International Quirks...

[Futuramic]

It seems that differing laws and home grown inventions have, or at least did, define a car's national identity. These days cars are all pretty much the same; but in the past certain countries plumped for various gadgets and devices rarely seen elsewhere. Or at least they were early adopters of them or included such as standard equipment where others would charge. I know it's rather un PC these days to focus on how those from other countries are different but here are my observations as a list of things generally thrown in:

 

France

 

Remote central locking, steering wheel mounted radio controls, front fog lights

 

Germany

 

Parking lights! All German cars seem to have complex arrangements for illuminating various bits when left. Service indicators - BMW especially but I believe early VWs have them

 

Britain

 

Square steering wheels; column change manuals; clockwork self-cancelling indicators

 

USA

 

Warning chimes. American cars seem to have all manner of these including "driver's door open" - yes I know I did it; "keys in ignition" etc. Also ignition independent brake lights. On most cars they only illuminate with the key in position 2, for some reason in America they work all the time. Foot operated parking brakes.

 

Sweden

 

Heated seats; seatbelt off warning devices; ABS

 

There must be loads more. It was always great fun, up until the late nineties, to get into a car from another country and examine its myriad alterations.

[Pete-M]

USA

 

Warning chimes. American cars seem to have all manner of these including "driver's door open" - yes I know I did it; "keys in ignition" etc. Also ignition independent brake lights. On most cars they only illuminate with the key in position 2, for some reason in America they work all the time. Foot operated parking brakes.

 

I imagine you've seen

but it's always worth a re-post.

 

German cars tend to have the brake lights that work without the ignition too. I've noticed that the horns on various German cars don't work without the ignition being on..

[warren t claim]

Id have the French down as more enthusiastic about column change manuals. Think Renner 16 and 70's Pugs.

[Futuramic]

USA

 

Warning chimes. American cars seem to have all manner of these including "driver's door open" - yes I know I did it; "keys in ignition" etc. Also ignition independent brake lights. On most cars they only illuminate with the key in position 2, for some reason in America they work all the time. Foot operated parking brakes.

 

I imagine you've seen

but it's always worth a re-post.

 

German cars tend to have the brake lights that work without the ignition too. I've noticed that the horns on various German cars don't work without the ignition being on..

 

I hadn't seen the Techno Jeep thing. I rarely venture outside this place, at least not without an AA card and a spare fanbelt, but I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it immensely. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

Back to the topic - on German cars the electric windows seem to work with the ignition off. Extremely useful.

[Shep Shepherd]

I believe that Renault invented remote central locking back in the early 1980s

[Volksy]

Japanese,

Indicators on the right stalk, which IMHO is correct for RHD cars.

[Lord Sterling]

We in Britain also do a good line in Wood n' leather and shag pile carpet/mats.

[eddyramrod]

USA: the single most enthusiastic nation over automatic transmission, which is fine by me! Also, first or prolific with almost every labour-saver you can think of. Not only that, but clung to the bench seat long after everyone else had gone to buckets.

 

GB: penny-pinching design, such as reskinning the Morris Minor and calling it Marina, then fitting the same front doors regardless of configuration. And then making the thing last years beyond its sell-by date. Which was about 1967.

 

Sweden: heated seats, for obvious reasons. Bliss!

 

Germany: so-called luxury cars with plank-hard seats and pov-minus trim levels. Er...?

 

France: soft seats and long-travel suspension.

 

Italy: ridiculously willing engines that punch way above their weight and consequently induce wide grins in everyone who drives them.

 

All the former Soviet countries: outdated Western designs made of much thicker steel, doubling the weight of the car and quadrupling the life expectancy.

[Albert Ross]

Japanese with cable operated fuel flap openers. And hidden bonnet release cables (Suzuki, I'm looking at you here!)

[Barry Cade]

Swedish cars with headlamp wipers and the funny plastic clip on the windscreen pillar.

 

German cars- 1 rear foglamp, where there is a blank on the other side..real penny piching.

