Column gears

[R0B]

What were vehicles with this type of gearstick like to drive.? Were they a bad idea.As they dont use them any more.

[hakuna matata]

you would be surprized Rob most big jap cars and mpv use them they are great to drive.

neil

[R0B]

Thanks for that Neil.I've often wondered why they were so popular in the past.But not so much nowadays.I was not aware they still did them.

[1664]

They were popular in the past because it meant you could have a bench seat in the front and hand brake on the right by the door. Easy to drive - some even had overdrive too



so my grandad told me.....

[CovKid]

I imagine one of the reasons column change seemed to vanish after the 50s and early 60s was the gradual awareness of the carnage being caused to front seat passengers in accidents. All that ironmongery was not condusive to a soft landing. Mind you, even then VW was working on collapsible steering columns which soon after began to appear on the Beetle. The front windscreen was designed to pop out in an accident too.

I highly recommend this documentary (three episodes in several parts) which was shown in the 1980s and explains perfectly why and how car safety became a more pressing thing for car makers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzuGNwGJ4ig" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'll need to hunt for Ep2 and Ep3 but well worth watching. First part covers the Diana crash but sets the scene for a world where the safer you make cars, the faster people drive and why I'm dead against raising motorway speeds.

I videotaped this first time around as I figured it would be a one-off (which it was sadly) but fortunately someone has uploaded it so we can all see it again. Brilliantly put together and a cool narrator. New drivers should be MADE to watch it.

[supergalaxy]

I used to drive a Peugeot 404 pick up with column change and bench seat, It was great, I could easily burn MG Bs and other 'Sports' cars away from traffic lights etc.

Pleased to say I've grown up a bit since then (I'm still alive) Fully agree with the motorway speed limit thing, It would be madness today.

The greatest aid to road safety would be a 12" metal spike sticking out of the middle of every steering wheel. (I didn't invent that saying but I completely agree with it.)

[supergalaxy]

ERRRR, When I said I fully agree with the motorway speed limit thing I meant I feel the same as you CovKid, That it woud be a bad thing to increase the speed limit, I also feel that 20 mph should be standard in town /village centres.

[1664]

20mph is too slow. 30 is fine as long as you pay attention. My opinion of course...

[R0B]

Well off topic.But i agree with bren.20 mph is far too slow.

[Plasticman]

I had a renault 4?I think it was for years mad car coloumb stick same as the 2cv big grins all round,
as for limits , well I was taught to cross the road and be traffic aware, I never had music blaring into my ears nor were I so engrossed in important text's that i walked into traffic.
mm

[Aidan]

my first own car (1983/4) was a mazda 1300 that had a dash change, bit weird but it worked fine and soon got used to it, fwd with no centre tunnel and big comfy seats, basically it was like a fiat128 but japanese and even roomier than a fiat, had a slipping clutch but I ran it like that for a year on Guernsey with it's 30mph speed limit and cheap fuel no vat it wasn't a problem, sold it for a £10 when I'd done with it, mind I paid £40 for it, no mot's on Guernsey

T5 has a dash mounted stick which isn't much different to a column shift I guess

[Footprint]

Adding to what CovKid wrote, see the book Unsafe At Any Speed, by Ralph Nader, a 1960-something book on the risks of American motoring and the motor industry's firm resistance to the introduction of any, even quite small, safety considerations. Much of it seems a little nannying, 'cos it is, Nader is a bit of an authoritarian, but it's surprising how much effort was required just to get the motor industry to consider even some basic measures.

A link to a bit about it.