I've noticed a couple of threads along these lines (starting handle and grease nipples most recently) so I thought I'd throw down the gauntlet and add a few of my own. Anoraks out, everyone: there's some serious money to be made in pub quizzes if we play our cards right!
Which was the last mass production car to have...
Headlamp wipers? (as opposed to jet washers)
A chrome horn ring on the steering wheel?
Genuine walnut dashboard?
Semaphore trafficators?
White (front) and red (rear) indicators? (Not including owners omitting to fit amber bulbs!)
Foot operated dipswitch?
Foot-operated wash-wipe?
A dynamo?
Positive earthing?
6v electrics?
"Umbrella" style handbrake?
Bonus question for 100 points - the last police car/ambulance/fire engine in service to be fitted with a Winkworth bell, and the last time one was used on a callout? (Are they still legal??)
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I would guess that the Beetle was the last car with 6V electrics. Not sure when they switched to 12V - late 60's?
Citroen GS's had an umbrella handbrake and were produced until the mid 80's.
I'm not Googling, as this is a pub quiz... :-)
I would hope that Rolls-Royces still have walnut dashboards. If not, then the state of the world is worse than I thought.
Edited by J Bonington Jagworth on 26/10/2007 at 13:00
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Being pedantic here, I wouldn't have called the GS handbrake a true "umbrella" handbrake. It was dash mounted if I remember correctly whereas I always think of umbrella handbrakes as being like the one on my Renault 16 which pulled up from under the dash.
I do think the R16 was the last vehicle in production with a manual column gearchange but that wasn't one of the questions
Edited by commerdriver on 26/10/2007 at 14:03
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"It was dash mounted.."
True enough, and to be really picky, it had a pull trigger rather than a push one. But then it was a Citroen, although the reasons behind it were (typically) sound, seeing as it acted on the front wheels, on what were probably the biggest discs ever fitted to a car of its size. There - another discussion!
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Headlamp wipers? (as opposed to jet washers)
I think the Saab 9-5 had them up until the 'Dame Edna' facelift, so was that up to 2005 model year? Didn't the Volvo S80 have them until v. recently too?
Are we talking UK market only?
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I've just discovered that Hampshire police bought a Volvo Amazon in 1966 fitted with a Winkworth bell AND experimental 2-tone horn. So that seems to mark the turning point.
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Red indicators could have been the Morris Minor/1000 >'63? [And the dipswitch >72?]
The last dynamo was probably the Mini 850 circa '75.
Foot wash/wipe: CortinaIII/Capri II circa '76?
Pos earth: all BL cars pre-67?
Umbrella handbrakes: Japanese pick-ups >06 [And Mercedes?]
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Screwloose - having owned both (sadly!), I don't recall the Capri II having a foot wash/wipe; though it was certainly fitted to the Cortina III (and very handy it was, too!).
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capri 2 didnt have foot wash /wipe on any model
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last car with dynamo? escort mk2? 1978?
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That must be my memory. Maybe the Capri Mk I had it and the MkII had the Escort II style wiper stalk.
The Escort Mk I had the foot w/wipe - they copied it off the 1960 Merc SEB.
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Not sure what a "Winkworth bell" is, but a Green Goddess fitted with a bell, two tone horns, and blue lights is terrific for scattering traffic!
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70s Ladas had horn rings. Ours was bent. Bet they weren't the last cars to have them though.
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My old '65 hearald had most of the things in the list, white front indicators but Amber rears, foot operated dip-switch, 12v + electrics, manual headlamp wipers (me and cloth), had a retro-fitted steering wheel with chrome horn ring (think it was from a 2000mk1) and it had a dynamo.
All this is just for info tho, as the Hearald wont have been the last to have had any of these! and an umbrella tied to the back bumper would probably have made a better h/brake!
Billy
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I can't find original thread on last car to have all-drum brakes but....
Could it have been the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI limousine? This was a low volume model on offer up to the time when RR Motors was split and sold to BMW and VW* It was a mild update of the Phantom V chassis, which was a stretched version of the Silver Cloud's. The first Silver Cloud dated from the mid 1950's.
*BMW bought the right to use the name Rolls-Royce on a car from Rolls-Royce Aero Engines, which I think is part of BAe. VW Group bought all the RRM technology, factory, etc., plus the Bentley name.
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Unmarked police hillman Hunters had a bell during the seventies, I seem to remember. My 1970 Reliant Regal had a foot operated dip switch, handy until you needed to dip half way through a gear-change.
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foot operated dip switch handy
Bit of a contortionist at the wheel were you RR in your youth? Doesn't sound entirely safe I must say
:o)
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My in-car contortions during my youth would get the thread locked, Lud.
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ISTR the Landcrab 18/2200 had an umbrella hand brake. Was this carried over into the 'Wedge'?
Edited by AlastairW on 26/10/2007 at 19:53
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No - the landcrab had a bench seat option the wedge didn't.
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Mazda pick up still has the umbrella handbrake.
I used to love horn rings something so 'this is the way weve always done it' about em.
foot dipswitch...great. Column changes so much better for cuddles.
Landcrab still more rear legroom short of a limo, and in S version went like stink.
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Ah, the landcrab. There was a car, and there was an age. It had some kind of early mechanical anti lock braking system IIRC.
The 1970s were othwerwise the darkest years of the British motor industry. Recently nationalised British Motor Holdings, then BL, then downhill all the way from there, taking billions of our hard earned taxes with it.
Thinking back to the '70s, cars had all these archaic features, plus opening front quarter lights (forgot about those: great for ventilation, not so good for security), manual screenwash, manual choke, manual everything. Along came the early Datsuns with a radio, decent heater and the party trick of starting first time and not actually breaking down... and all the rest is history!
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I drive a 3 Y/O Hi Lux pick up here in Sudan with a umberella hand brake
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 27/10/2007 at 13:55
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