Just can't get a good basic truck, like the old days!

[3930dave]

Defrost on full works ok if you can handle the heat so I rolled down a window I kept the windows cracked or down anyway in my chain smoking yrs lol

Smoked cigs, back-when..... missed the little triangle/butterfly front windows, when they went away.....

Trucks not so much (actual workers-in-trucks had no sense of humour here, about lacking heat), but cars got really stupid, with low-drag water pumps. First time I really noticed, was test driving a Pontiac for my buddy (his repair shop, he wanted it driven) for something else, V6 - I said ****-poor heat on that thing, he explained those v6 are all like that, low-drag Wpump, so next to no flow up through the heater-core. I said - "let me get this straight - to save fuel on the Wpump drag, I'd have to idle the engine @ something like 3k rpm, crawling back home on a long commute in an ice-storm ? Yep, was his answer. Progress.

(Later, 12v booster pumps got added to the Heater Core loop, various manuf cars, to deal with this ^).

Rgds, D.

 

[mjonesnh]

Smoked cigs, back-when..... missed the little triangle/butterfly front windows, when they went away.....

Never smoked but do miss the vent windows, think all my vehicles from the 60's and 70's model years had them

 

[Hay Dude]

Defrost on full works ok if you can handle the heat so I rolled down a window I kept the windows cracked or down anyway in my chain smoking yrs lol

Defrost on full while plowing snow for hours sucks.
I’d like to see the heated windshield make a come back.

Someone told me they were done away with because all the stone chipped ones were costing the insurance companies a fortune? Probly BS

 

[jjeff]

Smoked cigs, back-when..... missed the little triangle/butterfly front windows, when they went away.....

Trucks not so much (actual workers-in-trucks had no sense of humour here, about lacking heat), but cars got really stupid, with low-drag water pumps. First time I really noticed, was test driving a Pontiac for my buddy (his repair shop, he wanted it driven) for something else, V6 - I said ****-poor heat on that thing, he explained those v6 are all like that, low-drag Wpump, so next to no flow up through the heater-core. I said - "let me get this straight - to save fuel on the Wpump drag, I'd have to idle the engine @ something like 3k rpm, crawling back home on a long commute in an ice-storm ? Yep, was his answer. Progress.

(Later, 12v booster pumps got added to the Heater Core loop, various manuf cars, to deal with this ^).

Rgds, D.

Early 90s til 2016.

 

[jjeff]

Defrost on full while plowing snow for hours sucks.
I’d like to see the heated windshield make a come back.

Someone told me they were done away with because all the stone chipped ones were costing the insurance companies a fortune? Probly BS

So does replacing a windshield on these fancy cars all sensors need to be recalibrated. I guess if they were to have heated windshields I may opt for it depending on price point and if its still somewhat functions with a small chip or even a crack in it. For now I'm happy and content with trailering mirrors that defrost.

 

[ning]

I remember the Ford ones, that were optional on Tauruses..... the windshield had a very distinctive reflection, somewhat copper-like, driving towards you daytime. Never used one, but the vague impression (casual comments, random people back-when) I retained was it worked well. I think that was Pilkington Glass, or some other division of Ford.

I did laugh, watching the recent vid of Leno restoring his Chrysler Turbine car with the company that built the turbine originally (nobody else could have done it, even with Jay's bank-acct). Exhaust hit something like 1200F almost right after startup..... hella fast window defrosting !

Rgds, D.

I had that on my '96 Impala SS.
Instant defrost, it was amazing.
The inside reflection was a bit iffy, especially with how raked the windshield was and the large expanse of gray dash under it contributing to said reflection.

 

[3930dave]

It was probably cost (insurance Co's) that took out those heated windshields, but something else RF related is dimly rattling around my memory banks....

Rgds, D.

 

[jjeff]

Never smoked but do miss the vent windows, think all my vehicles from the 60's and 70's model years had them

Ford f series still had the vent windows in the 1990s, anyone remember the under dash manual pull vents? Those were also on some cars and trucks till the 90s. My 2009 4 cylinder 5 speed grocery getting winter beater car still has a CD player. Wish it had a tape deck instead l.cuz I still have tapes that still work from the ,80s and 90s kids would call classical music or noise lol. Wife tells me to get sirius I'd get it try using it once or twice and give up in shear four letter word distracted driving frustration.

 

[RB5]

Ford f series still had the vent windows in the 1990s, anyone remember the under dash manual pull vents? Those were also on some cars and trucks till the 90s. My 2009 4 cylinder 5 speed grocery getting winter beater car still has a CD player. Wish it had a tape deck instead l.cuz I still have tapes that still work from the ,80s and 90s kids would call classical music or noise lol. Wife tells me to get sirius I'd get it try using it once or twice and give up in shear four letter word distracted driving frustration.

