Communication with the chauffeur
08/30/2016
It may be amusing, but wealthy car owners who could afford a chauffeur have always been keen on privacy, which is why there was a partition between the driver and the driver's passengers.
However, because people wanted to communicate, for example to say "Johann, pull over", aids were needed to avoid having to shout through the window.
In the Citroën DS Prestige (above) there was an electric microphone (the telephone was intended for the connection to the outside world), in the Pierce Arrowfrom 1931 you had to produce the sound yourself.
The Citroën brochure at the time stated: "A microphone connection to the driver. You can give him instructions without opening the windshield. Contact is established via a pushbutton in the rear compartment."
The curious historian wonders what was communicated via these lines ...
