Technologies We Grew Up With That are Now Obsolete

Yeah, it's kind of weird. I'm not sure why my fellow Americans avoid a manual gearbox.

Well, I think the reason is obvious, but it's an insult at the same time, so the elephant in the room must remain quiet.
 


You can keep it alive by maintaining it properly but it will eventually die and, as it stands, they're not really something you can send out to be fixed. When they fail, your only option is to replace it. Fortunately, BMW is good about making parts. They even make parts for classic BMWs.

But that now means that auto-gearboxes are technically still more fragile as manuals ...

You know, I have NEVER heard of a manual gearbox needing to be replaced (I'm a petrolhead, 50% of my Youtube viewing is car related). A manual gearbox actually doesn't need to be replaced. Ever.
OK, the clutch, yes, that is another story. But the gearbox. No.
Granted, a broken manual gearbox does exist, but it's so rare. Either it was heavily abused, or it was technically faulty (inferior probably). You know the oil on a manual gearbox never needs to be replaced ? This as opposed to changing oil for the engine.

The first time I went to the states, I saw many of these "gearbox-fixing" places. That was weird to me, as that concept doesn't exist in Europe. Then I figured it out, back then, US is 90% automatic, whole Europe was (minimum) 90% manual gearbox.
 
I bought my first automatic at the age of 75.
The reason: it’s cheaper and easier to rent car in Europe when travelling.
 
The first time I went to the states, I saw many of these "gearbox-fixing" places. That was weird to me,
I watched a car program a few weeks back, Now I cannot remember the make etc, but the vehicle has a faulty electronic [tiptronic or whatever] clutch, It was cheaper to strip off the electronics and convert it back to a peddle and re- program the ECU than fix the faulty one
 
I have searched for it but I can't remember. I think it was by Kodak, from the 1980s but it brings good memories.

That portable viewer, which came with a few cardboard discs having micro-fiches on them, and the viewer had to be used to be able to see the pictures larger.
 
That portable viewer, which came with a few cardboard discs having micro-fiches on them, and the viewer had to be used to be able to see the pictures larger.

Do you mean like the View-Master? They were predated with things like the stereoscope.
 
Years ago to make a call you had to find a Phone Box...
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Then we got a landline and had to wait 3 months to get it connected.
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Those were the days.
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Then we got a landline and had to wait 3 months to get it connected.

Did you have a party (shared between households) line?

I was in on-base housing so we always had a phone installed (as far as I remember). It was shared with other people. One of my earliest memories involves a phone and my mother's reaction to the assassination of JFK.
 
Did you have a party (shared between households) line?

I was in on-base housing so we always had a phone installed (as far as I remember). It was shared with other people. One of my earliest memories involves a phone and my mother's reaction to the assassination of JFK.

No never...that was a little before my time.
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What we still have today as we did back then is the crappy service...that never changes.
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I have a slew of them.
One in every 45 record. ;)
We had a single adapter for the entire family. Invariably my brother would lose it. I never could get those 45's placed just right on the table.
 
https://clickamericana.com/wp-content/uploads/Vintage-80s-Sony-Cordless-telephone-from-1989-770x1029.jpg


How many times did you find yourself suddenly sharing intimate details with a total stranger?
 
I'm not sure why my fellow Americans avoid a manual gearbox.

There's a subset of us who prefer them. It can actually be difficult to find them for sale.
I prefer standard transmissions. If the battery is dead, you can jump start it!
I feel more connected, one with my vehicle with a manual transmission.

The last car I bought was a Nissan Juke. Manual transmissions weren't available. As much as I LOVED that car, I'm glad it's gone.

If I'd known it had a "Continuous Variable Transmission" I wouldn't have bought it. New technology. I don't like being the Guinea pig. At around 150,000 miles, lots of people ended up with serious problems that can only be fixed with new transmission. They made it next to impossible to simply check the fluid level.
 
.....& why don't we have that cranking handle anymore, so useful on cold days when your battery wasn't up to the job.

....but, I'm glad that vacuum wipers went the way of the DoDo.
 
....but, I'm glad that vacuum wipers went the way of the DoDo.
God, I remember those. An airman who used to work at the RAF base hospital in Ely, Cambridgeshire in the UK was a friend of the family. He occasionally gave me and my sister a lift to school in Ely, if Mama was busy with other things.

He ran an old Ford Prefect 105E - he was something of a classic car nut - and that thing had vacuum wipers. There was a long hill on the run into Ely from where we lived, and during the winter it was often raining. He used to have to crawl up this hill because he just couldn't see where he was going.....

Yah; best day ever when those things disappeared off the market!


Mike. :p
 
At around 150,000 miles, lots of people ended up with serious problems that can only be fixed with new transmission. They made it next to impossible to simply check the fluid level.

The CVTs can do okay - if you religiously maintain them. You need to do fluid AND filter every 40k miles.

Like you said, it's not something you can easily do yourself and they want you to take it to a dealership.

You need to be very consistent with this. You can maybe stretch it to 50k or even 60k but I wouldn't recommend it.

I have a DCT in my M6 and that's not considered a serviceable part, not even by the dealership. As they grow in popularity, I suspect that will change - and be very expensive at first. You can get one built for you, but that's a five and six-figure job depending on how much HP and torque you plan on sending through it.

That said, it amuses me when we pine for the olden days. Nah... Cars are much more reliable than they used to be. They're much safer and have far more creature comforts. You'd be lucky to get 100,000 miles on an average car from the 70s (and some examples did survive, but let's avoid survivorship bias). These days you can buy a used Honda with 250,000 miles on it and expect to put another 100,000 before you finally blow a head gasket or slip your timing.

Of course, all of today's cars look the same. We do have some good-looking cars today, but most are just blobs that all resemble each other because there's only so many ways you can package them efficiently and safely. Also, no... No, most folks don't need an SUV or pickup truck.
 
If I'd known it had a "Continuous Variable Transmission" I wouldn't have bought it.
There's a guy running a radio program in my area about automobile "safety" who told a lot of people to avoid CVT because it was going to be a headache.

LOL about that 45RPM record adapter... I'm less worried about finding that than knowing where I put my Culture Club "Karma Chameleon" disk...
 


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