How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

[jinx]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

I've had tractors that had foot operated starter switches, but the only car I've ever been around that had a button was a Hillman Husky from about 1959 that had a button on the dash.<br /><br />Prior to 1958 VW's didn't have a gas pedal, they had a roller that you pressed down with your foot.<br /><br />But, I better be quiet, I'm starting to sound like an old f*rt!<br /><br />Jinx

 

[DeltaTow]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

I. make sure I dont have to use a dimmer switch,<br />last time I saw one used a couple of shots rang <br />out with a tinkle of glass right after it

 

[dogsdad]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

What?? You're saying that people still dim their headlights? Ohhh...you're in Virginia!<br /><br /><br />-dd-

 

[Crazy]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

I had one in my old 77 F-250 Ford , I can remember the last time I used it to ... hahaha , Someone was coming at me with there brights on , so I went to flick my brights at them .... Well ALL MY LIGHTS went out ... And it was DARK OUT ... I mean DARK !!! I loved that old truck .

 

[Link]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Today as a matter of fact! <br />85 F250 4X4<br /><br /><br />

 

[ehenry]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

My first truck was an old Chevy Apache with a stomp starter and dimmer switch on the floor.

 

[cbnoodles]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

My last car with the floor dimmer was a '78 Toyota Land Cruiser. What a great off road vehicle! I never could get that baby stuck anywhere! I almost cried when I had to sell it.

 

[deputydawg]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

My 83 Ford 4x4 daily driver, my 69 Mercury Cougar XR7 NOT my daily driver both have floor switches. <br />My first car a 1974 Grand Torino Elite had the floor dimmer, the turn signal was also the wheel tilt lock lever and the horn was a rubber strip along the inside of the steering wheel. just squeeze the wheel and it honked.<br />Now for another great question, what was the last car you drove with an 8-track player? I was stylin in my torino with the 8-track thumpin. This was in the late 80's so I had 2 tapes. Black Sabboth and ALabama. Then came the cassette adapter. I was the man then!

 

[jinx]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

I had an 8-track player in my old Ford truck that I drove to Kansas and back several times. "LA Woman" by the The Doors played repeatedly fries your brain, I can tell you.<br /><br />Jinx

 

[Parrott_head]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Hmmm....<br /><br />Ancient wisdom that I can bestow...<br /><br />Volkswagens had windshield washers that used the air in the spare tire to push to fluid out on to the windshield.<br /><br /><br />Flathead motors take forever for added oil to get into the crankcase and show up on the dipstick.<br /><br />Granny gears in P/U's made up for lack of horsepower in the motor. You never used Granny gear unless you had a heavy load on.<br /><br />Gas tanks in P/U used to sit behind the seat in the cab. You did not have a drivers seat, you had one bench seat that went from one door to the other.<br /><br />Oil bath air cleaners needed a tube sock soaked in 30 W oil in the summer when it got dry and there was losts of dust on the count roads.<br /><br />Drip gas from a well burns ok in a low compression motor in the summertime....too much water in the fuel to use it during the winter...<br /><br />Wing vents are a neccesstity if you don't have A/C.<br /><br />You can put a rope around the main pulley in a V/W and pull start it if the battery is dead.<br /><br />V/W's didn't have a fuel gauge, when you went dry you flipped a lever to reserve. Had about 35 miles left at that point.<br /><br />Maybe I'll post more pearls of wisdom later....

 

[woodrat]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

I just started driving a 63 valiant as my spare car, and it has the floor switch. It has has no seatbelts, as they were still optional then. Has push button automatic and an indestructable slant six. Cost me $200, a new pair of tires and some crude core support straigtening.<br /><br />Remember vacuum wipers in ramblers? I have an old 53 chevy flatbed truck with vacuum wipers too. <br /><br />I've had a couple of VW's with the reserve valve. You learn quickly to remember to turn it back the other way when you fill up, or you run out of gas and have no reserve. I even had a couple of different corvairs. what a fan belt!

 

[KeltonKrew]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Parrot_head....<br /><br />what about wrapping fuel lines on my old 1951 Ford Truck (F1) with flathead to keep it from vapor locking!<br /><br />also, with the flathead, you couldn't take off real fast when it was raining....wipers would stop working until you shifted (worked off vacuum).

