What ever happened to the new features of the 90s?

[2011G6E]

I remember the fully digital dash in our '84 VK Calais...wonderful readout, plenty of information...but if you left it in the sun on a typical Queensland summer day, it could very well just be a black screen when you got back in, until it had cooled down inside a bit...

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by Brent

And the new auto reverse park feature that turns the wheel so that an orangutan can parallel park a car. Good lord. Is this really necessary?.

Especially since you have to be able to do it to pass your driving exam...don't you?

Originally Posted by EFFalcon

Voice Notifications in my 83 Thunderbird

yes, but does it come with a bag for you head so you don't have the embarrassment of someone seeing you in it?

actually not a bad car, for an American styled 80s car.

[creative]

My dad had one of the 4ws preludes and it was the first car i drove legally on my own.... Could i parallel park it? Could i chuff! Like other say, at low speed the wheels would turn in opposite directions, when you put lock on to swing the front in, the rear would turn out away from the kerb! Was comfy to drive at the time though!

[blue sleeper]

Hmm let me see, in car TVs, electronic suspension, falcons and foot rests(those were the days ).... I'd kill for an active suspension soarer! As long as don't need to fix it though....

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by fordOwner

I often wonder if the mechanical and design engineers get annoyed when Ford advertises its new cars and spend the whole 30 seconds raving on about it's stereo and Bluetooth capabilities.

Probably, but the reality is that most people buying new cars place handling and driving dynamics at the bottom of the list (if at all). Only 'car' people would place any credence on this.

[Franco Cozzo]

What about carphones? I've noticed some older 90s luxury cars have them.

Do they still work on todays mobile networks?

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

What about carphones? I've noticed some older 90s luxury cars have them.

Do they still work on todays mobile networks?

You can still buy proper phones that work on 3g / Digital. They mainly sell them to transport operators, but even then there's very few that fit them.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

What about carphones? I've noticed some older 90s luxury cars have them.

Do they still work on todays mobile networks?

The GSM ones do and much to the annoyance of the do-gooder brigade they are perfectly legal to use while driving as they are an original component of the car.

[2011G6E]

My 1982 Celica has an "oil change reminder"...in the photo it's the cylinder on the right hand side of the instrument binnacle with a set of three numbers changed by rotating a wheel to click it over to XXX "x 100".

I think it's actually just put there to make the instrument cluster symmetrical because on the other side is the control for the rear window wiper which it another cylinder that looks the same.
I don't really use it so I leave it set to "666" now...

Note: I pulled over on the highway in the middle of nowhere quickly and took this photo when it clicked over to 100,000km. The missus asked, puzzled, "Why are you bothering to take a picture of that?"

...must be a guy thing...

Another thing I just noticed the other night with the Celica is the drivers and passenger side footwell lighting, a soft greenish glow which comes on when you enter the car and, I think, stays on when you shut the door but goes out when you turn the ignition key. Nice touch.

[DivHunter]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Note: I pulled over on the highway in the middle of nowhere quickly and took this photo when it clicked over to 100,000km. The missus asked, puzzled, "Why are you bothering to take a picture of that?"

I took a picture of my XR8 cluster at 99999, GF had the same reaction.

[mik]

Originally Posted by blue sleeper

Hmm let me see, in car TVs, electronic suspension, falcons and foot rests(those were the days ).... I'd kill for an active suspension soarer! As long as don't need to fix it though....

yes i don`t think i`d touch a uz32 unless it was in pristine factory condition, even the ls400`s with air suspension and tems the shocks are 4k + for a set, makes you wonder how owners in commy will feel when the magnetic shocks need replacement as apparently they are big buks as well.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by mik

yes i don`t think i`d touch a uz32 unless it was in pristine factory condition, even the ls400`s with air suspension and tems the shocks are 4k + for a set, makes you wonder how owners in commy will feel when the magnetic shocks need replacement as apparently they are big buks as well.

Commodore owners?
Hell, I have a crawl around under our G6E and see alloy suspension arms and other various electronics, not to mention plastic transmission pans and other easily-damaged bits, and I wonder what it would be like for some owner in five to ten years time...

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by flappist

The GSM ones do and much to the annoyance of the do-gooder brigade they are perfectly legal to use while driving as they are an original component of the car.

Interesting, I assume you would use a mobile phone simcard in these things and they would have an 04 number like a phone?

E32 7 series has car phone and the E38 has in car TV. Which I assume wont work anymore after the 2013 analog switch off.

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Interesting, I assume you would use a mobile phone simcard in these things and they would have an 04 number like a phone?

E32 7 series has car phone and the E38 has in car TV. Which I assume wont work anymore after the 2013 analog switch off.

I doubt it, I have a Melways from 1986 and it has an advertisement for a car phone (in an XF Falcon, complete with '80s business man ) and SIM cards would have been way beyond the scope of technology at the time. I don't know if they were GSM based phones but they were around.

Ok so SIM cards were invented in 1991, and were originally the size of a credit card. So that answers the question. I guess if you bought a 7 Series that's how it would work.

[mik]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Commodore owners?
Hell, I have a crawl around under our G6E and see alloy suspension arms and other various electronics, not to mention plastic transmission pans and other easily-damaged bits, and I wonder what it would be like for some owner in five to ten years time...

someone a while ago priced or bought the alloy arms for an fg , they are still cheapish compared to many of the other brands, well i would`nt wan`t to buy them too often , but by comparison .....you know what i mean, but yep i get your drift.
the electronics is the part that scares me, i have an old ls400 that i`m fixing up, it`s a decent old car , but some of the gadgetys features that need a bit of attention/possible replacement are truly frightening in price,
it`s hard to imagine what all these cars full of electronics will be like in 20/30 years, just for an example these cars that need special electronic engine mounts that soften up during certain stages of the engines rev range to take the roughness out, you can sort of imagine what they will be like, electronic this and that, all these current cars with stepper motors and hard drives all over the place .

[vbvbvb088]

What about the Fax machine in the 1988 HDT VL Calais LE... not sure of exact name.

[FPV-HSV]

XF Ghia and LTD Fairlane etc Dash lighting at night and the digital dash are awesome so much effort compared to new cars.. even electric air vent's!

FE LTD interior!

3 Piece stereo's

They used to have about 10 lighters in them.. Waste of money!

VQ Caprice Velour ultra plush interior better then the new caprice!

Now majority of late model cars have no oil pressure gauge or volts etc..

Landau seats! Buckets in the rear!!

Now Holden and Ford have gone real basic and not much effort is going into the newer cars!!