Things that were futuristic and now seem quaint

[grogee]

I'll kick things off with this boast about the Maestro's ignition ECU. 

It would have blown people's minds in 1984, but nowadays this feels really quaint. 

Can you imagine how many data points are on a modern fuel/ignition map??? 

[Imhotep]

Do we mean bits of tech in cars or can we have cars as a whole?

If we can have cars as a whole I’d like to nominate the spaceship Civic 

[EyesWeldedShut]

Ice, ice, baby?

[Richard_FM]

TV Tropes calls this phenomenon Zeerust https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust from the Liff that defines something designed to be futuristic but now looks badly dated because of this!  

[matt79]

I nominate Audi's 'Procon 10' safety system, a pre-airbag safety system using cables to pull the steering wheel away from the driver & tighten the seatbelts in the event of a frontal collision.

 

[timolloyd]

The Triumph Herald made a thing about it’s collapsible steering column, and something like 72 driver’s seat positions…achieved by rotating rubber blocks.

[EyesWeldedShut]

23 minutes ago, timolloyd said:

The Triumph Herald made a thing about it’s collapsible steering column, and something like 72 driver’s seat positions…achieved by rotating rubber blocks.

Never knew that about the seats - even though my dad, my brother & I all passed our tests in the same 1968 Herald 1200 (powah!). I don't think we ever moved the seats from my dad's settings as he used to moan like feck if we did.
I do remember the claim that it could turn tighter than a London Taxi - that was quite quaint living 400 plus miles away from London.  Have an advert promoting the 'big' engine - 39BHP of mahoosive power - now that is quaint.

[Asimo]

 

[tooSavvy]

34 minutes ago, Asimo said:

 

"We are about to BreakDown....!"

Aye 👍

🚙💨

[MrBiscuits]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qnTz_RPxhTo#bottom-sheet

Remember this...

[grogee]

3 hours ago, MrBiscuits said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qnTz_RPxhTo#bottom-sheet

Remember this...

I do! 

I bought a TM unit that was roughly pyramid shaped, this would have been around 98 I think. 

At the time I made fairly regular trips from Essex to Devon and needed to traverse the M25. 

By means of its 6x6 LED readout, it could tell me if clockwise or anti clockwise were slow/jammed. It did other traffic stuff as well, quite good for its time and no subscription needed. 

Usually though when I really needed it, the 3x AAA batteries would fail. 

[grogee]

British Motor industry in its full pomp

[Centre Du Patrimoine Auto]

You dont even need to go far back, especially when it comes to phones…

[MrBiscuits]

Who remembers sat nav setups like this? Bluetooth gps thingy had to go on the parcel shelf to stand any chance of finding a sattelite (had to remember to charge it first of course). Ipaq would take an age to start, and crash at least twice requiring a full reboot along the way. I think a proper tom tom unit was about £700 in 2004

 

[Jazoli]

31 minutes ago, MrBiscuits said:

Who remembers sat nav setups like this? Bluetooth gps thingy had to go on the parcel shelf to stand any chance of finding a sattelite (had to remember to charge it first of course). Ipaq would take an age to start, and crash at least twice requiring a full reboot along the way. I think a proper tom tom unit was about £700 in 2004

 

Yes I used to have a Compac pocket PC thing I used to navigate around the country whilst delivering stuff.

[High Jetter]

Who would have believed that elements could be inside the glass instead of stuck on? Next you'll be telling us you can get heated windscreens too!

[warch]

1 hour ago, MrBiscuits said:

Who remembers sat nav setups like this? Bluetooth gps thingy had to go on the parcel shelf to stand any chance of finding a sattelite (had to remember to charge it first of course). Ipaq would take an age to start, and crash at least twice requiring a full reboot along the way. I think a proper tom tom unit was about £700 in 2004

 

It's even worse with the integrated systems you usually got in posher cars like BMWs and Jaguars. The I Drive in my brothers old 5 Series looked horribly old hat by the time it packed in last year (the car not the I Drive). 

 

[quicksilver]

Digital speedos using 7-segment backlit LCDs must have looked cutting edge in the eighties but distinctly old-fashioned nowadays. Same for digital odometers, which are just normal now. 

Walt Disney called this phenomenon the "Tomorrowland Problem". The future eventually turns into the present and then the past, so anything designed to be futuristic is doomed to inevitably become obsolete, quaint and need constant costly updating.

[colnerov]

5 hours ago, Asimo said:

 

 

" Stop, something dreadful has happened."

[Asimo]

Resin composite wheels. (Citroën SM)

[grogee]

14 hours ago, Richard_FM said:

TV Tropes calls this phenomenon Zeerust https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Zeerust from the Liff that defines something designed to be futuristic but now looks badly dated because of this!  

That's a fun link, thanks for sharing 

[grogee]

24 minutes ago, Asimo said:

Resin composite wheels

😮 

Plastic Citroen wheels - why didn't that catch on?! 

I suppose there are a few high end manufacturers specifying carbon wheels nowadays. More commonly they're just cast alloy with a shit cover on to make them look composite. 

We can lump in metric wheels and tyres, what an utterly pointless endeavour 

[grogee]

48 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Digital speedos using 7-segment backlit LCDs must have looked cutting edge in the eighties but distinctly old-fashioned nowadays. Same for digital odometers, which are just normal now. 

Walt Disney called this phenomenon the "Tomorrowland Problem". The future eventually turns into the present and then the past, so anything designed to be futuristic is doomed to inevitably become obsolete, quaint and need constant costly updating.

My E61 525i had a very mingebag iDrive system with no fun options. It was very disappointing to scroll through the 'menu' which was basically just trip computer, CD, and boring radio (not DAB). 

[Asimo]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

metric wheels and tyres, what an utterly pointless endeavour

The TRX wheel sizes were metric because the wheel / tyre interface was quite different to that of conventional wheels and it was vital that they were not mixed. Different sizes ensured dangerous combinations couldn't occur.

Quickly tyre technology improved and left the TRX behind. (Possibly helped by most drivers seeming not to care about ride quality. Weirdly.)

[Mr Laurence]

How about the Honda Gyrocator from the early 80’s? An optional GPS system for Japanese market Accords that used a gyroscope, tiny CRT and paper map overlays. Crazy for 1981, but seems pretty novel and primitive now.

 

https://global.honda/en/about/history-digest/75years-history/chapter3/section2_4/

[Austin-Rover]

Paying a small fortune for an aftermarket navigation system. Even built-in ones are now redundant with smart phone mirroring, as Google Maps is invariably better than your car's own built-in navigation. 

 

[Wibble]

2 minutes ago, Austin-Rover said:

Paying a small fortune for an aftermarket navigation system. Even built-in ones are now redundant with smart phone mirroring, as Google Maps is invariably better than your car's own built-in navigation. 

 

Blimey, I didn’t realise River 800s were that quick!

[Surface Rust]

Tomorrow's World.

All episodes.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

Tomorrow's World.

All episodes.

Oi! My Dad was behind the scenes on one, with a can-crushing machine.

[DSdriver]

The original trafficmaster units without a screen. Can't find any pictures but I used to have one back when I was doing a few motorway miles.

I think it saved me from queuing on the motorway a couple of times.