Just having one of my curious wondering moments. Does anyone know the history of the sun visor mounted vanity mirror?
Presumably it's thought of as still popular as many car makers still spend the extra few pounds bothering to fit one. Is it really that popular? Is it really needed? Is it now just fitted out of tradition? What car had them first? Is it some sort of sexist throwback to a time when they expected a couple to be out in the car with the man driving and the woman doing her makeup?
I know it's hardly going to shave anything off the price of a new car by not fitting one, but I do find it mildly amusing when you climb into a new car full of gadgets and modern tech and a dashboard that looks like a space shuttle control desk, and then you flip down the visor, and yep, there's the little mirror.
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My teenage girls couldn't manage without it seems. They are very pleased to see lights either side too on the C5.
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In that case don't let them drive the ones with mirrors on both sun visors, MM! ;)
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I was just thinking the same, pretty sure I've been in cars with mirrors both sides! Perhaps it was a bit of a "blokey" question to ask! :-)
I wonder if they will soon go the way of ashtrays and start to disappear. Presumably the removal of ashtrays stemmed from a safety point of view (hot cigarette + sweet wrapers) and after all there's always the window. (Yes, I know there's a thread for that!)
Do car makers poll people on their use of in car facilities and likes/dislikes of various non driving related features and "cab" comforts?
Edited by Devolution on 14/01/2010 at 20:37
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Actually there was a look of glee as eldest glanced across on the first new C5 outing and noted there's one on the drivers side too.... so that's one each when I leave them in the car I guess.
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I'm not sure if this is using vanity mirrors or simply the rear view mirror, but we've all seen male drivers who are sitting waiting at a red light, and start adjusting/flicking their hair whilst looking in the mirror.
So they aren't just for women.
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There is a bloke in a VW I see some mornings on the M42 who is driving along while having a shave with an electric razor using his vanity mirror!
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When did we jump to having two mirrors, one for driver and one for passenger? The old assumption was, of course, that only the man drove.
Its a social commentary on changing times.
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It is an EU ruling SFAIK AE. There has to be a vanity mirror both sides in case a male driver is of a certain sexual orientation and wants to fix his lippy!
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while having a shave with an electric razor using his vanity mirror!
Thats nothing. My brother claims to have had a wet shave while driving from South Wales to Warrington for a family funeral. I didnt look that closely, but there didnt seem to be too much blood on his shirt!
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the worst thing is his driving with the vanity flap down, looking into it, and holding the wheel with his knees. All while driving at 70 -80mph!
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The earliest cars to have them ? Not sure about that, but my 1937 Jowett 8hp certainly had one on the nearside. My '52 car has one.
Ted
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Sad but true but SWMBO insists on this feature whenever I look at a car, moreover it's got to have a light too. Just no comment....
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My partner often drives down the road checking her makeup etc in the drivers vanity mirror. They should ban them for the drivers side.
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. My brother claims to have had a wet shave while driving
His other name's not Bean by any chance?
Edited by b308 on 15/01/2010 at 08:30
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I hope it wasn't just a dream?
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I watched a woman driving a Golf Plus this morning (with a toddler strapped in the back seat), making use of the driver's vanity mirror. She was applying some dusty stuff or other to her boat race with what looked like a decorator's paint brush.
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I don't have the time to use the vanity mirrors in my shiny black blinged 4x4. Too busy looking at my reflection in shop windows or fighting off female pedestrians trying to force their way into my car and make me father their babies.....
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I remember a moment of terror many years ago when driving my Mum into town not long after discarding my L plates. Despite the fact that the car in question did have a vanity mirror, she suddenly and completely out of the blue yanked the rear view mirror over to her side to check her lippy, just as I was entering the gyratory system. Those horrendous fifteen seconds of driving in "van driver mode" seemed to last minutes.
Indignant explanation that "I can't see my face properly" in the proper vanity mirror...
Similar protests of wide eyed innocence on another occasion when opening and violently slamming the passenger door at about 15 mph as "I didn't think it was shut properly" - to the consternation of a passing motorcyclist...
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