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Once upon a time
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Things that were once commonplace and are now (almost) forgotten
Once upon a time ... the retractable load compartment window
In US estate cars in particular, the rear window could often be lowered or cranked down into the tailgate. In BMW five-door models, the glass could later be folded up independently of the sheet metal. A third, much less frequently chosen option for loading the trunk if it was not possible to open the rear hatch was offered as early as 1967 by the estate version of the Nissan Gloria. Instead of the rear window, the side load compartment window could be lowered electrically into the fender,......
Once upon a time ... the gearshift ashtray
And for two different reasons: On the one hand, because fewer and fewer people are smoking and ashtrays are generally disappearing as an equipment detail. And secondly, because today's gearshifts are so short that you can hardly put a pearl necklace around them - if they still exist at all. In many cars, rotary or push buttons have long since taken over their function. But in 1953, when half a meter of metal still protruded from the center tunnel and every breath was also a lungful, this......
Once upon a time ... when you could still change batteries yourself
When the battery in my cars went flat in the 1980s, there was usually a simple procedure. Either the manual told you what type of battery was needed, or you read the values on the battery. Then you went to the DIY store, where there was usually a large selection of batteries, put a two-digit sum on the counter and replaced the battery at home. No great mechanic experience or knowledge was required. As soon as the new battery was connected, the car ran as before. Today, modern cars are a far......
Once upon a time ... the vacuum windshield wiper
Imagine if the thermostat were to close further and further as the water temperature increases, or if the distributor were to switch more and more to late ignition as the engine speed rises. Counterproductive? Nevertheless, a design that functioned according to precisely this principle persisted in automotive engineering until the 1960s: the windshield wiper driven by the vacuum in the intake tract. This can be explained as follows: When idling or at low throttle, the engine sucks more air out......
Once upon a time ... the turbo lag
The term did not actually appear, at least in the literature known to us, until the problem had already been (almost) solved. The "turbo lag" describes the delay that occurs between pressing down on the accelerator pedal and the generation of usable power from the forced-aspiration engine. Because the turbocharger only really starts to rotate as the exhaust gases flow through it and can then supply the engine with additional compressed air, the turbo engine reacts to the throttle response with......
Once upon a time ... the insurance vending machine
It's a silly situation: you spontaneously have to give a business friend a lift in your own car, but the insurance only covers car owners and their families. And of course, as always, it has to be quick. If there is no telephone at hand and, in the worst-case scenario, even on a Sunday, accidents at the wheel can be quite expensive. From the fall of 1951, there was a solution to this unfortunate set of circumstances, at least in Frankfurt am Main: the insurance vending machine. For DM 1.50,......
Once upon a time ... the glove compartment
At least in the original sense of the word. Because while the useful hinged box in front of the passenger seat still exists, it is hardly ever used for the purpose that once gave it its name. Of course not. Gloves have become superfluous in everyday traffic since the invention of steering wheel heating. Today, the glove compartment is therefore mostly used for other purposes, for cooling food or holding canisters for interior fragrances. In the 1980s, it even had to make way for the first......
Once upon a time ... the measured use of the accelerator
If you've only ever driven modern cars, there's one thing you probably haven't experienced. Namely, that the accelerator pedal should be used with care. Today, you can simply press the accelerator even on snow and the electronics will take care of the traction. Similarly, when accelerating with a cold engine, modern cars simply pull away, there is no misfiring or choking (of the carburetor). Of course, this was quite different a few years or decades ago. After a cold start, the engine first......
Once upon a time ... the car phone
Of course, one could now argue that in the age of USB ports and Bluetooth interfaces in the center console, virtually every mobile phone is also a car phone. At the same time, however, this generalization also confirms the message of this " Once upon a time..." article:The era of permanently installed telephones in cars is definitely over. Yet their heyday was not so long ago. In 1959, the German postal service began setting up the "public mobile land radio service" with around 150......
Once upon a time ... the two-door saloon
I came across this when I read the report on the new electric Renault 5. It will be delivered with four side doors, although it imitates the design of the original R5, which was initially only available with two side doors. But a sedan with only two doors on the left and right is almost impossible to sell today, I was told. Oops, I hadn't noticed that before. Sure, today's SUVs and large saloons all have two doors on each side, but are there really no two-door normal cars left, apart from......
