Driving in the future - how a time traveler from 1965 would feel today
Let's imagine a man (or woman) in 1965 who is transported to 2013 by some mysterious jump in the space-time continuum. Let's further assume that the person has already begun to adapt to our achievements and receives a modern automobile on loan from a kind person to go shopping.
Of course this person can drive. After all, she learned to drive in the 1960s and we can assume that driving has become much easier over the course of almost 50 years.
But for now, our time traveler fails as soon as he opens the car. Nowhere is there a keyhole into which the clunky key of modern times could be inserted. It's maddening! At some point, a friendly passer-by helps - simply press the button and all the doors are unlocked as if by magic.
Satisfied, our man from 1965 sits down in the car and is faced with a similar problem again. Although an opening could be found into which the key fitted, it could not be turned. After some searching, a button labeled "Start" is found. But still nothing moves until our visitor from the past accidentally steps on the brake pedal in anger when he touches the start button and the engine begins to run.
Even engaging a gear on the automatic selector lever is only possible after the brake has been pressed first and, of course, the familiar clutch pedal is missing. But of course we had already heard of automatic transmissions in the sixties (see picture of the Simca 1100 GLA). Our time traveler is impressed by the built-in television set, even though it only seems to display a road map.
The unbelievable number of buttons, which are mainly located in the center console, are rather confusing. Where have the two simple sliders for temperature and air distribution gone? And what good is a numeric keypad in a car?
The next difficulty arises when trying to open the window, because there is no crank anywhere and again it takes a few moments of searching before one of the buttons built into the door lowers the windows electrically. At least the blinker works almost as expected and so the journey can begin.
The driving performance is downright exhilarating and the difference to an Opel Kadett from the sixties is striking. A glance at the speedometer shows 90 km/h shortly after setting off and the lightning flashes ...
