Crazy Features of Old Cars!
When you imagine a car any older than 30 years, a certain bulky image likely comes to mind. But old cars were actually much cooler than you’d think. Some of the features were more advanced then you would expect for the time, and some were less advanced.
The vintage car rally in Bingen could have convinced you!
Even vintage cars from Great Britain joined the rally in Bingen. The vintage car owners were invited to Bingen and some had a really long journey to get here. One driver told me that she would have missed the air conditioning! She even disclosed a secret that she couldn’t wear her linen trousers since they would have been soaked in brown– the colour of the car seats. So jeans were her choice.
Would like to hear more about crazy features of old cars or vintage cars?
It was decades before the silly „safety“ revolution of seatbelts and airbags that took place in the `70s. Instead car manufacturers featured a minibar in the glove box as a standard feature! Can you imagine that shot glass stuck magnetically to the opened glove box so they would remain stationary. How crazy!
Later, during the late `70s, as the government became more conscious of safety, automatic seatbelts were born. Unlike than today many of them were attached to the door, so when you entered the car, you needed to slide under the belts.The closing of the door secured the belts automatically.
However, the problem was that is was so awkward to get into, that most people removed the belts. How crazy!
Or have you ever heard about the chin alarm? Whenever the car driver happened to nod off, a bell under his chin would ring and wake the driver up. How crazy is that! Today, most of the motorways have rumble strips on the edges of the road that make a loud noise when you veer off the street.
Features – Merkmale
Vintage cars – Oldtimer
To disclose a secret – Geheimnis lüften
Soaked – eingefärbt
Decade – Jahrzehnt
Glove box – Handschuhfach
Shot glass – Schnapsglas
Remain stationary – Sich nicht bewegen
Unlike than today – Anders als heute
To slide – rutschen
To remove – entfernen
To nod off – einschlafen
Bell – Glocke
Chin – Kinn
Strips on the edges of the road – Fahrbahnmarkierung im Randstreifen
To veer off the street – von der Straße abkommen