These are some of the most interesting classic car features!
Buyers’ tastes changed over time, and automotive manufacturers had to introduce new technologies. This is why some car features became popular, and others became just another story in the history books.
Manual transmissions and CD players are some of the most well-known, but there are also a bunch of interesting car features that nobody remembers. Today, we want to give them a chance to be in the spotlight once again. Maybe some of them are not the most useful features, but we believe every car enthusiast should be aware that they existed once and helped the car industry to become what it is today.
Well, maybe not all of them are that important to say that they changed the trajectory of cars, but they are fun. People loved them at that time, and it is a good idea to celebrate the past and discover what was popular back then.
Ready to find out more? Stick around, and let’s dive together into the history of the craziest car features that ever existed!
Ice maker
If you think about it, right now this doesn’t sound that bad, right? To have ice for your drink at your disposal anytime while you are in the car. This is a dream come true! Of all car features, this one sounds like one many of us would want back.
Generally, the minivans and other family haulers had the most surprising features. This happened because in the early days of the minivan wave, manufacturers were competing fiercely, and they tried to introduce a lot of unusual car features just to make themselves stand out in the crowd.
For example, the Toyota Van, which was launched in the mid-80s, had a built-in ice maker and a fridge. Nowadays, you can still find drink coolers and fridges in cars, but ice makers disappeared completely.
Another thing about this van was that the ice maker wasn’t the only feature that stood out. The engine was placed somewhere below the front row of seats, and you needed to lift the seats if you wanted to have access to it.
Later, in 1990, the van got swapped out for the way cooler Previa, but only the Euro versions came with an ice maker—Americans had to go without it.
Fax machine
Ok, an ice maker seems a good addition to a car, but why would you add a fax machine to a car? This is a question that really bugged us, and we needed to find the answer. After some research, we have found it, and we want to share it with you since you surely are curious about what happened back then and how people came up with this idea.
First of all, we know very well that a built-in fax machine would never be a priority for any American who wants to buy a car today, but some time ago it was a status symbol in Japan. Toyota Celsior, for example, allowed buyers to install a fax machine that they could have used to send faxes from the backseat of their car.
But this didn’t remain a trend only in Japan. Audi also followed this one of the car features, and the A8 offered this option until the late 2000s! It is true that this car was targeted at buyers from Japan because they continued to use fax machines even long after people from the West started to send emails.
Record player
This was one of the most amazing car features at that time because it let you play your favorite music inside your car. Can you imagine a road trip without music? Probably not!
Maybe jamming a huge record player into the front of the car sounds like an incredibly impractical idea, but at that time it was a big hit. Even if it had its limitations, the record player lived for a long time, and people adored it.
Manufacturers became aware of the limitation in the mid-50s when the first record players were introduced by Chrysler. The problem was that because of the bumpy roads and not-so-good suspensions, the records were skipping, altering the listening experience. This was not a big inconvenience for the brand’s top models because they had soft suspensions, but when it came to the mid-range models, things were a little bit different.
There was also a problem with playing duration since the record players were limited to playing seven-inch discs. CBS produced a new type of disc to put a larger record on a smaller disk, but just a few recordings were available for purchase, restricting customer selection to a few dozen selections.
Later, in the 60s, they created a new model that was able to allow you to switch between 14 discs. This was amazing for that time, but turning on the radio was still much more convenient.
Slowly but surely, the car record players died. They first became a niche option during the 60s, and later in the 70s, they were gone for good. Cassettes and CD players took the scene and the rest we already know. Digital music streaming is king now!
Pop-out windshield
When it comes to classical safety car features, there are so many that we can easily write an entire article just about them. But now, we want to tell you more about one of the weirdest safety car features we ever heard about, which was found on the Tucker Model 48.
The pop-out windshield was an odd invention that was supposed to be triggered in case of accidents and was intended to protect their heads. The thing is that there is no evidence regarding tests being conducted in real-life scenarios.
In the end, the Tucker Model 48 was produced in only 51 examples. After that, the manufacturer needed to close its doors because it was part of a stock manipulation scandal. This is why this car is a rare and exclusive model that is best known for its “Cyclops eye.” This comes from the headlight that is installed right in the center of the car.
However, the pop-out windshield is the feature that made this car popular in the automotive world. We don’t know how it could work to keep people safe, but the engineers at that time tried to make things better. We need to appreciate that.
Rear seats in a truck bed
The Subaru Brat is one truck that clearly knows how to stand out from the crowd! It has a dedicated fanbase, and this is why the resale value is incredibly high.
Yeah, the truck is very compact and looks quirky, but of all these car features, what makes it so special and loved by people are the rear seats, especially where they are located. This truck has the classic first row of seats inside, but the second row is mounted rearwards in the bed of the truck.
And wait! This is not a mistake. The design was well planned in advance in order to keep the truck affordable for most people. To maintain the supremacy of American truck manufacturers, the US government imposed a famous “chicken tax” of 25% on every non-domestically manufactured pickup. The Brat was created in Japan; thus it would have been liable to the tax.
But with those rear seats, this Subaru was rather a passenger car, and as a result, this trick worked, and the car kept its initial price. What is even more fascinating is that those rear seats were not made to be used. The owners generally remove them and empty the truck bed.
Do you want to know more about classic cars? This is an amazing book to start your journey: Classic Car: The Definitive Visual History (DK Definitive Visual Histories)
You should also read: 9 Reasons to Avoid Automatic Car Washes at All Costs!
