trans had nothing to do with it; older cars without power steering had different ratios in the steering gear. Otherwise turning the wheel at low speeds would have been excruciating. when you had an old car with steering that was 5 turns lock-to-lock, a knob like that could be useful in some situations. now that cars pretty much all have power steering with around 2.5 turns lock-to-lock.
Quite common for people with disabilities, or just some people who still like them. Not many people have experience with non-powered steering anymore, the gear ratios didn’t require a lot of force on the wheel, but a lot of turns, parking was quite an exercise.
Aren’t they actually safer? That is assuming sufficient impact resistance in the rear of the car.
There are new VW Beetles out there, but only with a superficial resemblance to the classic car. Maybe those original bugs weren’t great performing cars, but they were inexpensive, easy to maintain, and had a unique look and style, and were just plain out fun to drive.
Oh, I dunno. I find automatic cars hard to parallel park because they go so fast when you take your foot of the brake, and the brake is so touchy. One of the easiest cars I ever had to parallel park was my '61 Falcon that didn’t have power steering, but had a huge wheel. It was a 3-spd manual, which was very easy to control.
My mother’s Dodge Aspen wagon was almost impossible. It was designed to have power steering, but my mother ordered it without, so it had a small wheel, and it was an automatic, dash-mounted shift. Plus, being a wagon, it was even longer than my Falcon. My new automatic Chevy Spark is relatively easy to park because it’s tiny, but it’s not as easy as manuals I’ve had. I wish the Spark were a manual, but I just couldn’t find one.
My Aunt taught me to pull up further from the car I was parking behind, giving more room to maneuver.
Yeah, I’m aware of that. That’s not the problem.
To make it easier for your reading comprehension, I bolded the part in RivkahChaya’s post I was responding to. As you’ll note, she brought up the transmission type, I didn’t. Also, I’m well aware of how manual (non-power) steering works having had/driven several vehicles with it.
They were called dewey knobs, or suicide knobs. Thet are illegal on public vehicles but are quite ommon on forklift steering wheels.
Kids putting hockey cards onto their bike spokes. Those are expensive collectibles now!
Zima.
Bingo and a great link as well.
Legality depends on the state and other considerations. In PA they have gone on and off the “legal list” over the years if you don’t have a physical reason for needing one. They can also be a dickers to install on modern wheels and really leave a mark behind.
And without the bench seat, it just ain’t the same. 
And you reminded me ---- “new” Coke (AKA Coke II)
Aside from a few restored ones, and some downtown city theaters, neighborhood movie houses with overhanging marquees, orchestra pits, balconies, curtains that open and close when the films start and then finish.
Those urinals the size of Buicks they used to have, at stadiums, in the gent’s rooms, where you had to stand in line to take a p!ss, the joint reeked of menthol, which smelled worse than p!ss, and nobody,–whether boy, teen, father, uncle, grandpa type–was worried about whether the person standing next to him was, well, paying attention. You just did yer business, zipped your fly, washed your hands and left.
Soda fountains in neighborhood drugstores have bit the dust, at least around where I live. Also, drugstores that aren’t part of a larger chain, the kind that had lunch counters.
For the most part ice cream parlors,–aside from the upscale yuppie kind, which don’t qualify, in my book–are largely gone. Places where you can sit at the counter or the table and have a sundae, a banana split or a chocolate float.
Hadedashers, milliners and, for the most part, stand alone stationery and hardware stores are either going…going or already gone.
Ice cream parlors for commoners are still around. Not as many of course, but they still exist (even if you discount the fro-yo and self-serve joints).
Being able to fly DOWN into the Grand Canyon… legally
Even at 140 MPH it can take a while before you need to change course.
They must have gone under a number of names. In my area, they were known as “tommy-knobs.” No idea why.
“Free Range” childhoods.
Summer lasted almost forever - outside after breakfast, Mom called you for lunch, and you had to be home for dinner.
The rest of the time, there was a schoolyard and a vacant lot (its hill made it “unbuildable”) with a neat hill for playing "King of the Hill*. The paved alley bisecting the block was great for bike stunts.
Mom would use Mercurochrome* to paint our faces if we wanted to be the “Indians” in “Cowboy and Indians*” using real cap guns with real flash powder*.
Winter was good for sledding down that hill and building snow forts and having snowball fights**.
-
- not seen since 1970
** - may be alive in remote villages away from civilization.
That’s good to hear. It’s probably a regional or local thing. I live in what is becoming one of the most gentrified cities and metropolitan areas in America (Boston) and the process is happening so fast that even older buildings with considerable history and historical significance, if not Revolutionary war era, are being razed left and right for skyscrapers and high rises, mostly glass and steel. They all look alike except that some span highways and other don’t. Pardon my rant, but I know that all those quaint-funky-oddball regional things have vanished from my neck of the woods but not entirely, not even in central or western Massachusetts…:rolleyes:
Widely available in most of the world, still.
Not that these are particularly old products (90s and 2000s), but two food items I loved: P.B. Crisps and Snapple Elements, Rain flavor. I’ve had the worst craving for that drink for years. 