Anybody Remember Back When?

[MossRoad]

We took many vacations in those buses. 7 people plus a luggage rack on the roof. We traveled to DC many times from here. I remember having troubles going up the mountains in Appalachia slowing way down on the way up, but going real fast on the way down! :laughing:

 

[Oaktree]

I would still prefer the headlight high-low beam switch on the floor. I've got a foot not doing anything. Maybe a clutch and switch operated with the same foot was a problem for some. Or just "Move something, and we will call it an improvement."

I don't really miss it being on the floor. After a few years the switch would get flakey from all the water that dripped off your shoe onto it. I think it's fine on the turn-signal stalk, though I don't like the trend towards "push forward for high beam, pull back for low" you're seeing more and more. Much preferred the pull back to toggle.

I don't really like how many manufacturers are putting the headlight switch on the signal stalk though. IMHO a really odd place to put it. I've had my '06 Jeep for 6 mo now, and I still haven't gotten used to it.

I don't mind the steering wheel switches except that every manufacturer is different. It was pretty much standard for all US vehicles to have a switch you pull out on the left side of the dash for the lights. Life was simple! Now you get out the 1200 page manual!

Yeah, every brand is different and those "international" symbols aren't always very intuitive. Don't even get me going on the "infotainment" systems...kind of sad when you have to pull over to change the radio from AM to FM, or something similar. IMHO vehicle ergonomics have really gone downhill.

What I do remember about our mid 70's VW buses was that they were absolutely GREAT in snow with studded tires! :thumbsup: Cold as heck inside, but we never got stuck.

All those old RWD VWs were good in snow...combination of a light vehicle and all the weight over the drive wheels. I remember one of their magazine ads for the beetle that this was what the snow plow driver used to get to work.
Not sure how they'd compare with a FWD vehicle...same principle, different end. First one I ever got (Plymouth Horizon) I was amazed how good it was in snow. Only thing that stopped it was ground clearance (or lack thereof on 13" tires).

 

[PILOON]

I drove a VW company car back then.
My job required that I often have the front well weighted with product and that was a bonus as the VW's were very light on steering.

LOL, one day driving on a back road I overshot an abrupt 90 deg turn.
Going thru the snow bank most of the snow simply went up and over the roof.
Now the ground was well covered with close to 12-16 of snow accumulation.

With the flat belly pan and most weight on the traction end that l'il VW backed out just fine and never even spun a wheel.
Any other vehicle would have needed a tow truck.

 

[oosik]

Bought a new pair of shoes and stood up and put your feet in the X-ray Fluoroscope. OSHA would hemorrhage if those were still in use.

 

[LouNY]

I don't really miss it being on the floor. After a few years the switch would get flakey from all the water that dripped off your shoe onto it. I think it's fine on the turn-signal stalk, though I don't like the trend towards "push forward for high beam, pull back for low" you're seeing more and more. Much preferred the pull back to toggle.

I don't really like how many manufacturers are putting the headlight switch on the signal stalk though. IMHO a really odd place to put it. I've had my '06 Jeep for 6 mo now, and I still haven't gotten used to it.



Yeah, every brand is different and those "international" symbols aren't always very intuitive. Don't even get me going on the "infotainment" systems...kind of sad when you have to pull over to change the radio from AM to FM, or something similar. IMHO vehicle ergonomics have really gone downhill.



All those old RWD VWs were good in snow...combination of a light vehicle and all the weight over the drive wheels. I remember one of their magazine ads for the beetle that this was what the snow plow driver used to get to work.
Not sure how they'd compare with a FWD vehicle...same principle, different end. First one I ever got (Plymouth Horizon) I was amazed how good it was in snow. Only thing that stopped it was ground clearance (or lack thereof on 13" tires).

I other major aspect of these was the tire width, narrow and relatively tall with an 80 or 85 series sidewall.

 

[turnkey4099]

re: shiftin manual crash boxes. I worked the potato harvest in Idaho 1954. ONe of the hualing trucks was a mid 30s chev 1/2 ton. Drivers apparently never heard of double clutching. I got tired of hearing them grinding the gears in and one day got a chance to drive on to town. Boss chewed my azz as "that old truck can'[t take that high speed reving to double clutch". Say what!!? He being considerably older than me surely had double clutched something in his life. To make such a statement floored me. I didn't say anything though as I neeeded the job.

 

[bunyip]

I still have my ration book somewhere, it continued into the early 50's in the UK where I was at the time, born in late 49.
Pretty sure novocaine came later like the 60's but not sure, we had school dentists who I suspect were ex SS from WWII as they never used any form of pain killer, I had a few teeth removed and still have a fear of dentists as a result of those early experiences.

Sitting at work, phone hasn't rung once (yet), most unusual, quite a boring day thank goodness for forums and Netflix.

