Seven car features that we no longer see as technology progresses new features arrive and old ones leave often faster than we can keep track of before we know it. The thing we used on a daily basis is gone here are seven automotive features that got thrown on the scrap heap.
1 number one bench seats the most recent
American production car to offer a bench
seat in the front was the Chevy Impala
which believe it or not Chevrolet only
stopped making in 2015 just two years
ago for most vehicles the bench seat was
phased out during the dawn of the seat
belt as to fit a belt on a bench seat
was an awkward affair back before
seatbelts were even included in cars
much less mandatory to wear three
passengers could fit comfortably in the
front of most cars or possibly for if
form as a child.
These days doing that is
highly illegal in most developed
countries although a lots of third-world
countries still do it in the event of an
accident the bench seat is a disaster
offering the occupant very little
support and the chairs often fold it in
on themselves.
2 number two tail fins cars
designed inspired by planes seem to be a
bit dated these days but it was once all
the rage Saab’s sold themselves pretty
much on the fact that they made fighter
jets in their spare time but I can’t
honestly think of any examples like that
these days in the past century however
it was all the rage especially tail fins.
General Motors design chief Harley Earl
is thought to have been the brainchild
of tail fins making the 1942 Cadillac
series 62 sedan feature them inspired by
the famous World War 2 plane the
Lockheed p-38 lightning five years or so
later most people had had enough of the
war style with fins becoming more and
more space-age instead
tail fins became larger and larger
leading to some really bizarre vehicles
until they fell out of fashion in the
60s in 2017 I couldn’t find any examples
of cars that still have them
although the Cadillac XTS from 2012 does
hark back to the design somewhat.
3 number three and tennis seriously when was the
last time you saw a modern car with a
folding antenna it seems to be something
to be proud of the longer the antenna
the better pioneered mainly with
Japanese brands obsessed with technology
on cars having an electric
holding antenna on a car demonstrated.
How high-tech you really were nowadays
cars still have antennas but they look
completely different often embedded into
car wind screens or routed to the back
of the car through a shark fin or bee
sting type aerial which the Sat Nav can
use to to be honest it’s not much of a
great loss having these things gone most
of the automatic telescoping antennas
made an awful noise when you turned your
radio on and just caused extra drag went
driving still it was fun to see them go
up and down on their own.
4 number four split front wind screens the split
windscreen was thought to have been made
for cost reasons due to the fact that
it’s cheaper and easier to make a split
windscreen than one piece of glass
General Motors introduced this on most
of their vehicles in 1936 these days the
split screen has become an iconic
must-have item on classic vehicles.
Notably the VW camper split screens are
no longer legal for production and even
if they were glass manufacturing
technology has come on a long way.
5 number five full-size spare tires although some
cars still have this feature
the majority of normal road-going
vehicles don’t bother any longer the
points of the full-size spare was that
you could put it on stow the flat tire
in your trunk and carry on driving for
as long as you want
unlike spares of today which are
designed to be used for limited
distances at speeds under 50 miles per
hour most being forgetful or lazy didn’t
quite do this correctly though leaving
on their spare for months or even years
without replacing it that being until
they get their next puncture and realize
they’ve got a flat tire in the boot
still it tends to be tough or off-road
type vehicles which have these mainly
due to the wear and tear that a 4×4
could experience on the trails.
6 number six fender mirrors fender mirrors are
actually a cool idea allowing drivers to
keep their eyes looking forward on the
road when driving there are a few issues
with this design however such as the
lack of adjustment when moving or the
large viewing distance from the eyes of
the driver this vicho is especially
popular with Japanese automakers such as
Honda and Datsun until the late 1970s.
When a side mirror became more suitable
passenger cars only required one mirror
on the passenger side until new
legislation came in in 1986
said cars must have – it would be
interesting to see a modern car with
these mirrors though perhaps
electronically controlled for easy
adjustment although slightly pointless.
7 number 7 steel wheels alloy wheels might
be normal today however in the year 2000
it was still seen as somewhat of a
luxury on today’s vehicles alloy wheels
are featured on all but the cheapest of
cars were the lots of mid-range cars
throwing out the steel wheel option
altogether many Audi and BMW vehicles
don’t bother with them although they are
still popular with business fleet
vehicles in poverty spec steel wheels
with hubcaps were standard issue until
the early 90s as alloy wheels were an
attractive but expensive option during
that time.
Today lightweight alloy wheels
helped boost fuel economy and most
people are happy to pay for an improved
appearance the one thing that can be
said for steelies is that if you bend
one replacing a set will cost no more
than a good night house which features
did I forget do you have any of these
features on your car let me know in the
comments remember I try to reply to
everyone in the first few days at least
thanks for reading.
