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- Auto archeology – when the turn signal was still called a winker
- The goddess must be mad
- The danger of cranking
- Why the days of classic cars will soon be over
- Stripping ruler from the emperor’s brother
- When scrap makes millions
- The handle to the glove compartment is dying out
- This is what Elvis’ roadster looks like today
- The kick is becoming fashionable
- A cockpit has never been so tidy
Auto archeology – when the turn signal was still called a winker
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Starting with a crank: That’s how it used to be when you wanted to start a car. The blinking too …
Source: picture alliance / akg-images
The VW “pretzel beetle” (until 1955) still had a fold-out indicator instead of an indicator. And at the beginning of automotive history, the chauffeur actually waved by hand to indicate the direction of travel when turning. Also out of the vehicle … ">
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… once happened differently. The VW “pretzel beetle” (until 1955) still had a fold-out indicator instead of an indicator. And at the beginning of automobile history, the chauffeur waved…eur actually still by hand to show the direction of travel when turning. Also out of the vehicle …
Source: Volkswagen
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… you had to grab oldtimers if you wanted to sound the horn (in the picture an Austin from 1928). The driver had to reach through the window for much longer to …
Source: picture alliance / AP
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… to adjust the exterior mirrors. Pure handcraft …
Source: Getty Images
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… was once the lighting of vehicle lights, as in this historic Audi with a carbide lamp. You had to push and pull for years to …
Source: picture-alliance / ZB
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… to operate the locking of the car doors. But the "little button" has gone out of fashion, like locking with a key and lock cylinder. In their place are …
Source: Getty Images / Moment Open
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… central locking and radio key activated – or keyless entry systems. The impending loss of a cultural technique can be measured by …
Source: Getty Images
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… how seldom the driver and front passenger only open the glove box to …
Source: Getty Images / Maskot
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… fish out the road map. Because today the navigation device has long been standard, which makes many drivers unlearn how to read maps and navigate with the index finger. Al…s just comfortable …
Source: Getty Images
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… many people should feel when they no longer have to operate the handbrake themselves. The electronic parking brake has now even been used in the compact class…for whom the fingers only have to be bent if it does not automatically apply the jaws. Completely ousted by electronics …
Source: Getty Images / Vetta
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… is also the brake on stuttering. Today, the anti-lock braking system takes on the challenge of having to be able to steer a car even when it comes to an emergency stop. That’s what the foot does…b a new task in some modern cars if …
Source: Getty Images
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… the trunk lid should swing open. A number of car manufacturers are now offering an extra feature in which the flap opens with a swivel of the foot. And new gestures arise,… …
Source: picture alliance / dpa-tmn
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… because soon at least infotainment systems will obey by swiping instead of touch. The auto industry is already working on gesture control.
Source: picture alliance / dpa-tmn
Crank the starter, wave instead of flashing before turning. Driving a car used to be hard work. There are things that drivers no longer have to do. This includes the handle on the ball horn.
D.he older motorists can sometimes still be heard talking about "winkers". And indeed: cars once had indicators installed instead of indicators, for example the VW “Beetle”. They folded out by means of a Bowden cable (later partly electromechanical) on the side of the car and lit up instead of flashing.
At some point in the sixties, the components fell victim to the modernization, and the movement that the motorist made to signal his intention to turn was different. Because a winker was often operated with a rotary switch. Now the turn signal was set.
From 1928, for example, the supplier Bosch manufactured winkers. Before that, from today’s perspective, the chauffeur was more in a fix if he wanted to turn right, because he really had to wave. To stretch his left arm out of the window to show where the journey is going – that was still possible. But if he wanted to go in on the right, there was a problem. The opposite was true for left-hand traffic.
The goddess must be mad
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The French cultural philosopher Roland Barthes called the Citroën DS a sculpture, and looking at this car one is inclined to agree with him. The trade fair premiere was celebrated on Tuesday…e from now on called "La Deesse" ("the goddess") limousine …
Source: Citroen
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… on October 5, 1955 at the world premiere at the Paris Motor Show. The manufacturer recorded 12,000 pre-orders within one day, that’s how enthusiastic the audience was. Legend…are about …
Source: Citroen
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… the sofa-soft armchairs of the Deesse. Trademarks were also the large windows and the single-spoke safety steering wheel. The automated manual transmission was new, be…in which the hydraulics automatically engaged, but the gears were changed using a lever on the steering column. As a swivel spotlight was …
Source: Citroen
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… Back then it was the name of the cornering light that the goddess got with the last facelift in 1967. The inner headlight behind glass turned with the steering wheel. Charak…were teristic too …
Source: Citroen
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… the turn signals mounted at roof height. However, they do not go back to the designer of the car, Flaminio Bertoni, but were added to his design. More like the game…ling counted …
Source: Citroen
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… some special equipment. There was also a player for vinyl singles for the DS. The most expensive body variant for normal customers was …
Source: Citroen
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… the convertible. The open version came on the market in 1961 and cost a whopping 50 percent surcharge. It was just more expensive …
Source: Citroen
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… the prestige sedan DS Prestige with partition and radio telephone for chauffeur operation. Here Charles de Gaulle is out and about in a conversion of the goddess. For families… and use as a special vehicle …
Source: Citroen
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… like ambulances or newspaper vans, the brand also launched station wagon versions. Even in sports …
Source: Citroen
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… scored the goddess. Triumphs in rallies like those in Monte Carlo or Morocco solidified the image of reliability and indestructibility. Commercial success turned out to be s…quickly. Then …
Source: Citroen
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… the goddess became the best-selling Citroën. Only with the …
Source: Citroen
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… Engines weakened in the course of the construction period, when mainly German competing models with more powerful engines came on the market. 126 hp were the highest d for the Citroën…he feelings.
