You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Those coiled cables attaching motorcyclists to their bikes ignition key,
Steering wheel locks and bars,
Reflective rear triangles behind broken down cars,
Door bumper guards,
Tow bar ball covers,
cd,s stuck in the window rubber, to deflect speed camera rays,
Nodding dogs and cushions on the rear window cill,
Stickers saying ive been to Todmorden etc,etc,
What a pointless load of accesories to buy, glad theyve all but become extinct.
Indicating off roundabouts?
😉
Are you sure you're actually awake project?
I still have a reflective triangle
And I have a high vis vest and breathalyser, but they're in the boot.
What about vinyl roofs ?
[i] cd,s stuck in the window rubber, to deflect speed camera rays,[/i]
Ahh, I've always wondered why I used to see taxis with a cd dangling from the rear view mirror. Now I know it wasn't a cheap decoration!
Those things that used to dangle out the back of cars onto rhe floor. Didnt know what they were for at the time.
Still see loads of reflective triangles, just people put them about 2 yards behind the car rendering them pointless.
Those rubber strips which used to hang off the back of cars, sometimes with a lighting bolt on them. I think they were grounding strips or something to get rid of static?
crikey - Member
Are you sure you're actually awake project?
thought i would try a non provocative thread for once
the early morning continual turning over, gradually slowing down and ending in a loud clicking of flattened battery
sorry double post
Those plastic fingers which made it look like you had someone trapped in your boot. They were brilliant.
A full size spare wheel, you know like the other ones fitted to your car as standard
007 bullet holes
Those refractive lenses that hung on the back window to make it easier to park.
I have just bought one from Amazon 🙂
Windscreen strips with names on them
Stick on Garfields
A nice empty motorway to drive on for pleasure. Ah, I remember those days...
In this:
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
I use 2T motorbike engine oil as my fuel additive ... dare to try that?
Zebrazone windscreens.
stick on heated rear windscreen things,
those stupid m4 numerals on german cars, the ones without rear view mirrors and indicators that work.
Opening quarter lights.
[img] 
[/img]
Beading seat covers
External windscreen visors
Two tone paintjobs
Whitewall tyres
Man in front with a red flag(my first job)
Children in shorts stuck to vinyl seats in the Summer.
I was never aware of them being common in the UK - but don't think they have disappeared now. Perhaps there are fewer broken down cars at the side of the road now?
Reflective rear triangles behind broken down cars,
really? other than removable balls / swan necks I think they are still very common (more than 50% of standard tow balls covered). Indeed mechanic I know suggested they should be more common as tow ball is now part of MOT but they won't remove the cover to inspect!Tow bar ball covers,
what? I've never seen such a thing. Not sure how it would work either. Perhaps an urban myth hence never spread...?cd,s stuck in the window rubber, to deflect speed camera rays,
still see them on young women's cars round here...Nodding dogs and cushions on the rear window cill,
[img] 
[/img]
New Ford Focus has built in door bumpers...they pop out when you open the door...very nice touch.
Cassette tape, streaming in the wind on the central reservation.
I still have a tow bar cover and a rear triangle in my boot. Steering lock got chucked in the skip on Saturday.
string-backed driving gloves
trilby hats for the over-forties
Where can you get a Ive been to Todmorden sticker?
Where can you get a Ive been to Todmorden sticker?
Fat willys surf shack stickers
Radio antenna on the front wing.
Manual choke
Sunroofs
Big eff off aerials, gold / brown paint jobs
A nice empty motorway to drive on for pleasure. Ah, I remember those days... In this:
You should try the M180, you have to dodge the tumbleweed
It goes to S****horpe and Grimsby though so falls over on the pleasure side of it.
Whiplash aerials
Green sun strips ( ken & madge)
Weller white wheels
Pool ball gear knob
Reliant robins ( usually with pigeon basket in rear)
that bloke flashing his bum
[img] 
[/img]
AA badges and saluting AA patrol men/women
(I remember the badges but only seen the latter on Heartbeat)
edit: @Brakes - brilliant! I had forgotten about them.
Wire coat hanger instead of an snapped off radio antena.
I have a thimble style towball cover, on a towbar fitted last year!
I remember my Dad:
- Fitting a radio (without cassette) to a car with no radio, and installing a rubber aerial on the wing.
- Having to fit a locking fuel filler cap
- Keeping tools in the car to fix it when it by the roadside (although never actually needing them, we had Japanese cars!)
- Carrying WD-40, you know, for the distributor cap
- Fitting five point harnesses to the back of the car for us kids. This was in the days before child seats, and when everyone else's parents let them rattle around in the back completely unprotected. Makes me shudder to think of it now. The straps and buckles were encrusted with dried puke, I was never a good traveller and being sat down on the seat with no external view didn't help either!
- I only just remember this - fitting a second wing mirror to the nearside wing, which is where they actually used to be hence the name.
Those clip on vanes for making your wipers work better at high speed...
mahoosive aerials
extra spot lights, blocking the radiator
AA, RAC, IAM etc badges, on a bar also blocking the radiator, sometimes with extra badges gleaned on touring holidays to Scotland or the 'Westcountry'
Those vinyl radiator covers to prevent over-cooling in the winter
Stickers with 'Divvent dunshus' on them. At least I don't see many in Devon 🙂
my dad mourns the VW 'wave'
discarded porn in lay-bys
Still see loads of reflective triangles, just people put them about 2 yards behind the car rendering them pointless.
