That, and the heavy creak of the metal car doors as they shut, are probably the only thing I miss about older cars. I loved bench seats! Yadda yadda bucket seats are safer and all that jazz, but with bench seats you could cuddle with your honey, you could pull over and take a comfortable nap, and best of all, you could put a damn lasagna on the seat and have it be level and not tilted sharply.
Can’t just be me, right?
You forgot the 2 biggies:
REAL two-color paint. PAINT - using a black piece of ABS as a body panel does not count as “two color”.
“Wing” windows. For those too young: find side views of 1950’s cars - the triangular little window in front of the front open able windows are wings - and they could be opened to operate as vents, blasting 60 mph air into the cabin. This was before air conditioning. All Hail the Wings!
Radios that would pick up the Montreal Canadiens games in French or Wolfman Jack from Mexico or John R from Nashville. I used to go out and sit in my car in the driveway to listen to Harry Caray doing ball games on KMOX.
In my spare time, I’ve idly considered beating car company executives until they agree to bring back floor vents.
I very much miss bench seats on long road trips with my wife. Roadhead used to be possible but it is both difficult and dangerous with bucket seats and a center console.
Not just you. Remember the bench seat of my dad’s truck and sleeping there through the first part of the drive from Denver to Dallas when I was much smaller. Of course in an accident I would have gone through the windshield at elventy billion miles an hour or fused to the dashboard, but small risk for such luxury.
My 2013 Toyota Tacoma has a bench seat … love it … no pretense of being sporty.
One of my favorite Cake songs:
“Stick Shifts And Safety Belts”
Stickshifts and safetybelts,
Bucket seats have all got to go.
When we’re driving in the car,
It makes my baby seem so far.
I need you here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I need you to be here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
But when we’re driving in my Malibu,
It’s easy to get right next to you.
I say, “Baby, scoot over, please.”
And then she’s right there next to me.
I need you here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I need you to be here with me,
Not way over in a bucket seat.
I do like those bench seats… easy to slide in and out of.
My dog prefers bench seats, too.
Oh, I miss ashtrays and cigarette lighters, too. My dog hasn’t noticed their absence, though.
In the 50s, you never open the drivers side door when parallel parked. You slide across the bench seat and get out on the passenger side. Nothing to get in the way, with column change leaving the floor clear, too.
A six passenger sedan meant three in front, three in back. Plenty of legroom for everybody.
It is dangerous with bench seats too. If you can concentrate on driving while getting head they aren’t doing it well.
bench seats
wing windows/vents
3 on the trees
hand crank windows
and about a dozen other things. Basically I miss every pre-68 car I ever owned.
Completely agree with the OP. No matter how much comfort they try to give us with all this functionality, heated/cooled seats, lumbar support, etc., nothing is as comfortable as those long bench seats were.
I miss tailgates in SUVs–they all have liftgates now. I’m sure liftgates make it easier for loading and such, but I loved sitting on the tailgate of my old 4Runner, whether I was camping or just parked someplace and having lunch.
on the other hand, you could also expect:
old cars were shit. They might have been pretty shit, but they were absolute shit. the only reason it’s good that it was easy to work on old cars is because you always had to work on the damn things.
“…are probably the only thing I miss about older cars…”
Old cars suck, Benches suck, you guys and gals have rose colored glasses on.
Yeah, new cars are better in every way than old cars. Safer, more reliable, longer lasting, more efficient, yadda yadda yadda.
But…
Yes, this! I don’t miss bench seats that much, but why did they have to do away with those wonderful little windows?! I’m sure there’s some mundane reason like cost or safety. But those were awesome! On the rare occasion I get to drive my Corvair these days, one of my favorite things is opening those windows. It doesn’t matter that it’s a convertible and the top is down. Those brilliantly simple little windows are going to be open!
Should I become suddenly wealthy* I swear I would find, buy and have professionally restored a 1969 Buick Wildcat four door hardtop. Absolutely my favorite dream boat. I miss the one I had every time I have to drive more than twenty miles on an open road.
*Win the lottery
I definitely don’t want an older car. Just gas mileage alone…I can’t believe we just kept making all of these gas guzzlers (and even now, it’s considered just fine for a single person to buy a huge honkin Escalade that gets like 12 miles to the gallon). I just miss those darn bench seats.
Sometimes I think one of the biggest reasons I am still watching Supernatural is that Impala, just to hear the creak of the door when they shut it. I love my little Fit to death, though.