 

[Looking4new]

The dentist I had as a kid was a real sadist. I hated going to him. I think he was a needle freak. He would freeze your face for a simple cavity, too. The freezing hurt more going in and coming out than the actual drilling did. I solved that problem in 1970. Got them all out in hospital under general anesthetic. The only thing I cannot eat is nuts, which I never really liked anyway.

All the 5x4 trucks I drove except for two were gassers. 500 rpm between gears on the aux. and 1,000 rpm on the main tranny. On a 'split shift' if you kicked the main out of gear you could select whatever gear with the aux then just pick up the rpms a little and drop the main in the gear you wanted. No clutch necessary. When I taught people how to shift them, the first thing I made perfectly clear is that they already knew how to double clutch, so now I would teach them another way to shift. I also made it perfectly clear that I would not abide them 'riding the clutch'. The first time I would tell them and the second time was a threat of a punch in the side of the head. Nobody ever got punched.
Because all the gassers I drove were really gutless, the only time I double clutched was going up hill and don't bother with the aux, just down shift the main.
The last I was talking to my friend up in Thunder Bay, he had a 5x4 combination that came out of a 'needle nose' Pete, for sale.
I really don't have much use for a road ranger transmission, even though I have one (18 spd) in my 2001 Freightliner that I have been driving for the past 13 years.

 

[oosik]

Yeah - I remember back when - your folks told you something or asked you to do something. No back talk, no questions as to, "why" - - you just DID it. As a young fellow, somewhat rebellious - I knew, well, what the back of my father's hand felt like.

I think our family dentist took his internship from Dr Hannibal Lecter - back then. A trip to the dentist was to visit Hades.

 

[Garandman]

The WWII Tiger tank had a Maybach aircraft engine. It had a 24 V electric starter. But inertia starters were common in aircraft engines of the day, so the Tiger also had an inertia flywheel - starter.

 

[Garandman]

What I do remember about our mid 70's VW buses was that they were absolutely GREAT in snow with studded tires! :thumbsup: Cold as heck inside, but we never got stuck.

You could purchase an oil pan heater or dipstick heater to start them in extreme cold. But pretty common to see frost on the windshield in cold weather.

We had a 1969 SAAB 96 V4. It was one of the first FWD cars, and unlike VW’s of the day we’re quite cozy: the heater was about the size of the engine.

The engine was a Ford Taunus 1500cc V4. The column shifter had four speeds. A remnant from the earlier two stroke models was a free wheel: you could back off the throttle an coast while still in gear.

Before Subaru hit the market, it wasthe state car of Vermont, as well as most of the rest of New England.

 

[k0ua]

The WWII Tiger tank had a Maybach aircraft engine. It had a 24 V electric starter. But inertia starters were common in aircraft engines of the day, so the Tiger also had an inertia flywheel - starter.

I bet that hand cranking ability came in handy more than once.

 

[QRTRHRS]

LOL, remember when the aux linkage would get a bit worn and you got sloppy down shifting and instead of making perfect 90ｰ moves you tried to cut the corners? I did that so many times. I used to carry a car jackhandle beside the drivers seat, just for when the linkage would lock up in a gear I really didn't want to use.

LOL! Just like the cheap three speed shifters that we used to retrofit to go from the tree to the floor. I think they cost like 9 bucks from JC Whitney?

 

[QRTRHRS]

Living in north eastern PA, two of my best snow drivers were a 66' flat windshield Chevy van and a 56' Chevy wagon. Both six bangers with a three speed. I had a 67' VW that I thought was good in snow to a point but snow could pack under it and start to lift it. Then there was the time I found it sitting a couple of feet off of the ground on a snow bank. Hey, what are friends for? LOL!

 

[ultrarunner]

Got a 62 Bug and 74 VW Thing... don't get out much but always generate comments.

At one time I swear the official vehicle of Berkeley was VW... they were everywhere!

Lots of VW in the SF Bay Area and now rather rare to see a bug on the road but occasionally I do.

 

[dragoneggs]

Got a 62 Bug and 74 VW Thing... don't get out much but always generate comments.

At one time I swear the official vehicle of Berkeley was VW... they were everywhere!

Lots of VW in the SF Bay Area and now rather rare to see a bug on the road but occasionally I do.

When I was living in Berkeley ('79-80 on Haste street), I used to drive by a purple house every day a few blocks away, that had a VW bug that was still parked on the street with its top cut off and filled with dirt. They turned it into a large flower pot.

 

[ultrarunner]

I believe I know the vehicle and one of those only in Bezerkeley kind of things...

The SF Bay Area seemed to always draw the foreign car market and the VW was embraced early on.

 

[Garandman]

“How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot” was great. I owned two 69’s and a ‘64.