Source: Citroen
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As early as 1970 there were quality problems due to rust that the manufacturer could not get under control. The end of production could also be celebrated as an anniversary: On April 24, 1975, a…lso 40 years ago, the last DS rolled off the production line.
Source: Citroen
Instead of pressing the steering wheel horn, early drivers also had to take a dip in the fresh air if they wanted to press the horn. This was often attached outside, on the window frame or on the side of the door. And for decades you had to reach out of the window to adjust the exterior mirrors.
The danger of cranking
It was once awkward to start a car. Before turning the ignition key at the beginning of the 20th century, the chauffeur had to perform a sweeping turning motion, as is well known, he had to crank the engine. The starter crank was on the front of the radiator and initially had a direct connection to the engine’s flywheel.
It took practice to master the take-off process and there was a risk of injury as the crank could break loose and strike back. The electric starter was invented in 1914 until it replaced mechanics, but it took a few more years. With the starter, there was a movement that is now necessary again in many new cars to ignite: pressing a start button with your finger.
Why the days of classic cars will soon be over
They are a symbol of the capital Havana. But since the government in Cuba lifted the import ban on new cars, things have been bad for old vehicles: modern cars should be produced. Source: Zoomin.TV
And the occupants of a car have been spared another crank movement for a long time: operating the rotary lever to open the windows. Today, there is practically no small car delivered without power windows, and only small switches in the door panel have to be pressed and pulled. And the cranking up of the sunroof is also rarely seen.
Stripping ruler from the emperor’s brother
No buttons at all have to be "turned down" if the doors of the car are to be locked. Modern cars no longer have pens on the door sills to operate the door locks. Instead, there is usually a central switch near the cockpit, and the remote control key has replaced the buttons for locking and unlocking from the outside. It is also widespread that cars close the bulkheads themselves a few seconds after starting to drive, then you no longer have to lift a finger.
Passivity is now also sufficient to switch the light on or to fade it up and down in the dark; This task is increasingly performed by light and high beam assistants, and with the advent of modern lighting technology, the headlight range control wheel no longer needs to be adjusted when a lot of cargo is on board. (At the beginning of the age of automobility, the common carbide lamps still had to be lit manually.)
When scrap makes millions
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Rust, splinters, flat tires: this is what is left of the collection that the French transport company Roger Baillon started over 60 years ago. The vehicles found auto specialty…ten of the Artcurial auction house on an estate in western France. Even with the first appraisal, a Packard Eight Cabriolet from 1938, for example, was estimated at 15,000 to 25,000 euros, despite being scrapped.
Source: AP
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As part of the Paris classic car fair Retromobile, the treasures that Baillon had once wanted to restore came under the hammer of the Artcurial auction house. Covered with verdigris…gen was also a …
Source: dpa
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… Facel Vega Excellence found. The luxury car, produced from 1958 to 1964, succumbed to the American hype in European car manufacturing. It had a panoramic windshield… as well as small tail fins. In addition, there was no B-pillar for easy entry between the opposing doors. Also cars from the last French luxury brand that went under after the Second World War…
Source: AP
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… Delahaye are part of the Baillon Collection. This 135-M convertible from 1948 was once dressed by coachbuilder Faget-Varnet. Some blemishes that the time… brought with it, too …
Source: AP
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… this Delahaye 235. The model appeared in 1951, four years before the legendary Mercedes 190 SL, which many classic fans consider to be its stylistic predecessor. The ailing specimen mi…t 40,618 kilometers on the odometer got its body from the coachbuilder Chapron. Has survived to this day, albeit not with luxury cars …
Source: dpa
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… the Citroën brand. This Type C 5 HP Torpedo Clover from the 1920s was also discovered.
Source: dpa
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A gem of the collection is the Maserati A6G 2000 Gran Sport Berlinetta Frua from 1956. The Italian sports car is in comparatively good condition, as you can see from it …
Source: AP
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… Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport SWB also offered at auction cannot claim. Racing versions of this model competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, among others.… The specimen now discovered belonged …
Source: AP
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… once King Faruq of Egypt. On November 5, 1949, the coupe, whose beauty can only be guessed at, was bought by the coachbuilder Saoutchik in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris…s delivered. However, it is considered the most valuable model in the Baillon Collection …
Source: dpa
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… this 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California SWB. The car was auctioned for 14.2 million euros. It once belonged …
Source: AP
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… Actors Alain Delon, Jane Fonda and Shirley MacLaine were photographed with him. Despite the pitiful condition, the value of the entire collection increases …valued at more than 20 million euros. Money that the entrepreneur once lacked for restoration. His company went bankrupt in the 1970s. Part of the collection was already auctioned at that time. The rest was forgotten.