 

Early jap cars always had a recirc function for the heater- the sole purpose of which seemed to be to steam up the windows quickly- handy in some situations

 

American cars of the '80's where the seatbelt was attatched to the door on rails..

[dollywobbler]

I doubt the single rear fog light on German cars is penny pinching. I thought it was to make it easier to identify compared to brake lights, as there's only one lamp. That sounds more Germanic!

 

French cars always used to have the best ride, yet generally handled well and came with a major dose of quirky - Pugs excepted. Presumably they were for French accountants.

[Skizzer]

I don't think any other countries revered the vinyl roof quite as much as the British and the Americans, especially the latter who embellished them with fake pram hinges and opera windows.

 

I miss French cars having yellow headlamps. I've still got a bottle of paint-on headlamp yellow somewhere, waiting to come in handy. Another French quirk was that all small/medium cars in rural France were that same cream colour, regardless of whether they were Renaults, Peugeots or Citroens.

 

You used to be able to tell how posh your mate's dad's Ford / Vauxhall / [insert BL brand here] was by the number of dials in the dash; I think that might have been a British thing.

[scooters]

USA - blinkingly obvious H&S stickers everywhere including the wing mirror DANGER OBJECTS MAY APPEAR CLOSER THAN THEY ACTUALLY ARE (missing the words YOU MORON) on all the models I have seen

 

FRANCE - using whatever components happen to be kicking about the factory to build a car - the variety of brake shoes for the 306 is a bit like Darwin's classification of species of birds

 

EASTERN EUROPE - Cars that can be worked on by the heroric workers of the dictatorships of the proletariat also functional dashboards free of decadent imperialist political statements like heaters and the such!

 

GERMANY - Building cars which are driven by twats - the 3 biggies take turns in this - used to be BMW now Audi have the crown...(mind you a BMW X5 this morning was driven by a very aggressive young lady with an enourmous penis growing out the top of her head

[fordpoplier]

USA = Cupholders, more the merrier. But the rest of the world is catching on!

[boobydoo]

I miss French cars having yellow headlamps.

 

...and clear indicator lenses compared to orange ones.

 

French

 

British

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above illustration is a service provided free of charge to anyone who is a complete 'divvy'

[mattblack]

German cars tend to have the brake lights that work without the ignition too. I've noticed that the horns on various German cars don't work without the ignition being on..

 

Lada wipers work without the ignition on... this is G8 4 FLATTENING THE BATTERY IF YOU LEAVE THEM ON PAUSE

[ashmicro]

Japanese,

Indicators on the right stalk, which IMHO is correct for RHD cars.

 

 

This. I found this feature very useful when I had the Tucson. One could steer, indicate and change gear all at once.

[Guest Tony Hayers]

 

Walkers must be paying Lineker well for him to bugger off to France and own a Simca 13 series. Unless he needs the extra cash that is, and hops on the Ferry/Eurostar/back of a wagon (delete as app) just to do a spot of valeting

 

Nobody mentioned daytime running lights for the Swedes? Or Pajeros on campsites....

 

Or is that something else?

[mnde]

The brake lights on my GSA (and I think the old BX too) work without the ignition.

 

Do all French cars have a ciggie lighter as standard - even on boggo spec?

French - uber complicated dashboards, with myriad warning lights? and in the 80s, spaceship styling (e.g. Citroen GSA, Renault 25)

Italian cars - it used to be that the tachometer had pride of place compared to the speedometer. Is that still the case?

 

British cars - many BL models sharing things from the parts bin

Simpler dashboards, more traditional design. Plenty of fake wood for upmarket models

 

 

Mark.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Pretend stiching on all the plastic bits seemed to be de rigueur in 'seventies Japan. The Yanks were quite partial to it too.

British cars had a fair bit of real wood in them as well as the fake stuff. I can think of at least one BL product where wood was painted to look like the new fangled plastic stuff Johnny Foreigner was using.

The British were also keen on furry headliners which droop on the third owner.

 

Smell. British, French, German, Italian and Japanese cars all have their own distinctive smell. I seem to remember Skodas smelled French though, so maybe this is bollocks.