Jalopnik asks what old-style feature from cars do we miss the most? His answer:

As for me, there’s a lot that I could list, but I especially miss pop-up headlights. Maybe it has something to do with growing up in the 80s and 90s, but I just think they’re so damned cool, you know?

So many great cars used to have illuminators that rose from the hood on demand: the Porsche 928 and 944, the NSX (for the first few years, anyway), three generations of RX-7s, a whole plethora of Corvettes… the list goes on an on.

Mine is more general. I miss the slightly boxier design of old cars. As cars have become more aerodynamic, they ironically look like they’re trying to look cool even though the design is (I am pretty sure) for function as much as anything. There is a stupid little practical aspect to my yearning for yesteryear however. I was looking at a late-model Camry the other day and noticed that it would be hard to put a soft drink or something on the back hood because it’s not as level as the old Camry that we currently have.

Another thing – and this is relatively minor – is that it used to be a lot more common for cars to have hitches available than today. I don’t know if it is due to liability or cost-cutting, but I don’t think they offer that as much as they used to.

A last thing are a few models and model types… it’d be cool if Subaru still offered the Justy in the US. Dodge should still have a car called the Dodge Colt (well, it was actually a Mitsubishi, but Mitsubishi at least has a cool name for its current small car).


Category: Road

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3 Responses to Cars of Yore

  1. Peter says:

    One very bad development affecting modern cars is that they are just about unrepairable.

  2. Kirk says:

    Regarding hitches, some cars have a weird little off-center hook pointing down from their rear bumper. What is that? I’m guessing it’s for mounting a bike rack, but I’ve never seen one used for that.

    (Unbelievable, how difficult it is to find a pic of one.)

  3. CGHill says:

    When the Mazda 626 died after 2002, so did its oscillating front air vents. I miss them terribly.

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