Personally, I wish the days when there weren't windshield washers, power brakes and air conditioning weren't around. Nothing like not being able to see out the window in the bad weather. It is always fun trying to get warm before heaters, too.
I suggest that if you leave in the Northeast, you just go in your car. Don't turn on the windshield washer. Keep the off. And simulate not having power brakes by stopping real slowly. And just for fun , don't turn on the heat. Then tell us if they make things better.
The electronic gadgetry doesnt make much better. Electric windshield wipers were a great step forward from those manifold vacuum driven Ps.O.S. We always had heaters in our cars, even back to the 41 Ford we drove.
Air conditioning came later, but was a godsend. It did not have a $600 computer. It had an on/off position and a thermostat. Not bad, really.
Electric wipers that run when you push down the pedal going up a hill are a huge improvement over the vacuum motors. I don't think that is a gadget at all.
They've also been around for close to 70 years now. I'm not aware of any mainstream vehicles that used vacuum wipers past the mid-50's. I'm guessing that Packard was one of the last; and by the end, most vehicles used an auxiliary vacuum pump off either the fuel pump or the oil pump instead of manifold vacuum. I will grant you that there were some pretty dramatic improvements in vehicles during the first half of the 20th century; the difference between a "brass era" car and a 50's car is incredible.
You could pluck anyone off the street today and put them behind the wheel of a decent 50's car and with a little familiarization they could drive it safely and comfortably in today's traffic. Which was the whole point that several people were trying to make earlier in this thread.
A case could be made that the American automotive industry peaked around 1971 and it would be difficult to argue with that; certainly the period between about 1976 and only a few years ago was witness to some seriously suckful products put out by once-proud manufacturers.
Ford Falcons of the early '60s had vacuum wipers, and American Motors used them through the late sixties.
The later fifties was a great era for gaudy automobile design. Chrysler took it a step further with their land yachts that had such quirky features as big tail fins, a rear view mirror that stuck up from the dashboard, an odd shaped steering wheel, and push-button transmission controls. The 57 Plymouth gave a preview of the dual headlight look with the parking light next to the headlight. It resembled a face with a black eye.
That's all true but the basic functionality has not changed. A plumber in 1949 would have had a panel truck with some tool boxes in the back and various other tools. A plumber in 2007 has the same basic vehicle as he goes about his business. If you gave him a brand new 1949 model to replace his 2007 model he would not miss a beat in doing his work other then missing the AC in some parts of the country.
Nope. In practical terms, my 1960 corvair did everything my current vehicles do except it didn't have AC. Yeah, it was gutless. But it was pleasant to drive from Phx to LA.
The point is not that modern cars are not "better" in that they have more features, the heaters and wipers work better, the transmissions are more efficient, etc,. But that's just refinement. The basic design of the vehicle is the same, the functionality is the same, and in many ways there's not much different even in the "better" part. A
1960 Caddy didn't have great handling perhaps but it was comfortable and had all the creature comforts of any significance unless you think cup holders constitute basic functions of a car.
The best car I ever had was my 69 Firebird 400. It was quieter on the road then my 99GT, driving position and seat was better, interior was nicer looking, and steering was actually quicker and more precise feeling. Handling was worst though. Mileage in normal driving was not great but I got about 15 mpg on a fast trip and once got 21 mpg doing a steady 55 mph from phx to LA during the 72 oil crisis. The
99gt is technically a better car and I really like it but it will never replace the 69 when all categories of "why I like a car" are added up. And the 69 was still on it's original, unturned front disks at 125,000 miles. And they were SHOT.
We hope that tradespeople have the right tools. My wife got suckered into paying $200 for a duct cleaning from a HVAC company. The kid gets here in his beat up rusty old GMC van, and he's hooking up some tubing to a side outlet port of the van. And there's a giant vacuum cleaner inside the van to suck out the debris from the ventilation system.
There was this gasket thingy to seal the tubing to this inlet thingy to keep air from being sucked in (which would decrease the vacuum effect and thus the cleaning effect of the system). Anyway, instead of using bolts to secure the tubing to the gasket which was how the system was designed, the kid instead used a couple of those hook thingies that people screw into the beams in their garage to hang bicycles from. I put my hand near the gasket, and it was sucking in all kinds of air. I said: "you need to get some bolts for this to work properly." The idiot shrugged his shoulders and said he lost the bolts. I suggested he go down to the hardware store down the street and buy some more. He didn't reply; I should have thrown him off my property right then and there. Also, the 200 feet of tubing had many cracks in it that I pointed out, and he got some masking tape (masking tape! not even duct tape) out of his truck and taped up the holes. I should have demanded to see the dust trap in the van to see if his shoddy equipment even sucked any dust out of my ventilation system. probably not.
No, the basic design of a horse and carriage is fundamentally different. But you are right that he could get by with the HC albeit he could not carry nearly the amount of tools or travel quickly, or "gas up" rapidly. That's the kind of fundamental differences I'm talking about.
My great great great grandfather was a plumber in the early 1800's and he drove a pimped out Conastoga wagon with 40 inch rims. His horse power was provided by a team of Budweiser Clydesdales.
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