Old-school cars and post-millennials

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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30 Old-School Car Features Those Under 30 Might Never Have Seen Before

Every time I drive the MG, I think about how a young person would react to being given the chance to drive it. First, you can’t even start it if it’s cold unless you pull out the choke. (It’s a knob that has a ‘C’ on it.) I’ve never seen a manual choke on a car made after the '60s. Then there’s the manual transmission (which used to be referred to as a ‘standard transmission’). I think there are still enough manual transmission cars – and motorcycles have manual transmissions – that having to push in a clutch and shift gears wouldn’t cause too much trauma… But there’s a catch. My car is a '66. They didn’t put synchromesh between 2nd and 1st until '67. If you want to shift down to first, you either need to bring the car to a stop, or else know how to double-clutch. And to get into ‘5th gear’ (overdrive), you need to flip the switch on the dashboard – and remember that it engages in 3rd and 4th, and remember to turn it off as you downshift.

The MG has hand-cranked windows, of course; and only one, manually-adjusted, side-view mirror. No power steering, but the steering wheel has, by today’s standards, a comically wide diameter for leverage. Stopping takes a little more planning and effort than in a modern car. They’re not power brakes, and you need to remember that downshifting also slows you down.

The dashboard [NB: The one linked isn’t mine, but it’s the same.] has the overdrive switch, which it conveniently labelled ‘Normal’ and ‘Overdrive’. It also has a sticky-outy thing that isn’t a switch or a knob. It’s the windshield washer plunger. It works like the pump on a bottle of liquid soap or a spray bottle. Windshield wipers? One speed, two positions: On or Off. Actually, there are three switches in a row. None of them are labelled. You just have to ‘know’ that the left one is the headlights, the middle one is for the wipers, and the right one is the fan. Those things that look like old-fashioned oven knobs? Heater and ventilation controls. There’s a map light way over on the right. IIRC, the knob is also the panel light rheostat. The high-beam switch for the headlight is on the left side of the driver’s floor panel, and you work it with your foot.

I think there may be a bit of a learning curve for many post-millennials. Though I’ll admit that I have no idea how to use Snapchat or Instagram.

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As a corollary, I loath LOATH the idea of potentially having to buy a car in the future that has:
a) all digital display and no hardware switched (all touch screen operated)
b) needs recharging (fully electric power train).

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I learned to drive on 1960s and 1970s era vehicles. Some things to throw at millennials (and even Gen X-ers):

a) dimmer switch on the floorboard, which you operate with your feet

b) how you turn on the dome light: rotate the headlights knob all the way to the left (you’ll feel a click)

c) starting it up cold: you aren’t gonna get very far if you don’t know to floor the gas pedal a couple of times to begin with, to pump some fuel in and release the butterfly valve on the semi-automatic choke so it will close

d) wanna invoke the windshield washer? push the windshield wiper button IN

e) the four wheel drive pickup truck: first, throw the axle shifter into NEUTRAL. now put on the parking brake and get out of the vehicle, walk to the front wheels and flip the levers to lock the front wheels to the driven axle. Now get back in, push in the clutch, and pull the axle shifter into 4 wheel mode. Voila, four wheel drive!

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Oh, and I can’t imagine post-millennials having any idea of knowing how to do a rolling jump start of a manual car.

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Saw a boomer last week who didn’t even know how to saddle his horse. Sad, really.

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I tried to ride a horse once. I couldn’t find the clutch.

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True story, I’m allergic to horses. My Missus used to jump horses…y’know, for all the weird horse culture words, you’d think the event would have something more, I dunno, French sounding but no–Jumping. There, I’ve capitalized it, thereby making it a, well, some descriptive bit of language that looks like a verb but acts as a noun sort of…where was I. Anyway, she was good as a teenager and competed nationally in some equestrian event involving getting your horse to jump over stuff without throwing you to the turf and stomping your guts out. She likes to ride horses. Such a fabulous guy am I that on a rare visit to the coast I surprised her with a beach ride on a rental horsie. She had a great time, her horse had a great time because she knew what she was doing. My horse didn’t like me, nor I it in particular. Half an hour later, my Missus realized just what I’d given to give her the ride. Benadryll didn’t even help. Broke me for the weekend, but it was worth it. So I know how to ride a horse, I just really prefer not to.

Anyway, Johnny: thank you for the dash porn. I had forgotten how starkly primitive the MG is. We prefer manual transmissions in our house, and the kids were to learn to operate a clutch or forego licensing. Only one got on board to get licensed at 16. The others waited until well after their 18th birthday to learn how to drive. But they all know how to roll start, and they know what happens during that process because, like a dad of yore, I’ve showed them the internals of a manual transmission and an engine. One of the boys refuses to drive an automatic, and thinks his 86 Subaru GL 4WD is a bit posh with all its luxuries like remote fuel cap release and automatic choke. He’s keeping his eye on a mid-60s 4WD Ford Longbed that’s been sitting in the neighborhood in front of an old dude’s house for years. The fool. As soon as the old guy puts it up for sale I’m using DadMoney to scoop it up. Might let the kid drive it if he can figure out how.

