# what's the dumbest thing invented for inside your car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608 "2002-09-01T21:13:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/1 "2002-09-01T21:13:43Z")
Remember that little plastic dog that you put in the back window and it’s head bobbed up and down up and down as you drove along? That get’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/2 "2002-09-01T21:27:53Z")
Those cheap plastic compasses that rotated in a clear globe of fluid (what WAS that stuff?). ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/3 "2002-09-01T21:32:00Z")
Fuzzy dice. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/4 "2002-09-01T21:34:21Z")
Those things that allow you to attach your laptop onto your steering wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/5 "2002-09-01T21:47:07Z")
The moronic hanging air fresheners. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/6 "2002-09-01T22:49:16Z")
Condoms. They just ain’t comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/7 "2002-09-01T23:01:13Z")
cigarette lighter ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/8 "2002-09-01T23:03:33Z")
Anything made to hang from the rear view miror. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/9 "2002-09-01T23:09:31Z")
Airconditioning in a convertible. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/10 "2002-09-01T23:22:17Z")
The old under the dashboard 45 RPM record players (they make 8-tracks look good). ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/11 "2002-09-01T23:33:20Z")
A car design where you have to open the driver’s door in order to pop the boot or open the fuel tank lid thingy! ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/12 "2002-09-01T23:34:38Z")
You have to be Dutch to understand this one, probably: home-knitted toilet roll holders, often cleverly disguised as a top hat. Pshaw, right, like we don’t know what’s in there. Mostly seen on the hat board of a 1985 Opel Kadett sedan 1.3, driven by an elderly couple. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/13 "2002-09-02T00:41:35Z")
Coldie I owned an Opel in 1973 or 4 somewhere along there. It had manual popup head lights. Made by pontiac maybe? Or at least distributed by pontiac. I didn’t put one of those cardboard hands that waved back and forth on the dash. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/14 "2002-09-02T00:59:35Z")
My best guess is that you drove an [Opel GT](http://www.opelgtsource.com/pictures/stock/shop.cgi?cart_id=8036821.24219&page=70gt.htm), aha. About the only original thing these people ever made. Pontiac is GM, just like Opel, so that would make sense. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/15 "2002-09-02T01:10:18Z")
Absolutely correct coldie! It was a GT. I think it was the only year they made it. Whatever year it was that I owned it that is. Too bad I didn’t have a no fear sticker to put on it! ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/16 "2002-09-02T01:13:25Z")
1970 through 1973, say my sources. Of course, it being a Euro model, availability in the US may have been more limited. I drove one once, my cousin had one for a while. Great fun in the wet, really playful! ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/17 "2002-09-02T02:23:10Z")
(Lighted) neon gearshift knobs. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/18 "2002-09-02T13:48:08Z")
You can buy a fake car phone, complete with fake antenna. Also those little electonic noise makers. Press one button, sound effect of machine gun. Press another, grenade launcher and explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/20 "2002-09-02T15:18:15Z")
My vote: Angle of bank and climb instruments. Ummm hello!! These things are subject to centrifugal force which makes them essentially useless unless you are in stable driving conditions , ie not accelerationg, not turning, not riding over bumps etc. Not that good in the 4WDs they are normally fitted to. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608/21 "2002-09-02T15:22:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\*You have to be Dutch to understand this one, probably: home-knitted toilet roll holders, often cleverly disguised as a top hat. Pshaw, right, like we don’t know what’s in there. Mostly seen on the hat board of a 1985 Opel Kadett sedan 1.3, driven by an elderly couple. \*\* Why do Dutch people keep toilet paper in their cars? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-dumbest-thing-invented-for-inside-your-car/126608.md?page=2)