Once upon a time ... Starting with the starter motor
Imagine you are driving over a level crossing and the engine stops just above the tracks. It can no longer be started. The barriers start to close because of an approaching train. What to do? No problem with an older car. Engage first gear, start the starter with the ignition key and the car rumbles forward. It won't cover long distances this way, but it will get you safely off the tracks. Modern cars are stubborn about this. When the gear is engaged, the engine can hardly be set in motion......
Once upon a time ... Full throttle
Well, since the whole world, with one famous exception north of the Alps, has speed limits, this has largely been a thing of the past anyway. But even in Germany, cars are no longer demanded as much as they used to be. How many everyday drivers still drive their VW Golf 1.2 TSI over long distances at 200 km/h? But if a Beetle could reach 120 km/h in 1964, then these 120 km/h were also driven. As engine performance has increased over the decades, the proportion of full throttle has steadily......
Once upon a time ... Accessories
Have you noticed? BBS has gone bust again. However, this is not that surprising, as the aftermarket for cars has been in sharp decline for years. As a passionate customizer, you think back wistfully to the days when you could choose from at least five different rear lights for even the least well-known niche model. In fact, there was so much aftermarket equipment available for the popular makes that you actually had to have the same car three times if you wanted to use everything you liked.......
Once upon a time ... the cutaway model
With the spread of 3D programs on computers, it has become much easier to show the internal structures and processes of a technical object. However, before even the most complex machine could be digitally dissected, this still had to be done laboriously by hand and with a clear concept. Virtuosos were needed at the saw, because every cut had to be perfect. Once it was off, it was almost impossible to put it back on. How many Ford V6s and Fiat 1500s had to be cut before the perfect models were......
Once upon a time ... the simple car wash
Yes, car washing used to be simple. You parked the car in the yard, rolled out a hose, took a bucket of car shampoo and off you went with the loving hand wash. At the end, the car was polished and ready for the next week. As early as the sixties, car washes appeared that did this work for you. From then on, more and more car owners drove their cars to the facility and had them cleaned with brushes and other cleaning equipment. Today, hand washing (for environmental reasons) in front of the......
Once upon a time ... the exterior mirror that could be adjusted mechanically from the inside
There are things that you don't even notice when they disappear. Yet they were both simple and functional. One example is the exterior mirror that can be adjusted from the inside without motors or electrics. This was actually a real advance back then, when you no longer had to open the side window to reach outside to adjust the exterior mirror. After all, this was unpleasant, especially when it was raining or very cold. As early as the late 1960s, but increasingly in the decade that followed,......
Once upon a time ... the display instrument
They were the splendor and adornment of the sports cars of the sixties and seventies. This refers to the extensive arrangement of display instruments for all aspects of the vehicle and technology. Individually installed and carefully distributed across the available space on the dashboard, they gave the cars character. Many manufacturers had individual preferences as to how the "clocks" should best be arranged, whether in front of the driver behind the steering wheel and/or in the center......
Once upon a time ... the toggle switch
Nowadays there is a lot of talk about the disadvantages of modern interior technology. Touch-sensitive LCD screens have become the control center in cars. Haptics often fall by the wayside and it is rarely possible to switch functions on or off blindly. That used to be different. The toggle switch was almost ergonomically perfect. Not only could you feel perfectly whether the switching process had worked, you could also tell from the switch which position it was in. In the Jaguar S 3.8, for......
Once upon a time ... the emergency wheel
A full-size spare wheel, which corresponded to those mounted on the two axles, was almost the norm until the 1980s. But as early as the seventies, car manufacturers began to provide cars with narrower emergency wheels ("space savers") instead of the large and heavy spare wheel. The advantages were clear: the smaller wheel was lighter and took up less space in the luggage or engine compartment. In addition, the likelihood of a puncture had steadily decreased over the decades, which is why many......
Once upon a time ... the diffusing disk
Isn't it outrageous that eye clinics still charge several thousand francs for corneal lasering? You can get it for free on any highway these days! You just have to wait until a modern vehicle with LED headlights comes along at night. Okay, back to seriousness for a moment. Matrix headlights, which use intelligent traffic recognition and automatic cut-off to increase visibility without dazzling other road users, are all the rage these days. Thousands of small mirrors and countless servomotors......
Once upon a time ... the rear window
I would never have imagined that I would be writing this at some point. But now Polestar has actually done away with the rear window (on an SUV "coupé"!). Indeed! The Polestar 4 no longer has a rear window. The Swedish manufacturer explains this groundbreaking innovation as follows: "By removing the rear window and installing a rear-facing HD camera, the interior space and visibility to the rear are improved." Now the Polestar driver may be happy about his high-definition view of the traffic......
