...The controls on your car didn't just happen to end up where they are -- it was a slow process, with plenty of weird permutations. (Motorcycles, even more so -- the Indian and Harley "suicide shifter" being merely one of the better-known.)
(Also because this. You realize over half the people you meet have that kind of mental process? And they always have.)
Ha ha ha, yeah. I remember my grandfather trying to describe the controls on a Model T to me once shortly after I'd learned how to drive. He was not successful.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha, yeah. I remember my grandfather trying to describe the controls on a Model T to me once shortly after I'd learned how to drive. He was not successful.
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened with aircraft controls. Every designer seemed to come up with a different system to control the airplanes. Hell, even into the `40s, there were airplanes where one pulled back the throttle to add power as opposed to pushing it in. Wright engines required pulling the mixture control to enrichen, Pratts required pulling it to lean.
ReplyDeleteSheer insanity and it caused not a few fatalities.
Yeah, but it's still a sweet car.
ReplyDeleteAnd I thought it was bad that the shifter on the Norton Commander I test rode worked backwards.
ReplyDeleteNowadays they grumble over whether the manual flick-it gizmo for the otherwise-automatic transmission should go this way for up, that way for down, or the contrary. It's enough to make you want to leave it in D.
ReplyDeleteIn the 70s I had the opportunity to look into a Citroen 2CV parked on the street on Nantucket. I was able to identify the steering tiller, yes, but after that it was all ???
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