Do you remember these automotive "gimmicks"???

Klasse Act said:
I remember the overdrive units that were on Baldwin-Motion cars as my Uncle had old Hot Rodding/Hot Rod and Car Craft mags that I looked at a lot before I was a teenager, funny how certain things stick with you over time! Basically a Z/28 would have a 4.88 rearend and you'd pull the lever inside the car and have a 3.42.

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There was a time when you could order an O/D unit with a new car/truck. Had one on my '56 Ford P/U. Loved it!

Gear-Vender (Vendor?) I think that is the name...is a current O/D after market unit that has a lot of following these days.

Bill
 
Floor shifter conversions.

In the early 60's it seemed everyone had a version of this. Of course Hurst (still is!) was the true leader, but there were MANY companies that offered them.

Fun thing was that you could 'change' which arm went to what (on the tranny) and the shift pattern would be different. 1st would be where 2nd was and 3rd where reverse was. A 'mirror' of the original 3 speed pattern.

Bill
 
I think factory O/D units were available until sometime the 60s. My cousin ordered a '63 Chevy wagon with a 3-speed O/D, because she couldn't get a 4-speed with the gear ratio she wanted. I think she got a '65 Malibu with an O/D too, but can't remember.

Remember the trim rings with bullet hub covers that fastened with acorn lug nuts, for people who didn't use hub caps? Really popular with chrome-reverse wheels. Some had a spinner instead of a cone.
 
Well this was probably more of a fad but I painted the rearend and gas tank white on my first car, a 75' Chevelle/Malibu Classic, it said both actually!

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Extreme multi-carburetor(s) setups.

8 single throat carbs setting on a Buick Nailhead, 3 two-barrels on a Stovebolt 6.

Can you imagine trying sync all those puppies?

Bill
 
vet said:
I think factory O/D units were available until sometime the 60s. My cousin ordered a '63 Chevy wagon with a 3-speed O/D, because she couldn't get a 4-speed with the gear ratio she wanted. I think she got a '65 Malibu with an O/D too, but can't remember.

Remember the trim rings with bullet hub covers that fastened with acorn lug nuts, for people who didn't use hub caps? Really popular with chrome-reverse wheels. Some had a spinner instead of a cone.
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Now, that one I DON'T remember. But, chrome-reverse...those, of course. I always kinda liked them. But when Crager (sp) came out with 'Mag Wheels', it all changed in a blink.

Bill
 
I'm a huge fan of the Torque-Thrust wheels, they still live on today and don't look dated with upgraded sizes IMO! I had a set of polished 16" versions on my 87' Grand National and couldn't get over how good they looked on the car when I saw them for the first time when my car rolled out of the stall of Discount Tire, seriously, my eyes watered!

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As a kid, way back when, I remember a neighbor that had a 1960's car with a water-filled rear bumper. It had small plugs that would pop out on impact and was supposed to cushion a rear-end collision. Unfortunately I don't remember what kind of car it was, since I was more interested in my chopper 5-speed stick-shift bicycle at the time (I guess that was also a gimmick since you don't see those except for the vintage bike category on e-Bay ;o) The Schwinn Apple Krate was the coolest! But I never got one.

I don't recall ever seeing another one of those water-filled bumpers so I guess they never caught on, but the concept must have been sound since there are roadside crash barriers that use the same water-filled principle.

And speaking of carburetors (a few posts back), back when most cars had carburetors, if you had a V8 and a 4 bbl carb, and you flipped the round convex air filter cover over, you could really make it roar when you floored it. It was amazing how much that cover muffled things. There was a name for doing that, but I can't remember what it was.
 
SR99 said:
As a kid, way back when, I remember a neighbor that had a 1960's car with a water-filled rear bumper. It had small plugs that would pop out on impact and was supposed to cushion a rear-end collision. Unfortunately I don't remember what kind of car it was, since I was more interested in my chopper 5-speed stick-shift bicycle at the time (I guess that was also a gimmick since you don't see those except for the vintage bike category on e-Bay ;o) The Schwinn Apple Krate was the coolest! But I never got one.

I don't recall ever seeing another one of those water-filled bumpers so I guess they never caught on, but the concept must have been sound since there are roadside crash barriers that use the same water-filled principle.

And speaking of carburetors (a few posts back), back when most cars had carburetors, if you had a V8 and a 4 bbl carb, and you flipped the round convex air filter cover over, you could really make it roar when you floored it. It was amazing how much that cover muffled things. There was a name for doing that, but I can't remember what it was.
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Again I say, that's new on me. If it weren't for weight, damn'd good idea.

Bill
 
FM radio in the car.

That was a big thing when it hit the market. When car radio went to 'solid state' and then 'stereo'...WOW!

With the old style tube radios, there was no parking (for long) with your current love and listening to the songs. Dead batteries were kinda common up on 'lovers lane' Friday and Saturday nights.

