Most of us nowadays take the automobile and it's accessories for granted. When I first started driving, it was very different than it is now. My first car was a 1930 Model A coupe with a rumble seat. an exterior seat which opens out from the rear deck of a pre-World War II car and seats one or more passengers. It was originally designed for servants.

One of the things cars in those days did not have were turn signals. These were invented in 1925 but none of the auto manufacturers were interested in them, the first cars to have them were in 1939. One of the cars I had in the early 1950's did not have them either but they were being sold as an accessory you could install yourself. It consisted of a lever that was strapped to your steering column and boxes with lighted arrows on each side you could attach to your doors. there was a lot of controversy when these first came out, people were running into each other because they did not see the signal or did not understand them, some thought that an arrow pointing to the right meant it was OK to pass on the right. Many cities banned them in favor of hand signals.
Another thing they did not have was an automatic transmission. You had to know how to shift gears in order to drive, The first semi-automatic transmission which was marketed by a major manufacturer was the Chrysler. It was an attempt to compete against rivals', although it still had a clutch, primarily to change range. The main difference was the addition of a fluid coupling between engine and clutch, and the shifting mechanism. In normal driving, the clutch was not used.





Another innovation was Power Steering, Again in 1951 Chrysler was one of the first to have it. If your engine ever quits while you are moving in today's cars you realize how much you need it, especially with a front wheel drive car with all that engine wight and wide tires, It is almost impossible to steer. Can you believe all of the following were introduced in the last 50 Years?

How about leaving a comment on what I have forgotten what we now enjoy.

Seat Belts, I installed my own in 1957. You had to drill a hole in the floor on both sides of the seat, and install a large bolt. you needed a buddy to tighten it from underneath. It was just a lap belt, I don't remember if shoulder belts were available then.


Cozy wing windows.

Air conditioning, You had to open the cozy wing windows yo get some cool air.

Power Steering

Power Brakes

Power Seats

Heated Seats, I never did have these.

Leather seats

4 wheel drive

Tubeless tires

Disk brakes

Remote entry

Fuel injection

Sealed beam headlights

Radios CD/DVD Players

Satellite Radio

GPS Navigation

Varible speed windshield wipers

airbags

Rear view mirrors

Spotlight mounted on drivers side, just like the cops had.

Rear view video camera

CB Radio, "Breaker One Nine" (Talk to the truckers)

Dvd player for the kids