[Stardust]

(1) Manually locking all the four doors.

(2) And then finding to the utmost horror that the key is left inside the car.

Almost both of them solved by central locking systems today.

[Axe77]

Doing Bombay Poona (yes, since we’re talking late 80s on to mid to late 90s and even a bit later, I’m going to say Bombay and Poona) ghats you could always see some vehicles on the side which had either overheated or worn out clutch plates that had given way at that unfortunate location. I still remember the mandir on the right side of the ghat going towards Pune - its once again a common sight now that I’ve resumed using that route on my two wheeler.

Some features that we grew into that are not even in our consideration list now and needn’t bother our mindspace.

- Mirrors (on each side): IIRC
- Power steering
- Winding windows manually vs switches. Switches initially only for the “front” windows (yikes!)
- AC (our first 1983 Maruti 800 didn’t have power steering or AC).
- When to use AC - in some cars you’d switch it off on the ghats.
- Maintaining clutch for manual tranny cars (ok I guess this is still a deal but we haven’t bought a manual car in the last decade)
- Changing tyres - although in theory you’d still have to do this but with tubeless tech, this is more an “inflate until you get to the puncture shop”.
- Checking physically if “each door” was locked.
- Key locked inside and jacking into the car via the window. There were “experts” who could break in by jamming open the lock through the window liner by inserting some sort of a thin scale.

Some common accessories and related that I no longer bother with or relate to:
- Music system
- Storage for tapes / CDs
- Locks of all kinds. Some went around the one of the pedals and into the steering, some only in steering, some in the manual gearshift.
- Car seat covers
- I recall some older Ambassadors and Fiat Padminis being equipped with a fan and some with curtains too. I mean, literally curtains.

[narayans80]

Cost

Car was a luxury. Very few could afford used cars, new car owners were rarer than Big foot.

Awareness

As a result of the above, awareness about cars and their maintenance were very minimal. Today there is so much information right from owners manuals to online forums. I never saw the owner's manual for the Ambassador we owned.

NVH

Diesels in the 80s were loud. The front passenger will have to talk loudly for the driver to hear even at 60 kph. This problem was present in buses as well. It was not until the millenium, did we warm up to diesels with less noise, so much so that we even call refined diesels as tractor engines

Roads

These have vastly improved over the last 2 decades. In my childhood, doing Madras-Bangalore was a long trip. Today, there are enough who cross country trips. And there is enough information by virtue of digital maps, travel forums through which one can self plan.

Action has been taken to mellow down death traps like Thoppur ghat for example. While not increasing body count, these contributed to huge delays in travel time.

Seat Belts

We have a dedicated thread (ARTICLE: Seat Belts Saved My Life! True Stories & Pictures from BHPians) for this. Its almost taken for granted.

Child Locks

Non-existent in cars before the 2000s. A must in today's family cars.

Turn Indicators

I lose count many times, this has saved my skin on a daily basis. In my childhood days, people hardly cared about non-working tail lights.

ICE

Carrying around the tape recorder and a baggage of cassettes. Even CD that were prone to scratches on drives are a relic of the past.

Working odometers

Non-working odometers was a regular feature. There really wasn't an use case for tampering

Cold Start

Lot have mentioned this in colder places. I've seen this being done in hot and humid Madras.

Transmission

4-speed was the standard. I remember early day Wagon-R ATs came with 3-speed automatic. I am also glad we have floor gears and there is no way to overcrowd the front seat.

Parking

Today you cannot get building approval without parking. I've seen my uncle-aunts place which didn't even have provision to parking a cycle.

[akn1984]

Had my share of Ambassadors and Fiat Premier Padminis.
Glad that today’s cars don’t require radiators to be be filled with water before venturing out every time. Even on a trip, the Ambys and Fiats would overheat and stop and one had to fetch water from a nearby stream to quench the thirst of the ever thirsty radiator!

Ambassadors and even Padminis of yore had a tendency of losing wipers when the speed of the rain used to be at its peak! Wipers would suddenly fly out somewhere and one had to stop and search for them and refit them!

Glad we are passed those adventurous times!

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Stuff that I like today simply because it wasn't there in cars that we had:
1. Intermittent wipers (add speed control its just wow)
2. No front sun visors to aid/destroy aerodynamics
3. Dedicated space for radios and ac ducts
4. Radial tyres in cars
5. Syncromesh gear boxes
6. Floor gears
7. Brake boosters (aka power breaks )
8. Carburettors?
9. Starter motor jams (bendix pinion getting stuck)
10. Car overheating and regular coolant top ups

[lordrayden]

Things like steering wheels, horn rings, door handles, window winders, indicator switches, etc made of metal or mostly metal!

If our Ambassador was left out in the hot sun, all these interior bits and bobs would be burning hot when we got back in. It was no fun operating these parts as quickly as possible with as less touching as possible to keep away the third degree burns. Imagine trying to turn the non-powered steering wheel of an Amby with just 4 fingers .

[NagaBond]

In those old days we had a waiting period of 2 years for an amby. Today you can get an XUV 700 within 2 years (#sarcasm)
Vehicles were very slow (or driven slow for the road condition) but we loved fresh air flowing in as there was hardly any pollution.

[aaggoswami]

There is only one old car problem that I can relate to as I faced it, and that's staring the car in cold conditions or after a long time. Thank God for Fuel Injection and emission norms that ensured carburetor being replaced.

