Details I like

[tonedepear]

i realise this could go mental, but I'm talking about the little things that make you glow inside. In response to the "details i dislike" thread about the little things that make you want to vomit into your hands then rub it in your eyes so you stop seeing that quarterlight/wing mirror on a stalk.

 

K. So - the grille holes on the front of an old Panda. All off set and stuff. I shouldn't like it, but I do.

 

[CreepingJesus]

^Nothing wrong with the old Panda. My favourite feature a hundred times over, is where the designer's been considerate enough to put the locks on a handle, or a plastic plate. So if I fumble the key, I don't gouge the paint.

[tonedepear]

I might be wrong, but I think all these hidden 5 door rear handles were designed by the same bloke.

 

Alfa 156 bloke went to Seat and did the mk3 Ibiza straight after I think, anyway. Air vents inside look the same anyway.

[mouseflakes]

R16 door handles...

 

[barefoot]

Vectra door mirrors

 

 

Someone has tried really hard, the bean counter was momentarily forgotten

& the mirrors are the most stylish part of a very mediocre car.

[seth]

I've struggled to find a decent photo but on certain years of Volvo P1800 the door handle forms a continuation and neat ending to the chrome trim on the rear wings/fins.

 

[michiel]

The clock in the Florian, and the badges - actually almost any old car badge.

 

[fordperv]

I love the clock in the mk3 capri its the smoothness of the second hand motion as theres no jerking that puts the icing on the cake for me

[wuvvum]

The bonnet bulge on a Studebaker Avanti that continues into the dash and forms the instrument panel surround.

 

[Pete-M]

Volvo 480 illuminated door locks are ace.

[dollywobbler]

I love odd windscreen wipers, that work well. Take these fitted to a Traction Avant as an example. Bonkers.

 

Also fitted to Panhards while Alpine-Renaults had them right up to the 1980s!

[Albert Ross]

Vectra door mirrors

 

 

Someone has tried really hard, the bean counter was momentarily forgotten

& the mirrors are the most stylish part of a very mediocre car.

 

+987.31

 

I reckon this is the best treatment of this area on any car. Evar.

[Negative Creep]

Already posted in the dislike thread, but I like the rear vents on Bluebirds, and mk.2 Astras for that matter

 

[Albert Ross]

Mercedes W115 etc wipers... So relaxing to drive behind, the wonderful "snickety-slap" as they work together. Try it sometime.

 

Citroen DS brake button.

[eddyramrod]

I've struggled to find a decent photo but on certain years of Volvo P1800 the door handle forms a continuation and neat ending to the chrome trim on the rear wings/fins.

 

 

Rear door handles on a Vauxhall Cresta PA do the same thing, and extremely well too.

 

Albert: my 1962 Cadillac (and the PA by the way) had folded-arms wipers as you describe. I agree, they are quite soothing in action.

[Pete-M]

The 604 has a mental wiper set up, which I quite like. It also has 'global closing' on the key, and as it was the first car I'd seen with it, I still find this rather amusing for a car which originally appeared in 1976. Still works on mine, does the windows and sunroof.

 

My favourite little detail like that is on Rover P5s. When the wipers are switched off they're lifted off the screen completely and rest on a little chrome plinth below the screen. Not the only car to do this (the Jeep's rear wiper does something similar, it's pretty common on old Yank shite) but the little chrome plinth is such a 'proper' Rover design feature. I also love the P6's lock covers and P5B tool kits.

 

I like pop-up headlamp washer jets too, engineering for the sake of it. Merc option cupholders are a great example of pointless but amusing dramatic engineering solutions for simple things.

[barefoot]

I really used to like Montego wipers;

The way that they only really park when they're really off.

any kind of intermittent & they let you know by a kind of semi park, sort of up the screen a bit.

 

Now I really like Rover 87's and a lot of Rover 75 details & I'd love to have one,

this is the car to which I currently aspire, but I'm frightened by the K series HGF.

 

 

Is the BMW diesel powered one any better/worth a punt/still a money pit?

[bradphil]

The bonnet bulge on a Studebaker Avanti that continues into the dash and forms the instrument panel surround.

 

 

Aside from the bonnet bulge, one of which i like about Avanti is its during s its early birth is the Studebaker parts fiberglass design which Chevrolet re-did for its 1963 Corvette.

[richardthestag]

I love the eyeball vent

 

Such a simple idea that is easy to use and effective at what it does.

 

Who did it first? My guess is mk1 tina

 

[barrett]

Aren't eyeball vents inspired by airplane practise? And did the pre-airflow 'tinas have them? If not then the Gordon-Keeble was earlier. And probably lots of Italian cars too. It seems like something Italian's would do.