Bill
 
SR99, flipping the air cleaner lid was awesome but you spoke about a 4 barrel, I had a 2 barrel on my 75' Chevelle, so I had to do something, LOL! I also had headers and Thrush turbo mufflers bolted directly to the headers and that was it.....no dumps or anything, so the end of my exhaust was right under the rear of the front seats, LOL (that might explain things, LOL!)
 
Klasse Act said:
So I was talking to my fiance yesterday about weird things in the automotive world that never took off, some I can understand for sure, let me share a couple and maybe you guys can bring up some too, enjoy:

Michelin's "Dura Black" tires...said to keep your tires looking newer longer, hmmm, guess that didn't make it because I haven't heard too much about it in quite a while.

BFG and their colored tread patten, aimed at the import scene. Not a horrible idea but when the gangs got ahold of them they'd mark their territory but what about the yellow ones....wait I know, regular people could've bought those and marked their neighborhoods to show they're scrared of the gangs!

Lavender scented tires, forgot the mfg of those but it would throw that scent for about the first 10k, surprised Martha Stewart didn't jump on that, imagine the possbilities, LOL!

Cam2 oil w/graphite....great idea for lubrication but what happens when all that graphite builds up....EXACTLY!!!
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Oh WOW...modified from its original content, hmmm!


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Its ok Setec, the info in my post is still there as it was important to get the thread going, just can't call people out here...

Back on topic, "blue dots", talk about illegal! What's worse is I've seen a guy with a brand new Mustang put blue dots between the led beams in the tails...one problem, doesn't work, LOL! I can't believe people still wanna live in the past like that but more importantly, ruin a pair of tailights that are VERY expensive!

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Yea, we did kinda go off topic. I am guilty.

In my own defense, I kinda think 'gimmicks' with 'fads.' Then some of these hare brained ideas become 'real.'

Example: Back in the dark ages of auto racing (Indy actually), someone put a mirror on their car! The horror of it all! Needless to say, that 'gimmick' turned into 'real.'

Bill
 
BillE said:
Yea, we did kinda go off topic. I am guilty.

In my own defense, I kinda think 'gimmicks' with 'fads.' Then some of these hare brained ideas become 'real.'

Example: Back in the dark ages of auto racing (Indy actually), someone put a mirror on their car! The horror of it all! Needless to say, that 'gimmick' turned into 'real.'

Bill
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Oh its all good, "gimmicks" or "fads", its all the same thing IMO. I remember under car neon lighting, horrible!

I'm sure hideaway headlights were looked at as a gimmick but its too bad that went away because it basically gave a car 2 different looks. Nowadays, sedans inparticular, have very similar looks, especially in the grill/headlight area and especially the profile, that can't be denied one bit. Now you've got this "design language" sheeet where a certain brand looks the same across the board so people know what it is and IMO that's using NO immagination at all, case in point is Hyundai, Nissan and Buick. The explanation of why the rear of the C7 looks the way it does is this design language crap and I'm sorry but it shouldn't apply to an icon, icons are supposed to stand out in a crowd, not try and blend in with others but yet those "Camaro styled tails" made it to production because of this design language. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the Camaro go away for the better part of a decade...yes it did and now the iconic Corvette borrows a styling cue from a car that couldn't cut it and is only popular because of a Hollywood movie??? Gimmicks take on a whole new meaning here for sure and its kinda funny how the upcoming Z/28 has the new tailights, hmmmm, funny how that works itself out!

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Klasse, I hear you complaining about resurrecting old styling cues, but whether it's cars or movies, it seems like we're out of new ideas (maybe they are all just used up). I heard they're making a Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie.

Hidden headlights are a bit more complicated--you'd think today they could be made more reliable (that was certainly one problem with them) but I think DRL's had some impact on them, and I'm sure weight/size and (collision) repair cost play into it, also. Now that you have me thinking about it, lotta cool cars with hidden headlights...
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Klasse, I hear you complaining about resurrecting old styling cues, but whether it's cars or movies, it seems like we're out of new ideas (maybe they are all just used up). I heard they're making a Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie.

Hidden headlights are a bit more complicated--you'd think today they could be made more reliable (that was certainly one problem with them) but I think DRL's had some impact on them, and I'm sure weight/size and (collision) repair cost play into it, also. Now that you have me thinking about it, lotta cool cars with hidden headlights...
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I too loved the pop up headlights, too, but with modern crash regulations, they were basically relegated to the past. DLR's had much to do with that, as well.

Sent from the mind of a madman.
 
Hey Setec, just saw F&F 6 over the weekend and one of the previews was for "The Lone Ranger", so its true, everyone is out of idea's I guess! Maybe we'll get lucky and the same thing will happen with music, I mean where have enduring acts gone, everything is literally one and done!

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MadMerc said:
I too loved the pop up headlights, too, but with modern crash regulations, they were basically relegated to the past. DLR's had much to do with that, as well.
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Maybe some aerodynamic concerns, also? I wonder if the EPA lets you run the mileage loop with the headlights off/down?
 
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