[BhayanaV]

Originally Posted by porsche_guy

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

I think Maruti still sell some cars with lower variants getting only driver side mirror.

[am1m]

In the city it probably wasn't so apparent, in fact the dramatically lesser traffic those days meant driving our Ambassador (or rather being driven, because I was a child back then ) in Bangalore was actually easier and less of a hassle back then than it is now, but inter-state/city trips have certainly become much, much easier with modern cars.

Today you can just jump in to any modern car and take off without any planning. Cars are reliable, google maps, ATMs, restaurants, hotels/lodges and petrol stations are present almost everywhere. Back then, I remember it meant planning, servicing, carrying spares, perhaps even taking a driver/mechanic along, deciding where and when to break the journey, carrying enough food, money. And that Amby would overheat/break down at least once. What a hassle. That I don't miss at all!

[mints21]

Bunch of Keys. Separate keys for Ignition, Glove Box, Door, Boot and Fuel tank and one garage lock key.

We had a 1985 Premier Padmini and it had so many keys. I was too young and not sure if they were from the OEM or got increased gradually.

However, with single key and push button start this is no longer a pain area.

[kiredd1005]

Haha I have so many!

Most important problems I'm glad we don't have anymore, is the lack of ac or using that chotu fan haha! That was the cutest thing ever!

And more importantly, I don't miss putting water into the radiator every few hundred/thousand kms!

[pradheepsr]

Spent most of my childhood days in a 1965 mark2 Ambassador ( resembled the Morris minor in many aspects). Remember she used to have instrument panel/dials with markings saying " SMITHS, made in England".
Till we sold her in 2005 she went through a lot of customisations including a major drivetrain change to a Matador (1500cc) diesel engine. I didn't know the power output and specifications then, must be poor to say the least.
The drivers in our family had to contend with a rock hard heavy clutch to a gearbox that would struggle to shift to 2nd from 1st.
Climbing ghats had to be made with utmost caution and planning. Many of us used to carry a can of water in the boot that would come in handy when the radiator boiled and used to smoke out like a steam loco those days.
Last but not the least, the ridiculous amount of load our Amby used to carry. Sometimes there would be atleast 6-7 adults with kids in their laps. Adult occupant and child safety would have simply gone for a toss.
But got to say that even with a maxed out load it would do the job just fine i.e., transporting from point A to point B.
After all, that is what we all and even our elders expected out of an automobile those days.

[wild child]

Thanks for starting this thread @GTO. It does bring back sweet memories!
I am happy that all the problems mentioned above are history, thanks to modern tech.

My experiences are:

1. 180 degree "U" turns in a vehicle with Manual Steering.
In my teens while learning to drive our '82 Amby, I found it almost impossible to make a 180 degree turn in our narrow street. I would literally be moving just front and back again and again without turning around. Finally, I made it one day!

Here's the trick I learnt. When making a right turn, I turned the steering to the right side as I inched the car forward(didn't turn the steering wheel when the vehicle was stationary). As I reached the corner of the road, I would start steering to the left as quickly as I could. On reaching the end of the road, I would brake and then shift into reverse and back up with the steering still turned to the left side. Now, when I am about to reach the corner of the road, I would quickly turn to the steering wheel to the right side. Doing so, I was able to turn around within "record breaking" time! This trick works for me even today while parking in and pulling out of tight spots.

2. Shifting a non-synchro gearbox.
Non synchro gearboxes had never been "shift on the fly" for me! When I reach the end of the power band in one gear and I plan to upshift, I used to depress the clutch, dab the accelerator pedal a bit to raise the engine RPM and then change gears. By this, I was able to match the speed of the input and output shaft thereby resulting in butter smooth shifts! Downshifting was never a problem though.

3. Driving a vehicle with a mechanical operated clutch.
Jeez, that is one nightmare which eventually grew upon me. Three decades ago, commercial vehicles in India used to have the mechanically operated clutch. Yes, they weren't fitted with pneumatic clutch boosters or hydraulic cylinders. This meant one thing - a sore left leg while driving through heavy traffic.
This was because
a. The mechanical advantage of the linkages was way inferior to the hydraulic advantage of today's setup.
b. Double de clutching! If I were to shift a gear, I should first depress the clutch pedal to shift from current gear to neutral, release the clutch pedal and press it again and then shift to the next gear! A nightmare indeed.

Glad that i don't have to do all these today. But hey, wasn't it such experiences which makes all of us to appreciate the creature comforts of today's vehicles. :-)

[amol4184]

We had textbook example of a problematic old car that GTO has already mentioned multiple times in his OP - the 118 NE!

So many issues with the damn thing and they were greatly exposed since our other car was MS Omni which was pretty bulletproof.

One major issue apart from myriad of electrical and engine problems, was the rust. The car had literally started disintegrating. It had rust almost all across the body.

I remember one time my sister cranked the car while it was in gear and it jumped out straight into the metal stair case right in front. Guess who won? The staircase.
Upon impact, car broke the rusted bumper mounting and large pieces of rusted metal lost their final coupling with rest of the body and fell to the ground. Kind of like when you poke the mudflaps with a stick and dried mud starts raining.

It was hilarious. My sister learnt a lesson and so did my father who was clinging onto it for no reason.

PS. And we didn't even live anywhere near to seashore. Nearest beach from our place is a good 6 hours away.