But didn’t older cars have even more technical stuff on them than manual chokes? I seem to recall oil pressure being something the driver had to monitor and adjust periodically. I’d be lost.

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It’s the lever on the bottom. You have to be really gentle though, or the horse will jump and possibly stall if you grab too much at once… :smiley:

FWIW, my 87 CRX had a manual choke. That’s the last car I’ve seen one on though.

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Rolling jump start? Is that the same thing as a push start? Are jumper cables involved? I did my first engine replacement at age 16 and have never heard of “rolling jump start.”

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Mazda RX-7s had a semi-manual choke up until they went fuel injected in (I think) 1987. It was semi-manual in that you had to pull the choke out before a start, but an electromagnet would hold the choke until the car warmed up, at which point the electromagnet would turn off and the choke knob would return home with a thunk.

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I googled mgb mk1 dashboard, in case you want more. :wink:

Oh, yes. I keep a sharp eye on the oil pressure gauge – even though it’s a rebuilt engine and shouldn’t have any problems (although there’s too much oil in it now, and the pressure gets to 75 psi, or even 80) – and especially the temperature gauge.

The temperature needle rises when I first start rolling, until it reaches about 165°F or so; then it falls back to 160°F and stays there unless I’m really pushing it. (Then it will stay around 165°F.) But the car must have airflow. If I’m stuck in traffic, then it gets hot. Probably a faulty coil, but when it gets hot sitting in traffic, the car stalls. Also, the fan belt has broken a couple of times. In fact, I heard a squeal this weekend, and I think it needs to be tightened. (It’s a piece of cake, as long as you have three hands.) The temperature gauge lets you know pretty quickly if the fan belt breaks.

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The clutch on a horse is how you hang on to the mane if you don’t know what you’re doing. Western saddles have a convenient large pommel horn for the same purpose.

I never learned how to crank start a car, silly unskilled boomer that I am.

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I had an 86 CRX that had a manual choke. It worked well, as long as you knew how to use it.

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The ‘switch’ for the overdrive on the Volvo is where you would expect to find the turnsignal lever. It doesn’t do anything unless you are in 4th gear.

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At age 39 I can say I’ve seen some of these, but never operated them. Like the floor mounted high beam switch – I rode in vehicles with that configuration as a kid, but I’ve never driven one.

Likewise, I can remember my parents having to pump the gas pedal to set the choke before starting their cars, but I’ve never had to do it myself. Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car that had a carburetor. My first car was a 1988 Buick, which actually had badges on the fenders touting the fact that that it had fuel injection (I always find it interesting to see an old car with badges touting some feature that was new then but is commonplace now).

My sister used to have a 1995 Saturn that had power locks, but manual crank windows. I always thought that was a strange combo, as usually those power features come as part of a package and you get either all or none. But all out family’s cars in the 1980s had manual windows and locks. My parents didn’t get a car with either of those until the 1990s.

I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car with manual steering, but I once drove a pickup truck after the pulley came detached from the power steering pump. Luckily this truck had individual belts for each accessory rather than a single belt that drives everything, so I could just remove that belt and pulley and drive it without the power steering.

I’m surprised the slideshow didn’t mention the three speed column shifted manual (but I guess that’s covered under manual transmissions in general). Even though I know how to drive a manual, I have never driven one with a column shifter. I think I could figure it out if I had to. And although I’ve never driven one, I can say I’ve seen one – I got to ride in a 1957 Bel Air in Cuba!

Speaking of column mounted shifters, those are pretty much a thing of the past even for automatics.

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I do have to pull choke, but I don’t have to pump the gas. I turn the switch on and listen to the fuel pump, and turn the ignition once the gas is delivered. My Jeep Cherokee is a '99, so it’s fairly modern. I had to tell Mrs. L.A. she doesn’t have to pump the gas pedal to start it when it’s cold; just turn the key.

I’ve driven ‘three on the tree’ exactly once. ('60s El Camino, IIRC.) I learned to drive in a manual-transmission Toyota Hilux (and had been riding motorcycles with gear boxes since I was 10), but was never exposed to the column shift on a car. It was easy to start out in 1st and shift into 2nd, but I didn’t know what the shift pattern was and had to catch up to my dad and my uncle – in 2nd – to get instructions. :smack:

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I was born in 1981. I was always called a member of Generation X (anyone remember the Spice Girls Pepsi commercials?) but now apparently I’m a Millennial. I don’t agree, since I already get pissed when some neighborhood urchin walks on my lawn, but whatever.