Source: Getty Images
Modern sensors that register the smallest drizzle on the windshield fall into the same league. In principle, they also make the lever on the steering column superfluous, although it is still mounted. But there were times when the driver of the motor vehicle still had to take his hand off the valance and operate a lever that let a swing arm slide over the glass. Prince Heinrich of Prussia, the car-loving brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, invented such a hand-operated "scraper ruler", for which he was granted a patent in 1908.
The handle to the glove compartment is dying out
The parking brake is no longer required in many cars today. Sometimes two fingers still have to be used for the handbrake to activate the electrified brake using a small pull lever in the center console. Previously a unique selling point of higher-class cars, the automatic parking brake has now also arrived in the Golf VII.
And the reach for the glove compartment is dying out, at least when it comes to road maps that are gathering dust there. Paths and streets can be displayed by the navigation system. The reversing camera also shows its image on its display, which means that no further action is required: opening the driver’s door to look back through the gap with a sporty shoulder to see whether everything is OK when parking.
This is what Elvis’ roadster looks like today
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Classic in a dusty coat: the BMW 507 that Elvis drove. The door of the roadster once opened next to the King of Rock’n’Roll…
Source: BMW
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… Racing driver Hans Stuck, who is said to have victoriously driven the sleek two-seater in races. Today, in addition to the rather dented exterior, it also shows…
Source: BMW
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… the interior in an – to say the least – authentic condition.
Source: BMW
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Elvis’ 507 is said to have been painted white before it received the red coat of paint. According to legend, it was female fans who moved the star to take this step…The only thing that helped was the expression of love with lipstick on the tin, which was also red.
Source: BMW
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The cockpit is also in need of restoration. The same applies to the engine compartment, the…
Source: BMW
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… the inner workings are missing. A light alloy V8 engine with 150 hp was once installed.
Source: BMW
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After its brief appearance in the BMW Museum in Munich, the Roadster will go to the Classic Department, where it will be returned to its original, original condition.
Source: BMW
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For everyone who wants to see it, the following applies: It’s now or never. In its current condition – rusty, dusty and with a tattered interior – it will only last until August 10th…t to be marveled at.
Source: BMW
The movements of the feet have also changed. The times of the stuttering brake, in which the driver pressed the brake pedal as quickly as possible in succession and then released it, are a thing of the past. The anti-lock braking system ABS was invented to ensure that a car can still be steered even when the iron is fully stepped on. The British sports car Jensen FF was the first to install such a system in the sixties; the first car with the ABS patented by Bosch under the abbreviation was the Mercedes S-Class from 1978.
The kick is becoming fashionable
Instead, the foot has a new task in the course of a different type of automation: if all hands are full with shopping, more and more cars do not misunderstand an indicated footstep and open their electric tailgate. Alternatively, a light press of the finger on a button on the underside of the flap is sufficient to close. Dirty hands caused by manual closing no longer have to be.
A cockpit has never been so tidy
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Audi presents the third generation of the compact sports car TT at the Geneva Motor Show.
Source: Audi
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The engine range of the 2 + 2-seater is revised and made more economical. Entry-level engine remains a 1.8-liter turbo four-cylinder, now with 180 hp instead of 160 hp. New in programm …is a more powerful diesel with around 180 hp and all-wheel drive.
Source: Audi
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Characteristic elements of the predecessor such as the sloping roof line or the visually contrasting fenders are retained.
Source: Audi
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The profile looks more crouched, the front wider and the headlights look more aggressive.
Source: Audi
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Audi has not yet announced the prices, but they should start at the level of their predecessor, which cost around 33,000 euros.
Source: Audi
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Inside there is a new type of cockpit in which the analog instruments are replaced by a large color screen. The driver can use the display in relation to his needs…iv freely customize. As before, it is operated via the rotary push button in the center console or via the multifunction steering wheel.
Source: Audi
Clean gestures, on the other hand, will be in demand in the future, the more functions of the car can be operated using hand movements interpreted by interior cameras. Solutions are being developed that add gestures to the input systems in addition to speech and touchscreen. It would be conceivable to skip to the next song with a swiping movement or to regulate the heating. Rather unlikely that the car will be controlled in this way.
There is also a literal forerunner of cruise control. In 19th century Great Britain, it was not a fingertip on the cruise control lever that determined the speed to be maintained, but a person who walked ahead of the car. This should warn pedestrians with a red flag in hand of the approaching mobile. This is what the Red Flag Act of 1865 established in Great Britain. And thus an actual top speed of a good six km / h. Because no one could run faster in the long term.
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