explain why....

 

I've always lusted after a car (any car) that has a metal gate rather than a leather gaiter.

 

So much want.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Clap Hands wipers, yesterday a mate lent me a hideous 307 auto when my ML wasn't quite finished on the ramp, only drove it about 6 miles but it was raining and when I put the wipers on I almost got a semi !

 

Others similar to other pervs already posted,; Column change, Mrs N doesn't know it, but thats mainly why she's got an ML rather than a Tourareg or X5.

 

Different Windows , sliding a la Land Rover or Dyane, but especially flip up 2cv, opening windscreens or just opening rear window on an estate.

 

Stereo weirdness, 80's/90's Renaults, those old high spec Fords with a seperate graphic equaliser but best of all the Blaupunkt graphic on a giant stalk that bolted to the transmission tunnel.

[oldcars]

Fake wood. I love a bit of fake wood. Really like the stuff in the gooners that look like carpet gripper.

[chaseracer]

My dad made my knob.  Turned a lovely piece of ash from the gardens at PARENTS_RACER_HALL and I fitted it to the Dyane.  Like many knobs, it doesn't get much use.

 

As you were.

[bezzabsa]

bog basic povo spec cars .. less switches etc the better..

makes it feel like you're actually 'driving' the car , rather than sitting in it..

mini's had the right idea...if you didn't NEED it , it wasn't fitted..

think its why I loved my Skoda estelles and lada Nivas..and also series Land rovers...

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Funny, nobody has mentioned rubber....

[Noel Tidybeard]

+1 for clap hands wipers

 

although the electic set up on a mk3 crocus seems a bit jerky and disappointing after the obviously over complicated honda mechanical system in a spaceship civic

 

there's something quite satisfying about peek-a-boo headlight washers as well

[155V6]

Wheel trims. The more flat and disc-like the better...

 

FB_IMG_1522216279879.jpg

 

FB_IMG_1532866563616.jpg

 

A couple of cars I've owned to prove my point .. 

I have a hatred of most wheel trims but both of those look brilliant 

[Bren]

Fake wood especially in a Rover - the japanese stuff looks like shit.

 

Funnily enough our granada, despite being 29 years old, still has that new smell.

 

It has never been cleaned with modern silicone stuff.

[155V6]

I like a dark grey or black interior,preferably with leather seats.I also like the gearknob & steering wheel leather covered,nothing worse than shiny plastic on either of them.

I don't mind a bit of fake wood in the right car,the Puma has it on the dashboard & gearknob & it just looks wrong 

Any more than 2 doors are too many for me.

[New POD]

Wheel trims. The more flat and disc-like the better...

 

FB_IMG_1522216279879.jpg

 

FB_IMG_1532866563616.jpg

 

A couple of cars I've owned to prove my point ..

One man's hobby is another man's mental illness.

 

That's all i can say. other than different.

[ProgRocker]

A fetish must border on the obsessive, which is wipers full stop for me. Always has been. I would make wiper layouts with drinking straws, bits of twig or Lego as a child. It was a great age to grow up, because buses in particular had fascinating wipers that often behaved in strange ways.

 

I had a feeling that yours would be the wipers as you talk a lot about them in your excellent videos. 'pantograph wipers!'   I used to like the old Merc wipers like the SL or W116 where they are close to each other or the older saloons that swipe the opposite way to one another (like the W108). I still like them tbh.

 

When I was young I was fascinated by the 1970s-80s Ford automatic 'T' gear shifter. First seen on the mark 4 Zephyr/Zodiac if it didn't have a bench seat.

My parents had a mark 1 Granada 2.0 L with a 4 speed manual but all the other Granadas were auto with the 'AUTOMATIC' badge on the back. A little less impressive in the 1980s when it went from chrome to black on the mark 2 phase 2 Granadas and then replaced with a black knobbly affair in the mark 3 Granada/Scorpio and Sierra that didn't look quite as awesome.

 

I suppose these days I fetish-ise over steel wheels now that alloys are so common.

