Most European cars are designed to be either/or. The basic structure is the same - bodyshell, engine, electronics and everything behind the driver - but as it goes down the production line the relevant parts - facia, seats, etc - are fitted to make it RH or LH drive.
I once had a van which was basically a LHD Peugeot but had been built as RHD. The problem was that the cable from the accelerator pedal crossed the floor to the left under the carpet. As it was pretty old and worn, a passenger in work boots could easily move the cable, causing the van to mysteriously speed up.
As far as the stalks on the steering column are concerned, there is an agreed layout right across the EU and this has to apply to all new imports as well.
Is moving the controls to the left the reason why old British sports cars (MG, Triumph, etc.) have hydraulic clutches in the U.S.? How about old Japanese rwd cars? I had a Celica that was that way.
This last is interesting. As far as I know (which may not be far), in New Zealand models which are European origin, Mondeos, Focuses, Vectras and of course the Peugeots, Citroens and VAG cars have indicator/lighting controls on the left stalk and wipers on the right, but Japanese origin cars have wiper on the left and indicators/lighting on the right.
When hiring a car in the US it’s relatively easy to get used to gear shift on the other side but it can take a bit getting used to using the opposite stalk for indicating. I wiped the window quite a few times before adjusting my habits when I was in California last year for a couple of weeks.
I know a couple guys with British cars from the 60’s (a Triumph Stag and a Jensen Interceptor) I’ll ask them about stalk and shift layouts when I see them next.
No survey data, but I have been driving for fifty years LHD and RHD cars, in LHD and RHD countries, some made in LHD countries and some in RHD countries.
Over the years my experience has been there is little pattern and you need to learn which side stalk does what for every car. Same goes for which side the fuel filler is. There are some generalities, but many exceptions.
Gear pattern and pedals are always the same.
Our current cars are a Mercedes with only one stalk for indicators and wipers nearest the gear change and a Kia with indicator and lights to the outboard and wipers and washers inboard.
Something I learned from the British auto show Wheeler Dealers is that if you have a LHD car in the UK you also have to get the headlights’ aim readjusted due to it being on the other side of the road. And a quick & dirty method is to mask off the top of the light bezel to reduce the glare.
Also the British refer to low beams as ‘dipped’ beams and high beams as ‘main’ beams.
The only real safety problem with driving LHD vehicles on RHD roads is visibility. Hard to see around the car in front to overtake, for example.
There isn’t always an RHD version. The RHD market is relatively small, and there are lots of cars that are never built in RHD (particularly American ones.) The current-generation Viper and Corvette, for example. The current-generation Mustang is the first in decades to be built in RHD.
I read that when Sweden switched from driving on the left left to the right on September 3, 1967, a lot of young men discovered that they liked driving their RHD cars because it put them next to the pavement (sidewalk) where the pretty girls were (all Swedish girls are, by definition, pretty).
When I was stationed with the US Air Force in England around 1990 there were a lot of LHD cars that us Yanks would bring over. The BX sold a sticker kit that would reduce the glare of headlights. You didn’t need to block off all that much of the bulb.
Although one thing with that is the European ECE headlight aiming pattern (which is also used in most of the rest of the world) is much more strongly directional than the DOT pattern used in the US. Bringing in a car from the US isn’t a huge deal because the low beams pretty much just point down, whereas in a car from continental Europe they point down and up to the right and so would be blinding other drivers in a RHD country. See here: http://www.retrofitlab.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/DOT-ECE-cutoff.jpg
The headlight switch where most of us would expect is a French thing. Peugot 604s had the same arrangement.
Move it like you are making a right turn gave parking lights. Push away from the steering wheel is full beam, then pull it down like a left turn was the dipped beams.
Oh and if you want a pair of hooters the was a company in Britain that made horns. It was called Clear Hooter.
A masking kit is sold so that people proceeding on vacation to countries which drive on the other side can mask the lamps temporarily. Most auto stores sell them, and the car ferry usually sells them in their shop on board.
