Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[WesternLancer]

My first car had no heater, wind down windows that stuck, wipers that staggered across the windscreen and needed 'winding up' with a starting handle. 0-60? Only down hill with a following wind. It would now be considered a classic car but the rust got it. (Bought for £50 and passed to brother 2 months later- then got another rusting car 9 years younger.)

My mother told of her father getting his first company car. No side windows at all.

What was the car?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2026 ==

A few days before an MOT I will, otherwise no.

I drive a 4 year old Seat Ibiza so it's probably unnecessary, but it can't hurt.

Sounds like a good tip!

 

[Killingworth]

What was the car?

Mine, 1951 Morris Minor. Grandfather's, also a very basic Morris maybe with dicky seat very early 1920s.

 

[WesternLancer]

Mine, 1951 Morris Minor. Grandfather's, also a very basic Morris maybe with dicky seat very early 1920s.

Thanks. I’d forgotten that heaters used to be optional extras. A bit daft given no shortage of wasted engine heat.
How did you de mist inside of windscreen on damp days ? Damp days being fairly common in uk

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2026 ==

Actually given I’ve had several cars with electric windows that the motors go dodgy on and fail requiring expensive unit replacement I’d pay good money for the option if hand wound car windows!

Electric windows unnecessary and pointless imho. And imprecise when you wish to make a fine adjustment to ventilation.

 

[Killingworth]

Thanks. I’d forgotten that heaters used to be optional extras. A bit daft given no shortage of wasted engine heat.
How did you de mist inside of windscreen on damp days ? Damp days being fairly common in uk

Back of a glove, cloth. Some cars had a warming element stuck with rubber suckers along the bottom of the windscreen and or back window.

My second car, 1961 Wolseley 1500, had a very weak heater. Even on my 1965 Riley 1.5 ice could still form on the inside of the windscreen from my breath when I drove across Hartside between Hexham and Penrith - wrapped up like a Michelin man.

 

[cool110]

Another car related one, buying vans for conversion to cars.

In the 50s purchase tax on cars was significantly higher than on vans. To get around this many small vans were designed to be easily convertible to estate cars by replacing the rear side panels with windows and bolting a rear bench seat to the floor. A fair few years before my time (I was a late surprise), but my dad took advantage of this when buying his first car.

Interestingly it was the opposite way around in the US. Until Trump started messing around, the tariffs on vans and pick-up were 10x as much as on cars. So you had rear windows and seats being put in just to take out again once it was over the border

 

[najaB]

Electric windows unnecessary and pointless imho.

Clearing the passenger side and rear windows when they fog up or are rain splattered.

 

[WesternLancer]

Clearing the passenger side and rear windows when they fog up or are rain splattered.

Leaning across works for me. Albeit not rear windows.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jan 2026 ==

Back of a glove, cloth. Some cars had a warming element stuck with rubber suckers along the bottom of the windscreen and or back window.

My second car, 1961 Wolseley 1500, had a very weak heater. Even on my 1965 Riley 1.5 ice could still form on the inside of the windscreen from my breath when I drove across Hartside between Hexham and Penrith - wrapped up like a Michelin man.

Thanks. I recall the stick on electric heaters you could get for rear windows which you often still saw on older cars in the 80s

 

[gg1]

Back of a glove, cloth. Some cars had a warming element stuck with rubber suckers along the bottom of the windscreen and or back window.

Lancia came up with an interesting solution for clearing condensation before the advent of rear heated windows, rear wipers on the inside of the car.

 

[dgl]

Lancia came up with an interesting solution for clearing condensation before the advent of rear heated windows, rear wipers on the inside of the car.

I thought Lancia had a different solution to not needing to worry about condensation, always breaking down!, condensation isn't as much of an issue if the car won't go anywhere.

As for a van instead of a car, bolt in seats weren't necessarily always used, any old seats or the wheel arches could be used instead!

 

[bspahh]

I thought Lancia had a different solution to not needing to worry about condensation, always breaking down!, condensation isn't as much of an issue if the car won't go anywhere.

As for a van instead of a car, bolt in seats weren't necessarily always used, any old seats or the wheel arches could be used instead!

In the mid-70s my mum had a Mini van which had no front passenger seat, but the base of a bus seat lengthwise in the back with one lap seat belt where me and my brother would sit.

 

[dgl]

I suppose lap belts are also something you don't see now. They never seemed that secure and it seemed quite the upgrade when my Gran got her Focus that replaced the 340 and the middle seat had a proper belt.

 

[ic31420]

Ordering things in imperial measurements should be illegal. I include pints in that opinion.

Pure outdated nonsense.

The next time I go to the pub I'll order 284.1ml of Costa del Salford and 568.2ml of Mad Dogs And Englishmen and let you know how I get on.

* Bonus points for recognising the pub/brewery without googling

I think the reason a pint has endured for things that are acquired in pints is because it's a "nice" size that fits in the hand well, is just enough without being too much to drink.

Portable gas fires still exist, though they create a fair bit of moisture. In reality to be used safely properly a window should be open, kind of negating their use. Very few people would leave a window open though.

