Car accessories from the 1960's and 1970's, do you remember these?

[Blocky10]

Originally Posted by terranosaurusdoug

Haha, I feel very young

I found it in my grandads shed when he passed.

[rustic]

Second instalment might be tonight if I can't sleep again, I am on pond cleaning duty today, the smaller pond has lost around 2' around the edge caused by shrubs, weeds, and the odd tree sapling, the only way to reach it, is to run a ladder across the centre, which just happens to take a couple of spare decking boards side by side, the ladder is clamped to the decking around the pond on one edge, so it shouldn't tilt, it takes all my weight so far... will start the clearance once the sun drops a bit.
If there's a splash, I'm sure you will hear about it lol...
Rustic

[terranosaurusdoug]

Originally Posted by Blocky10

I found it in my grandads shed when he passed.

no offence intended bro

[rustic]

Originally Posted by terranosaurusdoug

Haha, I feel very young

I feel like a 21 year old somedays....



You all know where that punch line is going don't you lol...

.

[rustic]

Originally Posted by terranosaurusdoug

...

How do you think car owners have changed Rustic, would be interesting to read your thoughts on that one

I will love to answer that one, I already know how I am going to hit that one.
Watch this space.
Any other thoughts or wishes?

Uncle Rustic.

[terranosaurusdoug]

Originally Posted by rustic

I feel like a 21 year old somedays....



You all know where that punch line is going don't you lol...

.

[terranosaurusdoug]

Originally Posted by rustic

I will love to answer that one, I already know how I am going to hit that one.
Watch this space.
Any other thoughts or wishes?

Uncle Rustic.

Nope, it is an interesting subject, I'll just sit back and enjoy

One constant is people have always felt the need to get on the spanners and improve their vehicles, but that's what humans do with everything really. My six year old boy Jacob asked me a load of questions on saturday whilst driving, how was bread invented, how were crisps invented, how where bricks and roof tiles invented (I think the questions were dictated by whatever we were driving past ), and of course all those things are either an improvement or an adaptation of an existing product or principal, so I gave him a history lesson

[jims-terrano]

Haha great thread Rustic

Hey I got one of those fuse boxes in my baby and I still have a load of glass fuses, I knew they would come in handy one day.
Made laugh because all the downsides and things of the 1970s cars is one of the reasons I love my MG.

Can anyone remember those green sun shades across top of the windscreen? Or the same thing with an aerial element printed on it for your radio.

[macabethiel]

Originally Posted by rustic

There were no car alarms then
My alarm on the mini comprised of a key switch mounted on the panel behind the front door, it was simple, if the switch was set, the horn would go off as soon as the door was opened, close the door, it stopped etc.?

I had a Mk 1 Mini Cooper 1275 S in the 60's and I fitted a small push button switch behind the roof lining (They were split in the middle with the interior light helping to hold it all in. Part of the wiring loom ran down the front screen pillar and along the side of the roof towards the rear supplying the rear lights & the SU fuel pump.

I cut the fuel pump wire and connected a simple push button switch fitted with a steel clip to anchor it to the roof steel work. If you remembered in advance of parking up you could use up the fuel in the system by switching off beforehand. I had mine stolen when I was at the cinema in Birmingham and found the vehicle abandoned about a quarter of a mile away as it had run out of fuel due to the pump being switched off.

I regularly forgot to switch it back on and the engine would start to splutter so I would hastily press the switch and all would be well. Over the years the headlining had a nice black fingermark where the switch was hidden !

[jims-terrano]

Stop swearing, I have the pleasure of getting a SU pump working

[rustic]

Originally Posted by jims-terrano

Stop swearing, I have the pleasure of getting a SU pump working

Why on earth did they put the early mini fuel pumps on the rear sub frame, damp got in, the contacts corroded, and was difficult to hit with a hammer lol.
So mount it in the boot, fairly dry no grit or salt to bother it, and if it did need a thump, it was very easy to get to in the dark and the rain, which is the usual time for it to fail lol.

My mini broke down regularly, usually the points, condenser, that stupid stupid vacuum advance mechanism, that invariably had a small hole in the diaphragm or the rotor arm, faulty or dirty HT leads, or plug caps. or a cracked distributor cap.
Solution, get a good secondhand distributor, complete with all HT leads, set up the points, timing etc scratch the correct alignment on the distributor, then when you break down, swap the complete distributor, line up the scratch all sorted.
The distributor was held in by a pinch clamp, slacken one bolt about half a turn, off you go... less than 5 minutes tops, then when you get home, you can investigate why the old one failed, usually the points had burnt, a quick wipe with a diamond tipped file, re set the points and check timing, you only needed a bulb and a piece of wire lol.
Problem is, I carried so much stuff in the boot, spares, including a spare bypass hose and some fairy liquid, I could do one of those in three minutes lol, spare fuel, water, oil, boy it needed oil, 4 gallons of petrol, 1pint of oil lol, tools etc that the boot floor virtually dropped out lol. Mine was the floppy gear stick, guess which gear you are in lol, the gear stick would move about 5 or 6" sideways when in gear.
Now to all mini owners, did you know that there was a grease nipple on the gear selector shaft as it passed through the aluminium casting on the back of the gear box? no... that's where most of the wear occured causing a floppy stick lol... Yes after all these years you always wondered lol.
Rustic

[Terrano Steve]

So much has changed in the last 50 years & as I don't have a crystal ball I wish I could stick around for another 50 years to see what is next.

[solarman216]

Excellent thread Rustic, we had a mini clubman in the 70's my Mrs learnt to drive in it, I was trucking abroad for weeks on end at the time, she loved her little mini and never had any bothers with it at all, she would collect me from Dover when I did "dodgy week ends", oh they were the days, Rick

[elty001]

Originally Posted by rustic

Here is a picture of a fuse box from this era, most leyland and rover cars had this set up.
There were two 35 Amp fuses, one for all things that turn off with the ignition, and the other, live all the time, for all lights, horn etc

If you wanted to hot wire a car, say if you lost the key, you simply linked both fuses together, no steering locks or alarms in those days.

The 35amp fuses actually blew at 35 amps in those days, but could safely carry 17.5 amps.
Cars were not power hungry then.

Landrover still have these fitted

[makeitfit]

My first cars had no radio let alone hifi
So I pinched my sister's battery powered philips cassette player. Wired in a home hifi speaker in the back and boom crappy sounds all round
Circa 1973