Once upon a time ... the checkbook
It was called a "customer service checkbook" or "service booklet", but what was meant was a complete list of the maintenance work carried out and usually also the specifications for this. This checkbook was usually important when selling/buying, as it allowed you to see what the previous owner(s) had done and whether the car had been serviced according to factory specifications. You could also see the mileage of each service. Actually, you could tell quite a lot from a well-kept checkbook. Of......
Once upon a time (and still is) ... the crosswalk
As early as the 1930s, consideration was given to possible road markings and signage to guide pedestrians across the roads only at predetermined points. In 1936, the Federal Council decided that the yellow color still used today was appropriate, as all hiking trails had been signposted in the same color since 1934. However, it was not until 1948 that the first yellow crosswalk was painted on the highway in Basel. France had already introduced crosswalks in the 1930s, which reduced the number......
Once upon a time ... the convertible
Well, we're probably a little too early with our prophecy of doom. You can still buy new convertibles. However, the stock is thinning out. Volkswagen has just announced that production of the open-top T-Roc is to be discontinued. And this was, after all, the last open-top VW. Things don't look much better for other brands, or then open-top cars can only be found in the top price segment. At least Mazda is (for the time being) still keeping faith with the open-top MX-5, but Toyota, for example,......
Once upon a time ... the small radiator grille
We all remember the early days of the automobile, when cars almost all looked the same or very similar and had an upright, rather large radiator in front of them. Over the decades, aerodynamics became more important and the demands on aesthetics also changed. The designers came up with flat front sections that offered only limited space for large cooling air intakes. The result was pleasing and still is today, if we look at the Maserati Mistral or the Apollo, for example. But what is in......
Once upon a time ... arbitrariness
Equipping a new car exactly as you want it is no longer so easy. All too often, optional extras are only offered in packages - or are tied to the purchase of other packages. For example, the Mercedes-Benz configurator just refused the combination of chrome trim and windows without tinting. Probably because the car would otherwise look too bright and friendly. If you want clear side windows, you also have to want black trim strips. If you want shiny chrome, you have to accept black windows. All......
Once upon a time ... the Woodie
Wood is not really a suitable material for car construction: it works, splinters and is not really weather-resistant without a nourishing root. But when sheet steel is in short supply, the old carriage material does the trick for larger car bodies. Henry Ford even bought 160,000 hectares of maple forest in Michigan in 1926 in order to have enough material for the bodies of his station wagons. The functional collector vans didn't have to look fancy. The public apparently had a somewhat......
Once upon a time ... the minivan
They offered the elevated seating position of a truck and could transport the luggage of a family of five for three weeks of summer vacation in the space of a modern compact car: Minivans - the classless all-rounders for all those who need three cars but don't want three cars. Families, in particular, enthusiastically grabbed one when the estate car had become too small. The Fiat 600 Multipla from 1956 is generally regarded as the first, if you don't include non-series experiments such as the......
Once upon a time ... the green wave
Green wave? No, it has nothing to do with political views and nothing to do with climate change and any countermeasures, at least not directly. The "green wave" was an issue that emerged back in the 1950s. It was understood to mean switching traffic lights at successive junctions in such a way that road users were able to drive through them smoothly, at as even a speed as possible and without time delays. In 1973, the ADAC measured and calculated in the article "More environmental protection......
Once upon a time ... the notchback
If you're not hunched over looking at your cell phone at the streetcar stop, but rather observing your surroundings with attentive eyes, you'll quickly notice: only weird people around me! Of course, this doesn't refer so much to the cell phone gawkers waiting in the wings, but mainly to the cars whose rear ends pass you by at different angles of inclination, but always without a kink between the edge of the roof and the bumper. Between all the compact cars, estate cars, vans and SUVs of all......
Once upon a time ... the GT
In the fifties or sixties, everyone knew what a GT or Granturismo vehicle was, namely a sports car that had to prove itself both in racing and on the "big journey". Accordingly, at least two, but preferably two plus two seats were mandatory, as was a usable trunk and, of course, an engine suitable for sporting purposes. Typical GT sports cars at the time were the Maserati 3500 GT or the Ferrari 250 GT, but also the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT or the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Coupé. Most of them......
Once upon a time ... the central brake light
The first people are probably already wondering. Surely brake lights mounted in the middle of the rear of the car still exist? Isn't that even a relatively new thing? That's right - as long as it's a third light in addition to the two on the outside of the vehicle. This only became a legal requirement in the USA in 1986 and in the EU in 1998, and remains so to this day. The situation is different, however, if the central red light is the only one that warns following traffic of severe......
