What an old car doesn't need ...
11/19/2015
Modern cars are equipped with all kinds of comfort accessories that you often wouldn't want to be without after a short drive. Drivers in the sixties or seventies would probably have appreciated this too, but there were some things they didn't need.
For example, parking beepers were completely unnecessary in a Ford Escort or BMW 320 from back then, because firstly the body was comparatively short and secondly you could see every corner from the driver's seat, and the bumpers (or bumpers) were still suitable for bumping, they usually had a rubber pad and were not painted in the car's glossy color.
People didn't need a starting aid back then either, because with a proper (and not digitally functioning) handbrake, driving off on a slope was child's play. Automatic parking in the garage at home? Unnecessary, because the car was so narrow that you could easily drive into the alcove and get out with your head held high, whereas nowadays you can't even open the door once you've parked. Electric windows? Yes, they were already around in the sixties, but the short crank was not really a big problem and some manufacturers (e.g. Peerless) had even replaced them with a simple lever pull. And so on ...
From today's perspective, as we all know, less is more, because the older a car gets, the better it is when unnecessary comfort is absent and therefore does not become a maintenance or overhaul issue.