[skoda_fan]

My moniker gives it away....rear-engined Skodas. OK, I'll be honest, they were always shit and haven't improved with age. But that's partly why: love for the underdog. I bought my first one in '92 and have always owned at least one ever since. My life doesn't feel right without at least one I can use, and I've lost count of how many I've owned. A couple of years ago I had a head rules heart episode and got rid of all except my S110R (always garaged and I'll never get rid). Almost immediately I regretted it (especially my Rapid Convertible, now hens' teeth rare). Hence buying my current Estelle....good to have an old Skud I can use for the commute, nipping to the shops, etc.

 

If we're talking actual fetishes, not car related, I have a massive penchant for walking around barefoot (yes I know, yuk, vile etc). And no, I'm not Mr Barefoot of this parish!

 

Re-reading all of the above I'm clearly in need of help

[Cavcraft]

Hats off to whoever said three cylinders two strokes earlier.

 

 

 

 

Aside from that a Transit 2.5Di being hammered, an 8V C20SEH with a nice pipe and K&N or a Capri 3.0 being wellied. Oh, and just about every two stroke scooter or bike being revved.

[Schaefft]

Smooth and clean aero designs, to the point where I buy car just for that.

[Lacquer Peel]

[Tayne]

The e46 coupe (and probably later BMw coupés as well) have electric rear windows.

The rearmost part is pushed outward when the motor winds a threaded rod, and the front part is on a piano hinge (covered by trim of course).

20F12E45-6F35-406B-A3C1-04B64CB535F8.MOV

[Partridge]

Cross spoke or swirly (V70 T5 style) alloys.

 

Cream seats.

 

Pininfarina styling.

 

Notchbacks.

 

Large or slightly awkward rear lights.

[FakeConcern]

Of things already mentioned

 

Knobs, my C4 VTS has an alloy one, another reason why I liked it so much more than my XM.

 

Clap hands wipers, yes the C4 has that as well and I love it.

 

However my main Fetish (car wise) is a rear wiper. I fitted one to all my Minis except the Clubman estate and have had one on every car since. The C4 VTS only has a tiny rear wiper (nobody's perfect).

 

My Minis and 1st Metro showing rear wiper;

 

 

Tiny rear wiper on VTS

 

 

[eddyramrod]

Plenty of Japanese 4-door pillarless, though not sure if any were hardtops or just sedans?

 

 

France, too: Facel Vega Excellence...

 

 

Fins on the earlier ones, just for you Eddy!

 

I'm aware of a few Japanese cars with frameless windows even on the four-doors; I'm also aware of some pillarless coupes, but all the saloons I can think of had the upper section of B-post, same as cars with framed windows.  Heck, a Triumph Herald has no window frames on the doors, but it does have that pillar.  What does it for me is the unbroken space when you wind all the windows down.  Two doors, like an old Celica, or Huggy, work well enough, but four..... ooh it makes me shiver!

Facel Vega: I'll hold my hand up, I forgot about that.  But it was hardly a commonplace mainstream car like a 1960 Chevy Impala, now was it?

 

I did also like watching my pop-up headlights going up or down too.

Tell you what else works: red velour interior.  Oooooh!

[mat_the_cat]

I was also fascinated in the little blank rear isolation switches - usually little blank buttons. Sierra, Stellar GSL, BMW, Granada, Senator etc.

 

Fake wood. I love a bit of fake wood.

 

The Stellar can oblige on both counts

 

 

 

And I've just realised how dirty it looks close up!

 

My fetish I guess is things which light up, especially if unusual. Such as instrument stalks:

 

I even went to the lengths of converting the BX window switches to illuminated:

 

 

But back to the Stellar - one of the big attractions to me as an 8 year old was the rear reading lights. I used to love long journeys late at night, where I would read a book while the miles sped by. In my teens they would occasionally get used whilst 'getting cosy' in the back seat

 

Nowadays I'm always driving, and generally alone so the only time I get to experience these wonders is if I sleep in the back - but just how welcoming is this?

[Skizzer]

Brown or beige velour.

 

Interesting, clever designs that didn’t necessarily catch on but for rubbish reasons.

[Des]

Round headlamps and metal bumpers, I'll also squirt a drop of creamy wee for rocket age tailfins.