What old car problem are you glad we don't have anymore

Rust was a major, major problem with cars like the Ambassador, Contessa, 118NE, etc.

GTO recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

For those of us who’ve driven in the 90s (and before), today’s cars are relatively fuss-free to drive & own! But things weren’t so simple a couple of decades ago.

The old car problems I don’t miss at all:

• My Padmini, Ambassador, 118NE & Jeep overheating when climbing the Lonavla & Mahabaleshwar ghats. Today, even a little Santro will do 10 climbs without breaking into a sweat.
• Stocking up on hose pipes & belts because the quality of those in my 118NE was so poor, they’d always break. Ditto for the Jeep.
• Rust was a major, major problem with the Ambassadors, Contessas, 118NEs etc. Doing body work every 3 years was usual stuff for us as we live right next to the beach.
• Servicing every 3 months / 5000 km was a royal pain. Today, 1-year services with 10000 – 15000 km are standard-fare.
• Short 6 – 12 month warranties. Extended warranties of 7 years were a dream then.
• No safety. No crash testing. No airbags. No ESP.
• While budget hatchbacks have 90 BHP today, we used to roam around in ~40 BHP cars which were simply underpowered. It was a common practice to switch off the a/c when going up an incline.
• I don’t miss those dangerous two-lane highways at all. There were no dividers and to overtake, you had to go over on the opposite side. Heck, I remember so many 1-lane roads then. If even a tempo came from the opposite side, you had to throw half your car off the road.
• Today, the service advisor is expected to go out of the way for you, treat you well, you will fill up forms to rate their service and so on. Back in the day, it was you who had to schmooze the service advisor for “good service”, treating your car well and getting stuff approved in warranty. We used to send Diwali gifts to them

Here’s what BHPian porsche_guy had to say about the matter:

Mirrors!

Although this might not constitute as a really old car problem but having 3 mirrors on/in the car was something quite rare and often restricted to the top variants of cars. It is truly astonishing how such simple things were given a toss those days.

I cannot be more thankful that we are getting passenger side mirrors as standard these days. Absolutely cannot imagine driving without them these days.

Here’s what BHPian achyutaghosh had to say about the matter:

Manually sucking fuel for the old 1969 Fiat 1100 carburettor when the pump would not work. I have consumed petrol and burped petrol fumes so many times.

Not sure how many in the forum have done this, but thank God we do not have to face this situation now!

Here’s what BHPian kurmist had to say about the matter:

• “Dhakka starts” (push starts) for when the battery was low. Lots of people pushing the car, each one shouting “uthao, uthao” (for releasing the clutch) and then all cheering when the car finally started.
• Repairs costing a few hundred rupees rather than lakhs.
• Simplicity of cars. I remember repairing my dad’s Fiat Padmini literally overnight after bashing in the side (dad never found out till much later when I confessed, lol).

Here’s what BHPian Guna had to say about the matter:

• I am happy that we don’t have to paint the upper half of the headlamp black.
• No bench seat for the driver/co-passenger, which means no kids sitting in-between and cramping you to operate the gear lever.
• No need to give hand signals.
• I don’t have to hand over the keys to the guys at the petrol bunk to open the fuel lid cap.

Here’s what BHPian @og_adi had to say about the matter:

I have always been a great admirer of some of the old cars which carry timeless design elements. Sure, all these cars come with great setbacks but somehow everything dies down with just a look at them. If however there are some things to complain about, this would be my list-

• Smoke from the exhaust- Most classy cars have a habit of drinking a lot of fuel and leaving behind a lot of smoke.
• Poor suspension setups- I’m pretty sure automakers weren’t familiar with the concept of bending metal in a helical way so as to make it compressible then. I’ve been in the Ambassador and Padmini quite a few times in my life (Was brought back home for the first time when I was born in an Amby) and though the experiences were memorable, rides were painful. Trust me, spend a few hours in these cars over bad stretches of roads and you either fix your backache or suffer from it for the next few weeks.
• Poor drivers’ cars- This point doesn’t apply to some but dad tells me how the cars pulled towards different directions even on a plain, straight road. Apart from that, though the manual steering sounds fun to hear, they sure were a pain to handle.
• Even though they have many drawbacks, I find them beautiful as I age. Maybe it’s their charm that one can only understand once they’re gone.

Keyword: What old car problem are you glad we don't have anymore