I was never aware of them being common in the UK - but don't think they have disappeared now. Perhaps there are fewer broken down cars at the side of the road now?
They're (still) law in some places in Europe (Germany, definitely), and not just to carry in the car, but is law to actually use and place so many paces before the car when broken down.
What were those rubber lightning dangly things for anyway? Just a pure placebo and someone raking in the £ ?
they were anti-static straps weren't they? Probably needed due to people wearing lots of polyester clothing and rubber soled comfortable shoes.
"My other car is a..."
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Tow bar ball covers,
got one keeps grease off your trouser swhen using the boot
Leather steering wheel covers, and starting handles - my first car had one, and jolly useful it proved too, on a few occasions.
A Lancia.
I am rebodying a 1969 Scimitar as a 1950's Le Mans 'special' at the moment. Last parked up in 1989.
I am making notes for period details.
go faster stripes
[img] 
[/img]
there's an Austin Montego near me that has a steering wheel bar lock.
makes me chuckle when I walk past it - it's not even a MG Turbo, and it's burgundy. who's going to nick that?
String back driving gloves. Ah ha!!
Lock defrosters
Little black boxes with a 9v battery that had a pop out strip of copper that
Heated up to defrost the lock
Maybe just a scottish niche product for skiers
Ashtrays
Reading through all that has reminded me that, when I was about 15, I got involved in helping do the comms for the Cartel Rally up in Dalby. My dad was driving and I came home from the meeting with an official rally vehicle number (R02 I seem to remember) that he had to put on the side of his car to get in. Bear in mind this was a Diesel Escort...
Very wrong
Rachel
A nice empty motorway to drive on for pleasure. Ah, I remember those days... In this:
On the motorways in Eire ,totally deserted around Fermoy n mitchelstown.
[img] 
[/img]
tan string back gloves
what a lovely thread i started,James May eat your heart out.
anyone mention the LA CRUSHIACHA HORN, that played the tune,
and those huge 8 track things like cassetes,
bead seat covers,and inflatable lumbar supports,
furry dice,
We have seen the Lions of Longleat sticker in rear window!
My grandad always had a spherical compass on a sucker stuck to his dashboard. And also a tartan travel blanket on the parcel shelf in case passengers got cold 🙂
has anyone ever seen a parcel on the parcel shelf??
Ziebart-ing, and accompanying sticker.
My first car had been Ziebarted, so just rusted downwards, rather than upwards.
tartan travel blanket
was to lay across the vinyl back seat so you could actually sit on it in summer without branding the backs of your legs.
has anyone ever seen a parcel on the parcel shelf??
nope, but I did actually keep gloves in the glove compartment. cheap C+A ones to wear when de-icing the screen.
Aftermarket car phones. Huge great things that used to sit in the console between driver and passenger seats.
Also, those aftermarket immobiliser units you could buy, you had to type in a PIN code to release them.
My grandfather had both of those. He was ever so proud of the phone.
Parcel on parcel shelf - I remember in Oxfordshire the police in unmarked cars were told to put hard hats on the parcel shelf so they din't look like coppers.
Unfortunately this became wide spread knowledge so you simply slowed and waved at the copper whenever you saw a hard hat on the parcel shelf. It was 6 months before the boss plod who thought oif the idea agreed it wasn't working.
And also a tartan travel blanket on the parcel shelf in case passengers got cold
weren't they for wrapping round old ladies, in case they needed a roadside piss, or some such discretionary needs...
There's a garage near me still has a petrol-pump attendant.
.
Fitting five point harnesses to the back of the car for us kids. This was in the days before child seats, and when everyone else's parents let them rattle around in the back completely unprotected
My sister and I had those! My father had to sell his MGB after I was born and got a Triumph Stag (most of which he still has, keeps saying he'll do it up again one day) Anyway, we had those in the back.
Didn't get the Stag straight away mind, my carrycot fitted behind the seats of the MG so I used to travel wedged in there.
One of these stuck to the back window:
[img] 
[/img]
Smurfs from the National garage.
The little glass domes on the petrol pumps.
White crayons to colour in your tyre logos.
Yellow headlights on French cars.
Cheap fuel?
Beam deflectors,
those perpex covers that clipped on,
Esso tigers tails,
Those black plastic grill things that were on the back window. Seriously, what were they for!
Gavin and Tracey sticker on the top of windscreens
Fury dice
CB ariels on cars
Beaded seat covers
Lucas 20-20's
Thinking about how often do you see old rust bucket cars driving around in grey primer?
Lol just thought of another - vinyl roofs 😉
Exhaust deflectors
Sheepskin seat covers
Audioline speakers for your parcel shelf
Mk1 escorts with bad bubble arch jobs, full of plastic padding filler 🙂
Oscars and Super Oscars.
Ayrton Senna.
bob summers, I saw yellow headlights tonight for the first time in years!
I really wanted a citron for oh, seconds until I realised the German car I was in didn't break down...!