We had them in a shop, ventilation wasn't an issue! It's the low gas putputput noise that is evocative for me

Talking about chokes on cars, I remember my Gran having a manual one on her F reg Volvo 340 GLE, there was an orange light on the dash to remind you it was in use. Of course a lot of small engined devices (pressure washers, lawn mowers, strimmers Etc.) still have a choke. It can be tricky sometimes to know if an engine has cooled enough to need the choke or not.

There was definitely a knack there was a set of ATS about a mile from my house which was usually about the right time to start feeding slowly back in, but if the light was red you'd have to pull it back to keep the engine running.

The newest car I've driven with a manual choke was a base model 1992 Escort, by that point I think they were quite rare on new cars.

Last one I remember was a HReg Pug 206 poverty spec and possibly petrol transit of a similar vintage that we had into the 00s I was the only one who would drive it, it was a rocketship empty.

On the subject of fuelling cars, do some drivers still put 'shots' of additives such a redex or equivalents into their tanks before filling?

I remember my dad putting red ex in an oil can the squirring it down the spark plug holes before laying down a smokescreen. I used to use the diesel version in an old car, but my recent cars have been flakey modern diesels (ford 1.6tdci and Hyundai 1.7 D4FD) that I prefer not to temp fate with... The ford particularly so. The DPFs have never given me trouble.


That brings another one... Running old non common rail diesels on cooking oil straight from supermarkets. I used to run my 1.7 1998 Corsa on veg oil when it was £1.35 per 3Ltr. It ran well and smelled like a chippy but a pain to start in the cold. God knows what the council though we did with 20 3ltr bottles of veg oil a week when they emptied the empties in the bin. I know my newish girlfriend at the time was less than impressed to stop at Asda and buy 10 bottles of oil and then even less impressed I stood in the carpark and poured them in the car.

 

[Bald Rick]

I think the reason a pint has endured for things that are acquired in pints is because it's a "nice" size that fits in the hand well, is just enough without being too much to drink.

my view is that part of the reason the pint has survived is because it’s easy to say. Or, at least, easier than ‘half a litre’, or even ‘demi’ as they used to say in France. In support of my wacky theory, I go to France a fair bit and most places I’ve been in the last couple of years have switched to calling a demi litre a “pinte”.

 

[35B]

my view is that part of the reason the pint has survived is because it’s easy to say. Or, at least, easier than ‘half a litre’, or even ‘demi’ as they used to say in France. In support of my wacky theory, I go to France a fair bit and most places I’ve been in the last couple of years have switched to calling a demi litre a “pinte”.

We associate France with the metric system and ultra-rationalism, but their whole numerical system is based on some much older logic. That they retain (in whatever bastardised metricated form) fossil references to units like "pinte" or "poid" should not be a surprise.

 

[swt_passenger]

Back of a glove, cloth. Some cars had a warming element stuck with rubber suckers along the bottom of the windscreen and or back window.

My second car, 1961 Wolseley 1500, had a very weak heater. Even on my 1965 Riley 1.5 ice could still form on the inside of the windscreen from my breath when I drove across Hartside between Hexham and Penrith - wrapped up like a Michelin man.

I mentioned my Saturday job on a forecourt way back, but as a ‘pump attendant’ on a dark wet evening you’d be earning a lot of your tips by cleaning front windscreens inside and out, in the late 60s a lot of cars didn’t have screen wash systems.

A lot of drivers carried around their own ‘shammy’ (chamois leather cloth), in a plastic bag in the glove box or a door pocket. I presume very few bother nowadays. In the seventies when I first started driving (in a 1966 Herald), I fitted an accessory screen wash system to it, also a Smiths self adhesive rear screen heater to it, a job repeated on a couple of later cars, I remember one of them was an Austin 1100. I think even then, 1975 ish, a rear screen heater wouldn’t necessarily be fitted across a whole model range.

 

[Bald Rick]

That they retain (in whatever bastardised metricated form) fossil references to units like "pinte" or "poid" should not be a surprise.

Indeed, although the French use of ‘Pinte’ seems to have become a thing in the last few years. It was typically ‘demi’ for a large beer before that. Anecdotslly that is, where I tend to go.

I think even then, 1975 ish, a rear screen heater wouldn’t necessarily be fitted across a whole model range.

The first car I can remember my Dad buying was a 1976 Allegro. He had two optional extras - a brake servo and a heated rear window. Personally I’d rather he‘d went for cloth covered seats so it didn’t sear the back of my legs in summer time, but you can’t have everything.

 

[Julia]

Phonecards. Especially those ones which had a stripe of little segments and the payphone "burnt" them off one by one. Won't be long before you can add the entire realm of public phones to this list.

 

[Uncle Buck]

attended petrol stations

Petrol is still pumped by an attendant at the garage at Blackwaterfoot on the Isle of Arran!

 

[The exile]

Being early 40s I'm at a pretty unique age that I use imperial in metric mixed.

measurements I can do either, through prefer millimeters for small stuff under an inch.

Fluids depend on what it is, litres for paint, pints for milk, water, stock and beer, litres for fuel prices, miles for milage. Again I tend to default to metric for small stuff under a pint.