Some of these things my kids would have no idea how to do without being shown how on a vintage car: dim the headlights with a floor switch, engage the 4WD on a vehicle with manual locking hubs, and no doubt several others would be alien to them.

Of course, some of these I’ve never heard of. A switch to unlock overdrive? Until this thread I never knew that was a thing. And there are things I know of but have never had to deal with on car: I’ve never had to crank-start a car and I’ve never driven a 3-speed column shift manual (I wouldn’t even know what the shift pattern was).

My first vehicle was a 1961 International Harvester pickup. It had a manual choke (and a manual throttle control, too, which was pretty cool even though I had no use for it), high beam switch on the floor, single speed windshield wipers, and all the other idiosyncrasies that we now think of as antiquated.

I sold that soon after I started driving and replaced it with a 1975 VW bus. It had some weird features that were likely unique to VW: to engage reverse, I had to push the gearshift into the floor: actually push it straight down a couple of inches and then pull the lever, iirc, toward me to put it into reverse. The windshield washer was powered by air pressure: there was a little valve-stem looking tube in the passenger footwell I had to fill every once in a while. The turn signals did not automatically cancel so I had to switch them off after every turn.

My kids (my oldest will be 15 next year) would have no idea how to drive either one of those vehicles. Of course, some new cars are doing away with gearshift levers and going to dials. Things like changing transmission modes and turning on or off traction control is different on each car, and just because I’m familiar with one new make and model of car doesn’t mean I’ll be able to easily drive a different make and model of new car without spending some learning where the different controls are and how they all operate.

Yeah, things change. Those damn kids today don’t recognize what we took for granted not that long ago. I couple of years ago I showed my then 12 year old a 3 ½ ” floppy disk I’d found in the bottom of a box in storage. I asked him what it was and he stared at it for a minute and then said “uh… a calculator?” I literally LOL’d.

But cars today are safer, and I’m quite thrilled that things like ABS and backup cameras are now standard. The fact that my sons will likely never drive a car with a high beam switch on the floor or a transmission without synchromesh doesn’t exactly keep me up at night.

And just commenting on the article…

Manual brakes and steering, while of course ubiquitous now, are probably something most people don’t actually think about. Neither my IH or my VW had power steering or brakes (or at least, I’m pretty sure they didn’t—I know they didn’t have the power steering anyway) and it wasn’t that noticeable unless I was turning the wheel when the rig wasn’t moving, which wasn’t often. Frankly, unless said Millennial is a mechanic, things like power steering / brakes, bias-ply tires, drum brakes, and the like won’t be on their radar on a daily basis.

CD player? Seriously? My FIL just bought a new Buick Regal and it has a CD player. Ever new car I’ve ever driven (and I’ve had to rent a car probably a dozen different times over the past 5 years) has had a CD player. Of course they have satellite radio and Bluetooth and the rest, but CD’s have hardly gone the way of the dinosaur and “millennials,” which I guess I’m one of, certainly would recognize a damn CD player in a car—it’s what we grew up with fer christsake. Same with AM radio. Most cars have an AM tuner. Nobody actually listens to AM, but so what—few millennials listen to FM radio either.

The dome light switch thing: I don’t remember ever having a car that did not have both a switch at the dome light as well as an override in dashboard dimmer switch. My current car is a 2006 Grand Prix, and all interior lights have their own switch—you physically push the light to turn it on. However, I can turn the dimmer switch to full and it turns all the interior lights on. Handy when I’m looking for something in the backseat at night. My previous car was a 1984 Toyota Tercel and the setup was the same: the dashboard dimmer overrode the individual light’s switches. My father has a '74 Chevrolet half ton pickup with the same (factory) setup.

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When I took the classroom portion of driver’s ed our textbook actually had a diagram of the shift pattern for a three speed column shift – in 1995! I’m pretty sure I remember it, you basically just have to picture the pattern for a floor shifter, but sticking out of the steering column and turned sideways if that makes any sense at all. Except you have to know where reverse is, which I’m pretty sure is back and up. Then first is back and down, second forward and up, third forward and down.

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I have, on my Dad’s 69 Chevy and his 75 Dodge. The switch wasn’t very big–imagine something the size of a roll of Life Savers sticking out of the angled part of the driver’s side floor. I recall more than a few occasions thumping my left foot all over the place trying to find it.

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I don’t know if it was local lingo or if it’s just fallen into disuse, but when we were kiddies on dirt bikes in the early 70s and using the kick starter wasn’t an option (wet points? tired/lazy leg?, being 7?) we called it “bump starting”. Standing while gaining momentum then popping the clutch while dropping onto the seat (to give more traction to the rear wheel) with a “bump”. Could perhaps get conflated to ‘rolling bump start’ and then corrupted by too many bottles of rather better wine than a fellow might deserve and presto: rolling jump start. Good times the 70s. Air was clean and sex was dirty.