[DCEite]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

OMG! You like it that way?

Yup. And this the exact reason why:

Originally Posted by hrag

The rotary seatback adjuster allows infinite levels of adjustment. Unlike the more modern lever.

[TeddyBear]

I miss the Dimmer switch at foot or some time near the knee in amby, Air ventilation open near the foot area, that is a cool feature for non A/C drivers - for modern mileage drivers :-)
I do miss the amby's place behind the rear seat. I used to sleep there during travell ( 3~4 year old then). Now Speakers occupied that place.

Amby or Premier padmini's polished stainless steel wheel cap. Some amby's used to have the fixed sun shade that gives them a great look.

[anjan_c2007]

Miss all these things in new cars:
-solid build quality- My grandfather owned a Vauxhall 12 in the 1950's. During a storm the garage with its metal sheets came down and fell like a pack of cards. The Vauxhall I am told was standing upright, with only a few bruises on the maroon paint job. There were no dents!
- individuality in the design department-each car was so distinct to look at. The designs were so individualistic and different for each car. We had ugly ducklings but most cars were appealing to look at. Today we find the designs overlapping and the looks are not worth it for most cars. True because wind tunnels and the cd factor(coefficient of drag)plus safety ratings overpower the designer who is held captive to keep himself in tune . This is unavoidable as the needs of today are much different than that of yesteryears.
-copycat designs of today- Look at the older Hyundai Sonata- its a Jaguar clone. Apart from this, so many cars are made to look like a Mercedes but none is a Merc.There are umpteen other copycat designs.China excels here.
-not DIY friendly- The newer cars are not at all DIY friendly. Most of the repair and tinkering jobs require it to go to only the authorised service centre. Older cars used to be very simple in their mechanisms. Nevertheless, we cannot expect hi-tech features and at the same time DIY friendly features.

[swale84]

Pull out type door handles.

They seem to be making a comeback though

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by swale84

Pull out type door handles.

They seem to be making a comeback though

Absolutely! And in a more friendly way. I still remember how I struggled to open the doors of our Amby as a little kid. Compared to that the newer ones are extremely easy and they looks as good . You can chrome plate it to look like the old ones.

[Mayavi]

Nostalgia: A wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition; also : something that evokes nostalgia

The thing about past is that either good or bad is remembered depending on experiences. As time passes by, only the good is remembered and bad is erased from memory.

[theMAG]

I miss the hand gear of our Padmini. I also remember having gloated in a mine-is-better-than-yours mood to a neighbor 17 years ago that my Padmini had an invisible 5th forward gear when both our Padminis had the same 4-speed hand gears.

[diabloo]

The vestigial organs are well & truly and duly retired. Another 'thing' on its way out is the cigarette lighter.

[Delta9]

Originally Posted by DCEite

I really miss the rotatory type seat adjustment knob which was there in my carb 800. Not found in most modern cars now. :(

hahaha my palio stile still has the knob type recliner, i miss the lever type though

[Revvhead]

handgears???


Dude thats Cloumn Shift, and i loved that !!
dont miss much else except the quarterglass on the fiat

[Thad E Ginathom]

foot dip switch, yes!

Handle for hand-cranking the engine? Batteries have improved!

Lots of chrome-plated steel that rusted if you forgot to polish it for a week.

Direction indicators that stuck out sideways and pointed. They were only five or six inches long: I'd like to have them a couple of feet long to deal with Chennai bikers!

And I've just remembered that I could change gear on my Ancient Honda Civic Auto with my left knee!

[revvedup]

Originally Posted by GTO

1. Affordable rear-wheel-drives? There isn't a single modern RWD sedan below 30 lakhs.

Completely agree with you on this, after seeing lots of Inital D, this is one thing I miss the most. What India needs is a proper light weight RWD hot hatch/notchback /coupe' with 120+ BHP, double wishbone independent suspension all around and LSD. Something like a Suzuki Cara or the Toyota AE86.

5. Pop-up headlights : Not relevant to India, but they looked so good on Italian / American sportscars from the 80's & 90's.

Same here, man do I love pop-up headlights. I stiil remember a green Lamborghini Countach scale model which I had purchased many years ago that had working pop up headlights.

From what I am told they were discontinued because of the following reasons

1. Safety reaons- When the mecahanism goes kaput, you are left with no lights. Moreover as said earlier ther aren' pedestrian friendly .

2. Complex and heavy assembly - Any weight directly above the wheels is bad for handling , the new BMW engines which are located behind the front wheels are testimony to this fact.

Still if I were a car collector, I would have a car with these just for the sake of showing the future generations how cool cars with these lights were.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by Rough Square

Oops - but neither does my Zen have it, nor does my Bolero (2008 model).

It needs to be added as an accessory. My Zen has it.

[ACM]

Yep, evokes nostalgia,

Plan to restore my 1956 dukker Fiat, so will soon have or rather not have:

1) Metal Ring horn on the stearing - but not if i stick to the the existing replaced plastic button alternate stearing. - Wonder if I can find an original stearing in good condition somewhere.
2) Stearing column hand shift gears - Yes love them and they will definately remain. will get a good new gear knob.
3) Front Bench Seats - Replaced them with bucket seats from the 118ne about 6 years back- may not shift back. Gives flexibility of a large sized driver like me pushing his seat back while the codriver still stays ahead.
4) Front Metal bumpers - Yep - Have halogens mounted on a metal guard- may remove them and place halogen bulbs in the main light assembly itself. to get a clean look.
5) White side wall tyres - definately will get the side walls painted white if I do go for cross plys rather than radials. Am told that the white colour on tyre side walls is painted on and the original colour remains black.
6) No side view mirrors - had added one but plan to remove it, but may place a couple of chrome metal mirrors on the bonnet side humps that house the headlights. Plus ofcourse will replace the centre main mirror with one with a panaromic view.
7) Door side panels designed to ones taste, a customized roof, a metal coloured dash- yup get all of that as well.

Should be fun doing this, as also quite frustrating due to lack of good quality replacement parts that maintain the original look. Was planning to start around december now am inspired by the thread to try to finish by november.

[normally_crazy]

Those quarter glasses in front in a FIAT for directing the air flow towards you. And it's quirky locking mechanism.