 

[mike1234tampa]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Past Vehicals<br />74 Dodge Tradesman - had floor switch<br />79 Cadilac - had floor switch<br />78 Chevy Caprice Classic - Had Floor Switch<br />78 Chevy Van - Had floor switch<br />Present Vehicals<br />94 Nissan Sentra -- Not enough room on floor for switch<br />92 Jeep Cheroke - Should have floor switch - has metal bumbers<br /><br />How about them windows on vans and pickups that were next to the side view mirror, release the lever, turn the glass inward, not sure what you call them but that sure was nice<br /><br />Floor air vents, havn't seen them in a while<br /><br />I remember my Dads 69 chevy van had a manual choke - pretty cool<br /><br />3 on the tree<br /><br />metal dashes<br /><br />and how about motors without all them #@#$# sensors on them, you know, Carburator, couple vacume lines, easy to fix, ran forever, kinda like my old johnson outboard I have

 

[Parrott_head]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

KeltonKrew...<br /><br />Remember how to jump a six vots system with a 12 volt system? Kind of tricky...<br /><br />Generators vs. Alternators.....<br /><br />How to set the dwell on your points with a dwell meter?<br /><br />How to set a manual choke?<br /><br />A parking brake that clamped around the drive shaft instead of actuating the rear brakes...<br /><br />Does a '63 Valiant have the slanted headlights or was that the Belvedere? The auto is a pushbutton on the left side of the dash as I remember.<br /><br />Ramblers had front seats that would lay flat and even with the rear seats...made it the Rolls Royce of the drive-ins...<br /><br />Pontiac Tempests that had laminated drive shafts with no u-joints.<br /><br />Rear axle overdrives that you had to engage <br />manually once you were up to speed...<br /><br />Boat back from dead dude,<br /><br />The windows near the mirrors were called Wing Vents.....pretty handy...but an easy way to break into a vehicle.

 

[woodrat]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Valiant does not have the slanted headlights, the floor air vents are pretty manual though: Little hinged doors with latches! <br /><br />yeah I had a 63 rambler with the fold down back seat. Cool car. Floor was pretty rusty though and then then auto trans died, and that was it for that one. That was one of those ones with a torque tube driveline, where you had to pull the rear end out to get the tranny out, unless you pulled engine and trans together. Did the front u joint on that car once, what a job! <br /><br />Had quite a few rigs with three on the tree:<br />65 rambler, 61 ford truck, 67 chevy truck, 67 olds cutlass. Had a british made van, a 1964 Bedford Dormobile with a 4 on the tree, and I've driven a mercedes with a 4 on the tree too.<br /><br />This is the third pushbutton auto I've had. I once had a 60 valiant with a pushbutton and had a 60 rambler with a push button too.

 

[deputydawg]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Anyone ever burn a set of points sitting with the key on so the 8-track would play on? Simple fix, use your pocket knife to file the points then set the gap with a matchbook cover. <br /><br />Using a pair of *****hose as an emergency fix for a broken fan belt.<br /><br />Using duct tape and a stick to fix a heater hose after a wild ride coyote hunting.<br /><br />Catching on fire after forgetting the parking brake that gripped the usualy oil soaked drive shaft.<br /><br />Even the day we drove 35 miles in second gear mistaking it for 3rd gear with the 3 on the tree. <br /><br />Driving dads 46 Nomad around town in reverse to take the miles off after a un-authorized cruise. (not wise in a small town)<br /><br />Strapping a pair of Pioneer 6x9's in the back dash to get that great sound!<br /><br />Even as children sleeping on the back dash on the way home from Grandmas.<br /><br />Sleeping on the floor of the old chevy pickup after a night of racoon hunting to keep warm by the floor vent.<br /><br />AHHH The memories.

 

[jinx]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

When I was a kid I remember leaning across the steering wheel of the VW bus I drove with my fingers crammed down the defroster vent. Lord that was a cold vehicle.<br /><br />Jinx

 

[deputydawg]

Re: How many people still dim their headlights with a foot switch?

Jinx, that reminds me of a good friend of mine in high school back in the late 80's. This guy had a VW Beatle. We could drive for hours before it got a little warm in that car. One morning headed to school after a long night drinking cheap beer and eating burritos and whatever else we found out how nice heaters are! It was well below zero, snowing and blowing when I felt the urge to pass some of that built up gas from the night before. The hang time on that is one for the books especially in a cold VW Bug. My friend noted this and promptly ordered me to roll down the window. Since the cloud we were riding in was mine, I didn't mind that so much as the extreme cold so I pomptly refused. He too thought it was too cold so the windows stayed up. About that time he decided to retaliate with his own flatulance. This one matched mine pretty well. I asked him to roll his window down, which of course he refused. The stubborn streak in me I wouldn't roll mine down so we suffered. This gas exchange went on all the way to town each taking turns. When we got to town to pick up another friend for the final mile to school, the friend started into the back seat and took a breath. He chose to walk that day. <br />That bug wasn't much of a chick magnet, but what other car could you cruise all night on 50 cents!<br /><br />What does George carlin say, no matter who you are or how old you are farts are funny!