Weights, I tend to be mainly metric, but if buying loose stuff over the counter it's oz and lbs.

People... stones and a lbs, feet and inches. I can visualize a 6ft tall 14 stone bloke, but give it me in metric I'll need a moment to convert it.

I used to work an a hardware store and mixed systems were quite usual.

Can I have 2.4m of 3"X2"...

How many square meters of laminate floor do I need for a 12ft by 18ft room.

Have you got 4ft of M8 threaded bar.

8ft of 2.5mm T&E

... four candles please.

I’m afraid I don’t think you’re that unique - any claim I have to being mid-50s is about to lose all credibility and I read your post and thought “snap”. All school maths was in metric (thank goodness) but out in the real world nothing was. Of normal commodities, I think it was sugar that went metric first.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jan 2026 ==

If we're going back a long way then how about the BBC TV interlude films. Probably the most famous was the potter's wheel, of the kitten with a ball of wool. Probably more of interest here are the transport related films, i.e. London to Brighton in 4 minutes, (this was remade sometime in the '80s in colour with MK1 EMUs), West London Air Terminal to Heathrow in ? minutes, and various chill type films such as a slow boat on the River Ouse.

How about the public information films (always solemnly announced as such) I don’t remember the one about what to do if a nuclear bonb drops on your neighbour’s house, but do remember endless repetitions of the one about electronic signs on motorways. Suspect the green cross code one and the one about not getting into strangers’ cars were others but were there more?

 

[WesternLancer]

How about the public information films (always solemnly announced as such) I don’t remember the one about what to do if a nuclear bonb drops on your neighbour’s house, but do remember endless repetitions of the one about electronic signs on motorways. Suspect the green cross code one and the one about not getting into strangers’ cars were others but were there more?

Literally hundreds more such films! Look up the 'Charley Says' DVD collections on e-bay or Amazon for a compilation of Central Office of Information (CoI) public info films that can be bought to view

or the archive held at the British Film Institute

COI at 75

The Central Office of Information (COI) produced and distributed thousands of films for use across Britain, the Commonwealth and the world. Paid for by you the taxpayer, the films couldn’t have been more varied: documentary, drama, news, animation, comedy - even horror.

player.bfi.org.uk

But the government info films about the covid pandemic and what to do in lock down were their modern equivalent I would suggest.

 

[MotCO]

. Suspect the green cross code one

Which reminds me, does anyone else remember the Tufty Club?

 

[The exile]

But the government info films about the covid pandemic and what to do in lock down were their modern equivalent I would suggest.

Funny - I have no recollection of those at all - just the daily briefings.

 

[Trackman]

Which reminds me, does anyone else remember the Tufty Club?

Yes, with Willy Weasel who was to say the at very least 'accident-prone'

 

[AndrewE]

my view is that part of the reason the pint has survived is because it’s easy to say. Or, at least, easier than ‘half a litre’, or even ‘demi’ as they used to say in France. In support of my wacky theory, I go to France a fair bit and most places I’ve been in the last couple of years have switched to calling a demi litre a “pinte”.

I think Germany has always had a "pfund," i.e. 1 pound (weight,) loaf. Probably half a kg now, but it was lovely dark slightly sour bread when I had it.

 

[Steddenm]

NI still has a lot of public information films around driving, mobile phone use and farming. There are a few which air on Irish TV as well.

Does anyone remember the television sets that had a thermal printer built in which would print a hard copy of a teletext page?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

attended petrol stations

Petrol is still pumped by an attendant at the garage at Blackwaterfoot on the Isle of Arran!

Same at the DT Close filling station in Sedburgh (Cumbria). Not overly expensive either.

 

[Russel]

Ordering things in imperial measurements should be illegal. I include pints in that opinion.

Pure outdated nonsense.

Ordering 570ml of larger doesn't have the same ring to it though.

 

[najaB]

Ordering things in imperial measurements should be illegal. I include pints in that opinion.

Just need to define a metric pint. Problem solved.

 

[Brightonboy]

There was a time (certainly early 80's) when various establishments (military, possibly police stations etc as well) were equipped with Nuclear attack warning alarms. A grey box on a wall that emitted a loud ticking noise at regular intervals - the story was that if it ever stopped ticking it was time to give up all hope of a future.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Jan 2026 ==

Aviation also uses imperial, with feet for height and nautical miles for distance. Knots for speed. One nm is one degree of latitude on a map.

For a time in the 1980's I was responsible for collating fuel consumption data for a large RAF station that had aircraft that had been built by 3 different nations, each squadron reported their own consumption to me according to the aircraft systems - so I received data in UK Gallons, US Gallons and Litres with, for good measure, data in Lbs as well. Data also came from foreign airfields or in-flight refuelling sources in unpredictable and sometimes unspecified units! All to be collated into a single set of stats to keep the treasury happy.....

 

[WesternLancer]

Does anyone remember the television sets that had a thermal printer built in which would print a hard copy of a teletext page?

No! Was that a thing? Wish I’d known at the time as would have been very handy….