This one is for the old guys.

[Rick Potter]

Rich Riddle seems to have a lock on 'Remember when' threads, but I am gonna beat him on this one.

Actually, I have two, but the second one can wait.


Remember When.........cars had the starter button in different places? Like my mom's 52 Packard, where you turned on the key and floored the accelerator to push the button?

I can think of at least half a dozen other methods, how about you?

[Bruce Page]

My dad was a chief land surveyor. He had a big blue camper like work truck that had the starter located on the floorboard left of the clutch. I once drove it around the block on the starter motor and didn't even get caught, lol. I told him about it years later. We wouldn't be having this conversation if he had caught me at the time...

[Chris Parks]

SAAB had it between the seats. My Dad had a an old Chev that had the accelerator between the brake and the clutch, does that count?

[Jim Koepke]

What about cars with multiple clutches?

jtk

[steven c newman]

The smaller Ford Tractors ( 5N ?) where the gear shift had an "S" spot. You'd slide the shifter over to it, depress the clutch, and then push the shifter down to start it up


The Jeeps I drove in the Army ( BEFORE the Hum-vs) had a dimmer switch-like button on the floor. You had to push the clutch in to tap the buttom. There was a switch on the dash as well, thay had to be flipped to the right spot......didn't need a key...

[steven c newman]

I remember a Studebaker that had a pushbutton gear shift on the dashboard.....just to the left of the stearing wheel?

[Andrew Hughes]

My first truck was a Datsun I had to start it with a screw driver by holding it across the end of the starter solenoid.I did finally buy a new starter.I was earning a 100 a week roofing and cigs were 75 cents a pack.
Am I old enough ?

[Kev Williams]

75 cents? You're either a young'un or on one of the coast's... when I was in high school they were 35 cents in the vending machines!

back to starters, my uncle/grandpa/dad's (never did know who's it actually was) '48 Ford pickup had the starter pedal next to the gas pedal.

And for years-- I'm thinking '55 thru '64-- you didn't need a key to start a Chevy unless you actually locked the ignition switch.
(Possibly other GM cars but I'm not sure about those.)

And speaking of things besides starter buttons on the floor-- who else remembers getting into their friend's or relative's '59 Pontiac Super 98 and could NOT figure out how the radio was changing stations by itself?

[Rich Riddle]

Rick,

Saying this one is for the old guys in the Creek is not very exclusionary. It's like going in the OWWM site and saying, "this is for the guys who like old American tools." Most of us are eligible for AARP.

[Wayne Lomman]

Dunno about this old guy stuff but Dad used to cart wood for the brick kilns in winter on his '48 Chev. He welded a rod to the foot button starter to the left of the clutch pedal so that he could hill start from a stall without growing extra limbs.

Its funny how one's perspective changes. The old man died in 1970 when his truck was 22 years old. I always thought of it as an ancient relic. Now in 2016 I have a 1985 truck and a 1986 Range Rover that are 31 and 30 years old respectively and I don't consider them old. I have had much newer cars but they are worn out and the old girls are still going.

Old is my 1952 David Brown tractor which has a seat for 2 and all the pedals on the right hand side. Cheers

[Larry Frank]

I rebuilt a 1929 Model A and would occasionally use the crank to start it. That always drew a crowd.

[Rick Potter]

Rich.........I have kids eligible for AARP. One has your Mickey Mouse watch.

[Rick Potter]

OK, I will throw in a weird one. Several British cars I have had used a starter button on the dash, which you pulled, rather than pushed. Austin Healey, MG, etc.

[Michael Weber]

OK, I will throw in a weird one. Several British cars I have had used a starter button on the dash, which you pulled, rather than pushed. Austin Healey, MG, etc.

I still have one of those. 1950 MG TD. Right hand drive as well.
image.jpg

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I don't remember the type of car but when I was about age 4, we lived in a complex that had two small houses. They were 1 bedroom/living room/kitchen combination with a bathroom. There were two of them. Parking was in an area next to the other house of the two. Outside, I was supposed to be playing with my firetruck, when I climbed in my Dad's car and began pushing the starter button on the dash. After I bumped into our neighbors house a time or two, he came out and ratted me out to my parents.

I didn't do it again.