Once upon a time ... the different colored tire
Not only the colors of car bodies, but also those of tires have become increasingly monotonous in recent years. Whether small car, sports coupé or luxury car - nowadays the rubber that provides the vital connection to the asphalt is always a dull black. But that has not always been the case. In the sixties in particular, tire customers were offered a blaze of color that is hardly remembered today. The best-known variation is, of course, the whitewall tire, the contrast of which has diminished......
Once upon a time ... the Opera Window
The "opera window" was a typical American design element. It was popular in the sixties and seventies, but was also found in the hardtop of the Ford Thunderbird of the fifties (picture above). It was usually installed in the C-pillar to reduce the blind spot somewhat. It was often round, but there were also angular variants, as in the second example ( Chevrolet Monte Carlo from 1976). There were also European and Japanese cars that made use of this design element, such as the Daihatsu Charade......
Once upon a time ... the radiator mascot
Now that the last survivor of this time-honored motor vehicle ornament is dying with little prospect of recovery, it is time for a premature obituary. Because the Mercedes star on the hood, as lofty as it is sublime, is now only available on express request, even on the E-Class. Those who do not express this wish are given a Plexiglas-laminated star in the center of the radiator grille in the SL style. Shortly after the automobile had moved away from its carriage-like functional form and car......
Once upon a time ... the Wivo-Autoretter
You probably remember the Trilex rim, which was designed to make it easier for truck drivers to change tires - a clever patent that has saved the day for many a haulier. But before you could even repair the damaged tire, you first had to prevent the truck from crashing uncontrollably into the ditch after the tire burst. A new invention was to make this easier from 1952: the Wivo-Autoretter. In principle, this was a small metal support wheel with solid rubber tires that was attached to the......
Once upon a time ... the Trilex rim
Back then, when trucks didn't have power steering and long-distance drivers still had to be seasoned powerhouses, flat tires were a far more frequent nuisance than they are today. To ensure that the freight still reached its destination on time, the driver naturally had to fix the problem on the roadside himself. But even the most muscular haulier would have failed to remove a tire from a one-piece rim without the help of a machine. Georg Fischer AG from Schaffhausen therefore developed a......
Once upon a time ... the halogen light bulb
We are probably still a little premature, because new passenger cars with halogen bulbs are still being sold. But they are becoming increasingly rare. Halogen light came into fashion in the late sixties. At the IAA 1967, Porsche presented the first German car with halogen dipped and full headlights. In the seventies and eighties, the halogen bulb became widely accepted, then came xenon headlights and finally LED and laser light, which increasingly replaced the conventional light bulb. But a......
Once upon a time ... the indicator switch
Of course, one could now complain again about the frequency with which drivers of premium German company cars indicate the direction of travel. But for once, that's not the point here. Although - maybe it is. Because today the blinker is actually much easier to find in its standardized position to the left of the steering column and therefore theoretically easier to operate than it was 60 years ago. Back then, every car manufacturer still had their own ideas. On the Triumph TR3 and......
Once upon a time ... the rotating mirror light
If a bank is robbed somewhere today, the first thing you should do is issue an epilepsy warning before calling the police. This is because the strobe lights of modern LED installations on emergency vehicles make even Rammstein concerts look like a lantern parade on St. Martin's Day. It flashes blue, flashes white and fidgets yellow, so that even previously inconspicuous people suddenly tend to be photosensitive. It used to work much more harmoniously: a light bulb and a parabolic reflector,......
Once upon a time ... the window crank
Not so long ago, even buyers of the most expensive Mercedes-Benz products had to pay a premium if they wanted the side windows of their car to lower electrically at the touch of a button. Small car drivers could only dream of such a luxury. However, like so many other things, the electric window regulator has become so democratized over the years that the classic crank handle is now rarely found in a new car. For decades, the window crank was an integral part and therefore also a design......
Once upon a time ... the dummy switch
A modern car hardly has a "real" switch anymore. Even vital functions are operated via computer displays or programmable buttons. This has great advantages for the manufacturer, as there are fewer "mechanical" differences between individual examples of a model type, the individual functions can be programmed and possibly even sold at a later date. Brave new world! It used to be different. The user interfaces of a car had to be designed for maximum equipment diversity. However, anyone buying a......
