4 Bizarre Car Accessories that Used to Be Cool

"Most of us don’t spend much time listening to vinyl anymore, but just like that DJ spinning records in a trendy nightclub, there was a time when you could cue up some 45s in your Chrysler. In 1956, you could get an optional record player in Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth vehicles......Years ago, automakers used to hide gas caps in stealthy locations. Cars like the ’56 Chevy Bel Air had the gas cap hidden behind a taillight, which would swivel out of the way, while numerous cars from the 60’s and 70’s had their fuel fillers located behind the license plate.

Traffic?

I’m not sure what you mean.

I’ve never seen a station like the one you pictured anywhere in the U.S. It appears the pumps only service traffic on one side.

All the ones in the U.S. are completely off the road with traffic being serviced on both sides of the pump, and traffic entering the station from both directions. The convention, up until recently, was that you pulled to the right of the pump island you approached, just as you stay to the right on the road here. This puts both the driver (most U.S. stations are self-service except for 2 states that mandate otherwise) or the attendant between the vehicle and the pump.

The problem occurs when a vehicle does follow convention and pulls to the RH side of the pump island, but then has the fill door on the RH side. This would expose the attendant or consumer to business traffic (assuming the hose was long enough to reach over the vehicle, which it usually isn’t for safety reasons and to prevent the hose from scraping on the ground). The solution to this is what causes the real problem. In order to fill these vehicles, they must defy convention and pull to the the LH side of the pumps as they approach the pump island. But of course, that’s the RH side for traffic coming from the opposite direction, and virtually every service station here accepts incoming traffic from both directions.

If business is light, it’s not generally a big problem. When business is heavy and people are queued in line waiting to fill their tank, these vehicles are going the wrong way so they make a mess of the logistics. These vehicles then have to back away from the pump, which is unfortunately difficult for many to do without being in the cramped confines of a busy gas station, surrounded by flammable liquid dispensers, other vehicles, and people walking about. The pump islands are generally not far enough apart to allow them to pull around the incoming traffic waiting for service - backing away is the only option when things are busy.

This was never a problem until around the 1990s or so. Virtually all cars sold in the U.S. had their fill door on the LH side, or in back. I first started seeing RH side doors on imported vehicles, and then, for some strange reason the domestics have started to do it too, but only on some models (most notably not on pickup trucks and SUVs, at least not that I’ve noticed)

I was working for a tow company years ago when I heard the story about a guy with a 55 Chrysler 300 that had a dead battery. when the tow truck showed up he suggested push starting the car. The driver said OK but you'll have to get up to about 25 or 30 before that works. He gets into the car and looks in the mirror to see the tow truck backing off a half mile so that he would be up to 30mph when he started to "push" the car

LOL Really though you could jump them off with a 12 volt system. I did it several times on our old wagon. That old 55 very seldom let us down as far as actually quiting and breakdowns. It could be a pill to start especially when it was real cold but that was the nature of a 6 volt systems of the day. Oh yea one notorious fault of old Plymouths was the gas gage. IIRC if it read half a tank it was empty.

I still have the steering wheel center cap off our old 55 Belvedere. It has a ship in the center of it.

I had a '55 Chev wagon as a kid - think clapped out "surfin safari" more than hotrod. That was the only 50's vehicle that I've owned.

My favorite chevy truck from the fifties is the '54 AD. I always thought that the grill on the '47 thru '53's looked slapped on whereas the grill on the '54 molds to the fenders and hood.

The '54 is on the right.

Fortunately there are still a few of these old truck around waiting to breathe new life.

I see what you mean.

Here’s a sampling of what is in my backyard (western Washington):

1948 gmc dually 270 - $1900 (auburn covington)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/cto/3184659516.html

1950 truck - $750 (granite falls)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/3208967522.html

1950 1 1/2 TON CHEVY DUMP TRUCK - $2500 (Yelm, WA)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/cto/3216381579.html

1950 Chevy Trucks 3 and 5 window - $1 (Snohomish)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/3198933825.html
(not really $1 - $2k for two trucks!)

1951 Gmc truck - $2000 (mt vernon)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/3211424869.html

1953 GMC - $1600
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/cto/3218657236.html

As you can see - someone needs to save them before the rust gets them! Good luck ;-)

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