Interesting details in cars you like.

[homeforsummer]

I know we've had a few exposed gear linkage favourites already in this thread, but was reminded of another of my favourites yesterday - the exposed linkage in the Lotus Elise and Exige, introduced in Lotus's last round of facelifts and trim improvements.

The feel of the shift itself is also better than ever now. I assume that in putting it on display, they also did away with some of the cheaper bits in the mechanism - rubber bushings and the like, so the shift feel is now much more mechanical.

 

[TexRex]

How do you wash the car underneath that band thing?

Yes.

 

[TexRex]

Another stainless band--this time on a '77 Dodge Royal Monaco Brougham.

 

[Aerocoupe]

I love the way Quad 4 intake manifolds look; the way they split into individual runners is what really does it for me.

GM also used another manifold design that looks more akin to a 4-in-to-1 exhaust, but is nonetheless appealing IMO.

 

[Tornado]

A small team in GM secretly spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into making that a very good breathing, fuel efficient, powerful and very torquey engine for the time with the latest tech (coil on plug ignition, sequential fuel injection) on the market. The headers even are a 4-2-1 setup straight from the factory on the earlier lower power versions of the engine.




And then because it was a quiet skunkworks project hidden from GM management (which was the only way anything was accomplished in GM in the 80s through the mid 90s), Roger Smith's bean counters never considered doing anything at all to make it smooth before widely releasing it when it was "finished"; so even though you'd scare the hell out of the guy in the VTEC Prelude in your Cutlass Calais, it would sound like a bunch of hand grenades were going off under the hood.

 

[Volksauto]

The aluminum trim on the 1957 Bel Air's quarter panels.

 

[05XR8]

Look at the C-pillar design and trim. That's quality.

 

[Volksauto]

Look at the C-pillar design and trim. That's quality.

Minus the fact that many of the cars of that era tended to rot out within a decade of winter driving due to the lack of any rust protection. But the design quality was definitely there.

 

[Liquid]

Continental cars (usually French) that had yellow headlights

 

[Joey D]

Yellow lights, especially selective yellow lights, are always going to be awesome.

 

[Tornado]

Those are the weirdest Imprezas I've ever seen.

 

[Volksauto]

The doors on the Lamborghini Miura are designed to resemble the horns of a bull.

 

[GranTurNismo]

Pop-up headlights on the Aston Martin Lagonda. Never realized that they had these.

 

[05XR8]

The doors on the Lamborghini Miura are designed to resemble the horns of a bull.
View attachment 926910

Looks like a bat, with its "fangs"(driving lights in the grille) sticking out.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Continental cars (usually French) that had yellow headlights

I put yellow headlights on all my French racecars in GT Sport (because you can't change then on roadcars)

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Continental cars (usually French) that had yellow headlights

Ah the 505. Always really liked these cars. My family had 2 of them. Until a particular year (not sure which) all US market cars were required to have sealed-beam headlights (stupid ill-conceived safety regulation) so the early imported cars looked like this:

Later cars looked like this:

We had a gold early sedan and a silver late wagon. Great cars. Horribly unreliable. I actually kind of like the quad-headlight 505s. 504s received similar lights:

That and the bumper are fairly minor changes, but they really make the car look American rather than the very Frenchy looking rest-of-the-world model:

 

[ferhound]

Mitsubishi GTO 98 rear spoiler:

Seems its called "Combat Wing":
https://www.midnight-concepts.com/m...3000gt_exterior/spoilers/1999_vr4_combat_wing

 

[Volksauto]

Until a particular year (not sure which) all US market cars were required to have sealed-beam headlights

Wasn’t that 1983 or 1984?

 

[kikie]

The Abarth Biposto short shifter.

 

[Tornado]

I think everything requiring sealed beams actually had the unintended effect of making many cars better looking (if not worse performing since sealed beams are trash for output)...



Until manufacturers started doing a single 5x7 instead of the dual rounds/4x6s that were common earlier on.

 

[MedigoFlame]

Loved it about my 1995 Lexus LS400 having a third sunvisor around the rear view mirror. Haven't really seen it in a new car since, until I drove the new Defender. Love this extra detail and I hope more cars have it.

 

[05XR8]

That's cool. My '92 Passat had a centre sun visor.

 

[VXR]

My 2007 A4 convertible has it, as did the Skoda hire car I had in 2016.

 

[Brown TE37s]

Not sure if this has been mentioned befor but..
Citroen DS turning headlights

GTR all wheel steering

 

[daan]

Continental cars (usually French) that had yellow headlights

I recall going to France as a kid and my dad painting the headlights yellow while waiting on the ferry. We also stuck bits of plastic so our headlights wouldn't dazzle oncoming traffic whilst driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I recall going to France as a kid and my dad painting the headlights yellow while waiting on the ferry. We also stuck bits of plastic so our headlights wouldn't dazzle oncoming traffic whilst driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

I saw a DS over here with yellow lights (on old Paris plates), probably around the middle of 2019 during motor rally season. I think they're still allowed for cars over a certain age, rather like black/silver plates in the UK. It gave me a real sense of nostalgia although I had to double-check which side of the road I should be on.

 

[GranTurNismo]

Front and rear spoiler on late-model Countaches

 

[TheCracker]

Loved it about my 1995 Lexus LS400 having a third sunvisor around the rear view mirror. Haven't really seen it in a new car since, until I drove the new Defender. Love this extra detail and I hope more cars have it.

My A3 has it too. One of those features you discover by accident after owning a vehicle for 2 years.

 

[kikie]

I like the fact that the wheels or is it rims are getting bigger.

 

[TexRex]

Houndstooth vinyl available for Cougars for 1970.