Once upon a time ... the pop-up headlight
Almost exactly 88 years ago, on July 19, 1934, Harold T. Ames (Cord) received the US patent for the "retractable headlight structure" under the number 2084120: headlights that disappeared into the body when not in use and only appeared at night. The Executive Vice President of Cord Coperation got the idea for this from the retractable landing lights of Stinson airplanes, which conveniently also belonged to the Cord Group. However, the hidden headlights did not appear on the road until almost......
Once upon a time ... the steering wheel
Don't worry, the steering wheel as such still exists. And contrary to what science fiction films have been predicting for decades, the steering wheel in cars will probably be around for a while yet. But in my opinion, it's already time for the first swan song for the component that doesn't need to be more than its name suggests to function perfectly: a wheel. The trigger is the Renault 5 Diamant: a "birthday present" that the French architect Pierre Gonalons gave the Renault 5 for its fiftieth......
Once upon a time ... the mechanical handbrake
For drivers who learned to drive a passenger car 20 or so years ago, the mechanical handbrake is as natural as the steering wheel or gearshift. The handbrake lever was usually mounted on the cardan tunnel. When it was pulled up, the wheels braked (usually on the rear axle) thanks to a cable and brake activation. There were many variants of operation. In some cars, the handbrake lever was located on the outside of the driver's seat, in other vehicles under the dashboard, and in very early cars......
Once upon a time ... the tarpaulin
Convertible drivers from the nineties can still remember it well. When the folding roof was open, you put a tarpaulin over it and buttoned it up all the way round. That way, everything looked clean and the roof didn't get dirty. Back in the 1960s, Mercedes-Benz (among others) replaced the tarpaulin with a metal cover, which was lifted, the roof lowered underneath and closed again. Even a Fiat 850 Spider had such a flap, while the much more expensive Dino Spider was fitted with a plastic......
Once upon a time there was a simple rear-view mirror
Although exterior mirrors have been around for many decades, they only really became "fashionable" in the sixties and later. Soon it was also possible to retrofit a second mirror on the right-hand side, usually a symmetrical copy of the left-hand one. Exterior mirrors were relatively simple until well into the seventies; they basically consisted of a mirror glass, a compact and simple housing and a stand that could be attached to the door or the fender. The mirror was adjusted via a joint......
Once upon a time, when unleaded was introduced
Some people can probably still remember it, but most have probably forgotten the heated discussions that took place in the early 1980s. At that time, it was decided to put an end to lead in gasoline. The Americans had already taken the lead in 1974, Germany played a pioneering role in Europe and the Swiss decided in 1984 that only unleaded regular petrol should be introduced on January 1, 1985. It was soon called "unleaded 95". However, super leaded (98 octane) was (initially) still available.......
Once upon a time in America
The RM/Sotheby's auction of the so-called "Elkhart Collection " took place in Indiana, USA, over the last two days. During the first auction day on Friday, a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 c (lot 1201) and a 1967 Ford Bronco (lot 1202) went under the hammer one after the other. 1432 examples of the luxurious Mercedes saloon were built in the 1950s, all of which had the straight-six engine under the hood, which also powered the 300 SL in modified form. Such a luxury four-door cost DM 22,000 in Germany,......
Once upon a time there was a hissing tap
The "sizzle valve" is a decompression valve on the cylinder head that is opened before the ignition is switched on to facilitate cranking before starting, in order to make it easier to draw ignitable mixture into the combustion chamber when the back pressure is removed. The resulting noise gives the valve its name. This is what it says in the glossary in Halwart Schrader's book "Deutsche Autos 1885-1920". This appendix is a free bonus, so to speak, and it explains a number of car terms that......
Once upon a time ... the rain gutter
It is not entirely clear who invented it. It was mentioned in local car magazines as early as the 1950s. We are talking about the rain gutter. It protected the crew from water when the doors of the wet car were opened. It also served as an attachment point for the universal roof and ski racks that were popular for decades. However, the search for ever better aerodynamic shapes put an end to the rain gutter towards the end of the 20th century. What was needed now were close-fitting ends, not......
Once upon a time in America - advertising 45 years ago
Were advertisers more creative half a century ago? Sometimes it almost seems that way, at least when you leaf through an American automobile magazine that was printed 45 years ago. The Datsun advertisement alone is really funny. They actually had a well-known painter do an oil painting of the Japanese coupé! And the Dodge Charger also drives through a painted landscape, with wild motocross riders in the background. A Triumph TR6 advertises the classic English sports car, ... ... while......
