In the movies of the 40s and 50s, you would see people pull over and park, then slide over to the passenger side and get out directly on the sidewalk.
Dad’s Toyota Hilux has a bench seat. And a metal dash you could stick magnets to. (It also held his magnetic-base Smokey Bear cigarette snuffer.) Mr.s L.A.'s Toyota Tacoma has split-bench seats. (And a five-speed standard transmission and a four-cylinder engine. 
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Ehh, straight flat open highway with no other cars around the biggest problem is falling asleep afterwards.
Hear, hear! You could also get just a little air (without the loud roar you get with the windows down) depending on how much you opened them. I used to keep a spray bottle full of water in my VW. On a hot day I could spray it toward the open wing, and get a mist back in my face that cooled me off without soaking me.
The ‘crotch cooler’. That little air vent right below the steering wheel that blew cool (or hot) air directly at your crotch. An example would be in the third picture up from the bottom here.
I used to have a 1987 Cutlass just like the one pictured except the interior on mine was blue and had a console shift.
Ford pickup trucks of the era, at least, had no external door locks on the drivers side until the early 1960s. So if the driver wanted to secure the vehicle he would lock the drivers door from the inside and then exit the passenger side, and lock that side with the key. It was a little safer to enter and exit from the street side as well, though I’m not sure why it was setup this way.
Most everything was an extra cost option in those days, even rear bumpers, mirrors, heaters, passenger side wipers, even armrests. People were a lot more frugal. Door locks may have been part of that I dunno.
What bench seats were you sitting on? They all were horribly uncomfortable.
The only feature I really miss is the high beams switch on the floor. That was much better than having it on the stalk. But really, there aren’t many things from old cars that actually were better than today’s models.
I waxed nostalgic about old cars I owned. I tracked down and bought several of them.
They all suck.
Nostalgia should die at nostalgia.
I’ll bet time travel would suck, too.
Bench seat in my old Caddy, and I would clean up the leather before a date. Hit a turn fast, and my date would just slide on over to me…
Harking back to an even older time when the car company supplied a basic car, and the dealer fitted it out. When the factory started doing fitouts, the funding model meant that the dealers still charged seperately.
My first car was an '81 Malibu, but even now when I happen to get into an older taxi with 4 riders I sit in the front, just to experience the rare pleasure of sitting on a bench seat. By the way, that is about the only thing I like about old cars. Just about everything else is better with newer cars.
I love the old cars (do/have owned a few), but the interiors on most all of them are crap (save the bench seats).
I always appreciate checking out those great, old Corvettes and Super-Bees (and others) at the drive-ins. They look cool, classy, and hot. But then I look inside, see the sparse interiors and… ugh. I think the Camaro was one of the worst offenders. I realize the focus of those cars was far from interior amenities, though.