Too many distractions. I hate messing with touch screen while in traffic. The old knobs and buttons are way easier to use, because you can feel what you are touching.

 

[jjeff]

I think some manufacturers addressed this button issue by making the infotainment screens so large it's like I'm sitting in my living room on a lazy boy watching the tv when I should be focusing on driving also brings up another unproven theory of mine but due to large infotainment screens I feel auto manufacturers had to make various self braking, etc safety contraptions. Cuz I think some drivers become so engrossed in the giant flat screens on there dash they probably aren't doing what I consider driving. I remember decades ago when there was public service messages not to talk on cell phones when driving, eventually turned into no texting and driving now trucks including my 2016 Sierra has voice texting where it can read texts and you are capable of texting responses using you voice. Which after 10 yrs of ownership of my truck I still can't utilize that feature nor do I want to. Voice text.

 

[Runner]

I think some manufacturers addressed this button issue by making the infotainment screens so large it's like I'm sitting in my living room on a lazy boy watching the tv when I should be focusing on driving also brings up another unproven theory of mine but due to large infotainment screens I feel auto manufacturers had to make various self braking, etc safety contraptions.

That's one reason I keep my screen black most of the time.

 

[lman]

Newer vehicles the Auto setting for heating/cooling. Set the temperature and you don't need to make adjustments on the road.

 

[Eagle1]

Newer vehicles the Auto setting for heating/cooling. Set the temperature and you don't need to make adjustments on the road.

Yeah maybe by yourself but add wife with hot/cold flashes you fiddle all day.

 

[John0829]

Yeah maybe by yourself but add wife with hot/cold flashes you fiddle all day.

Not if you Super Glue the controls

 

[3930dave]

I think some manufacturers addressed this button issue by making the infotainment screens so large it's like I'm sitting in my living room on a lazy boy watching the tv when I should be focusing on driving also brings up another unproven theory of mine but due to large infotainment screens I feel auto manufacturers had to make various self braking, etc safety contraptions. Cuz I think some drivers become so engrossed in the giant flat screens on there dash they probably aren't doing what I consider driving. I remember decades ago when there was public service messages not to talk on cell phones when driving, eventually turned into no texting and driving now trucks including my 2016 Sierra has voice texting where it can read texts and you are capable of texting responses using you voice. Which after 10 yrs of ownership of my truck I still can't utilize that feature nor do I want to. Voice text.

Recently watched a Magnus Walker video.... known builder, air-cooled Porsches. Clip of him driving.... "Why would this car need a radio ?"

Gearheads get that ^, many don't today, and want to be Infotained. Distraction, Surveillance, take your pick..... fairly early cell-phone studies were finding that EVEN WITH hands-free, crash rates were higher. My theory.... although it is very out of fashion today, face-to-face conversation gives you many sub-channels of information about the other person (whether you realize it or not), which, lacking that, your cranium reflexively allocates much more processing power to the remote audio conversation.

Rgds, D.

 

[jjeff]

That's one reason I keep my screen black most of the time.

Unfortunately I can't listen to the radionif it's blacked out. Nor do I have the patience or skill set to black it out minus problaby pulling a fuse or something perfectly content with a small screen even with cheaters to operate radio and occasionally display a map of where I'm going. Btw it took me five years using my current truck before I consistently figured out how to display maps thru android Auto on screen .

 

[3930dave]

That's one reason I keep my screen black most of the time.

IIRC, old Saabs (analog Instrument panel) had a nightime feature where only the Speedo was lit. Presumably alarms would still come up as needed..... but driver-distraction/visual clutter was recognized, long before cell phones came along.....

Rgds, D.

 

[jjeff]

Wonder how many new generations of drivers can plan a route using paper maps if they still even make them?

 

[3930dave]

Newer vehicles the Auto setting for heating/cooling. Set the temperature and you don't need to make adjustments on the road.

Walked into my buddy's shop years ago.... he had a mid-size GM CUV with the interior pretty much totally gutted. When I asked, Wiskey Tango, he said "replacing HVAC door-motors".

Then, went on to say........ if you keep a vehicle long, best thing you can do is turn OFF the Auto HVAC. Take a pop-can, start flexing it...... cheap plastic door motors last a bit longer (past Warranty), but, same idea....

Buy new, dump a few years later.... not an issue.

Rgds, D.

 

[jjeff]

Know I'm thinking can you be deemed partially at fault only cuz you disabled some safety contraptions that may have prevented or minimized an accident but who's to say using all the safety contraptions you disabled wouldn't cause or involve an accident with a different driver same location? Definitely foresee a accident ending up in court by ambulance chasers due to this.