Once upon a time ... the wheel cover
Admittedly, they haven't completely disappeared yet, the wheel covers. However, only a few of them have survived, mostly on entry-level models or fitted over the winter and only when the ever larger brake discs still allow steel rims to be used. Chrome-plated wheel covers, elaborately painted versions or even chrome-plated works of art are clearly a thing of the past. In the fifties to eighties, wheel covers were still omnipresent. If you weren't rolling on Borrani wheels or expensive......
Once upon a time there was the brake light
For many years, two (or sometimes even three or four) lights lit up at the back of a car when the driver stepped on the brakes. The lights were triggered by pedal pressure or the brake hydraulics. They usually lit up regardless of the braking force; in principle, it was sufficient to touch the pedal. Today, brake lights are often controlled by the vehicle electronics, with the brake signal going to the light via the control unit and CAN bus. However, nowadays it is no longer just a matter of......
Once upon a time, five years ago ...
... a new online platform went live for a select group of pilot readers. At the time, the trial operation was called the beta phase. The new service was called www.zwischengas.com and its creators wanted to offer a new information channel for people interested in vintage and classic cars. The Zwischengas online platform was to be more up-to-date, more comprehensive and more complete. "You'll never get it right," the doubters complained. "We'll give you two years at most," said others. But we......
Once upon a time, 40 years ago - super classics at four- and five-figure prices
40 years ago, as in other years, Christie's held an auction of veteran cars from 1899 to 1963 at the Geneva Motor Show in 1975 . In today's terms, this would have been an auction of vintage, youngtimer and neoclassic vehicles, as the youngest were just 12 years old. The range on offer was impressive, from the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, which was only around 15 years old at the time, to the BMW 507 and the Bugatti 35 racing sports car, everything was there that would make the heart of a classic car......
Once upon a time there was the Bayernring ....
On April 14, 1977, the "Bayernring" project was presented in Lautershofen. A race track including a sports and leisure center was to be built. The plans included an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, a sports field, a mini golf course, a children's playground, a fitness trail, an open-air theater, an eight-hole golf course and a traffic kindergarten. The heart of the project, however, was a 3.8 km long race track with 14 bends and a maximum height difference of 50 meters. The track was to......
Refueling 100 years ago - or, once upon a time in America
Over a hundred years ago, there were no petrol stations with neon lights and self-service pumps. Refueling was still a personal affair and, as the picture shows, an idyllic story. It's quite possible that you could buy apples and bread in addition to filtered gasoline (see the "Gasoline filtered" sign), as this concept wouldn't have been that far removed from today. Safety was the top priority ("safety first"). People on both the customer and vendor side probably had more time than today, so......
Once upon a time ... the vinyl roof
You'd probably be amazed if you were browsing through a price list for passenger cars today and came across a "vinyl roof" surcharge option. Long gone? Well, not that long either. Back in the mid-seventies, the vinyl roof was still available for the Audi 80 for a cash price and promised to "give your car a particularly sporty touch". The Volvo 262 C Coupéfrom 1977 (pictured above) even had a vinyl roof as standard and the Ford Granadacost 390 francs extra in Switzerland in 1974 (see price......
Once upon a time ... the triangular window
Let's remember! Decades ago, many cars did not have one window pane on the front doors, but two. A so-called triangular window was installed at the front of the door. In many cases, this additional window could be swung out separately, sometimes even controlled by a rotary knob or, as in the VW Beetle (pictured), simply by hand. In this way, the air flow could be directed into the interior as desired and the climate in the car could be adjusted. A practical thing. But at some point, the......
Once upon a time ... the spare wheel
Future generations won't even remember them, let alone be able to change a wheel on a car. Run-flat tires and repair/compressor kits have made them unnecessary, the spare wheels. Or was it the financial controller's red pencil that killed them off? They appeared a good 100 years ago when pneumatic tires replaced solid rubber tires. Soon people were even using two spare wheels, because double stitched is better. The spare wheels were mounted on the outside or at the rear,,, ... and later in......
Once upon a time, 50 years ago in America ...
We look back at the year 1962. As readers of the renowned car magazine "Road & Track", we are informed about the news of the year, about the special cars of the time. It is a strongly European perspective that is published in the twelve issues of 1962. The lion's share of the cover pages shows European vehicles, with everyday testing primarily dominated by vehicles from England, Italy, ... ... Germany... ..., and France, but also Sweden. It is almost a stroke of luck that the Chevrolet......
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