Quirky car controls

ninty9er

Late 80s/Early 90s Ibiza with a 3 way home light switch type indicator on the dashboard. l-off-r.

Grandaunt had one. Strange car.

masseyno9

Drove a '03 citroen dispatch van for a while. Electric window switches on the headlining, handbrake on the right hand side of drivers seat, and very very low down. Gear stick poking out of dash and horn on the end of the light stalk. It was like it was assembled from all the spare parts they had left over from other models, didn't seem to have been considered at all.

Biro

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start! Citroen are problably the most famous for it though.

RobAMerc

Biro wrote: »

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start!

None of which work !
The car I drove died and wouldn't restart - trapping us inside - till we found the emergency door release.

Fab car though.

CrowdedHouse

I sat(only ) in a Merc CL 500 yesterday,after several minutes looking for the gear stick I noticed it was a stalk on the RH side of steering wheel with just R N D (IIRC)

Rovi

If I recall correctly, all the old Series II & III Lightweight Land-Rovers had their fuel fillers under the driver's seat; you had to lift out the seat base to get at it.

The car I learned to drive in, my Mum's Fiat 128 saloon, had a four position steering column switch to control all the lights: Off -> Sidelights -> Dips -> Headlights.
Moving the switch in the wrong direction from 'Dips' would supply you with instant darkness; great fun on a back road on a dirty wet night! :eek:

Omcd

I know this isn't a control as such, but would the centre armrest in Skodas and VWs that blocks reasonable access to the handbrake be worth a mention ?

And the infuriating push button handbrake on Passats.

ART6

A car I had years ago (many!) had the dipswitch in the footwell beside the clutch pedal, so if driving at night on full beams and about to change down for a corner, if someone came the other way one could run out of feet. The car also had vacuum operated wipers, working off the engine manifold, so going up hill in a higher gear in the rain would have the wipers slow down or even stop. Conversely, running in a low gear and high revs would have them going ballistic:rolleyes:

Funxy

Biro wrote: »

All TVR's apparently have weird and wonderful controls. Opening the door for a start! Citroen are problably the most famous for it though.

Tvr's definitly have some of the quirliest and best interiors ever!

VH

peasant wrote: »

anything made by Citroen before they merged with Peugeot and became PSA

for example ...Citroen CX



EDIT ..baahhh ...mike beat me to it

hard to believe they're controls in a car

crosstownk

colm_mcm wrote: »

Citroen Berlingo/Xsara: only 1 electric mirror

Some older Volvos had this too - just the N/S mirror was electric.

copacetic wrote: »

foot operated 'hand' brakes still in mercs? pure pain in the arse for no apparent reason.

I actually prefer this to the regular set up. But since I had 8 months in a C4 Picasso with an automatic electrically operated handbrake I have, on more than one occasion, found myself chasing the C5 down the road

colm_mcm

check this one out, was in Romania recently, these were very common, They were launched in the 80's and they're called the Oltcit, they were a Citroen design that was bought in.


It was originally supposed to be a Citroen, but then Citroen based the Visa on the 104 after they merged with Citroen.

Anyhoo, mad looking controls!

crosstownk

It's certainly 100% Citroën!!

Cues the broken wrist while attempting to press those switches while conering.....

colm_mcm

It's bizzare, the only car choices at the time in Romania at the time seemed to be the Dacia (Renault 12) or the Oltcit

Stephen

I'm currently driving a Buick Lucerne rental tank in the US. It has everything on only 1 stalk, which is driving me insane. It took me a while to figure out how the hell you operate the windscreen washer in it in the dark :eek: It also has a foot-operated "parking brake" and the turning circle of an aircraft carrier.

p.s. its my first time in an auto, and yes I did do the whole left-foot-attempts-to-jump-on-clutch thing and jam the brakes on. Fortunately I haven't done it since leaving the airport car park :pac:

carchaeologist

Wasnt it the model T that had the go pedal in the middle and the brake pedal on the right,better not mix that one up!!

Rovi

carchaeologist wrote: »

Wasnt it the model T that had the go pedal in the middle and the brake pedal on the right,better not mix that one up!!

It's not as simple as that.

Here you go-


Driving instructions (from WikiPedia)-
"The Model T's transmission was controlled with three foot pedals and a lever that was mounted to the road side of the driver's seat. The throttle was controlled with a lever on the steering wheel. The left pedal was used to engage the gear. When pressed and held forward the car entered low gear. When held in an intermediate position the car was in neutral, a state that could also be achieved by pulling the floor-mounted lever to an upright position. If the lever was pushed forward and the driver took his foot off the left pedal, the Model T entered high gear. The car could thus cruise without the driver having to press any of the pedals. There was no separate clutch pedal. The middle pedal was used to engage reverse gear, and the right pedal operated the engine brake. The floor lever also controlled the parking brake, which was activated by pulling the lever all the way back. This doubled as an emergency brake."

bazz26

Some current Citroens have a fixed centre hub steering wheel that doesn't move when you turn the steering wheel:

VH

bazz26 wrote: »

Some current Citroens have a fixed centre hub steering wheel that doesn't move when you turn the steering wheel:

but your hands move when you turn the steering wheel - so you cant reach any of those controls! i think that's quirkyness for the sake of it

Blitzkrieger

On a '67 Continental, the switch for high/low beams is opeated with your foot. Though I think that was standard back then......

colm_mcm

VH wrote: »

but your hands move when you turn the steering wheel - so you cant reach any of those controls! i think that's quirkyness for the sake of it

I would disagree, if you familiarise yourself with where the buttons are, it's much easier to reach for them instinctively than if they were rotating with the wheel. I only got a brief spin in one this weekend, but it was immediately obvious that it was a good idea.

Our man in Havana

I remember a column change manual gear lever in very old toyotas. What a pain in the ass.

copacetic

colm_mcm wrote: »

I would disagree, if you familiarise yourself with where the buttons are, it's much easier to reach for them instinctively than if they were rotating with the wheel. I only got a brief spin in one this weekend, but it was immediately obvious that it was a good idea.

only by taking your hands off the wheel though? I drove one of these (only for a few mins) and thought it was one of the most ridiculous ideas ever.

thumb positioned steering wheel controls or behind the wheel where your fingers can reach them ftw in my book.