Posted on 04/11/2013 4:32:42 PM PDT by rawhide
Can anyone tell me what is the name of the car that this dash is a part of? What are those levers in front of the steering wheel used for? Air vents? Nice looking dash.
Yeah, steering wheels were pretty big, back in the 50s and 60s. They're what I learned to drive in.
Us young guys would swap 'em out with after market steering wheels that were much smaller.
What is that thing on top of the dash, in the photo link you posted?? Very strange?
My you are good at identification:
http://www.chromjuwelen.com/de/magazin/enroute/282/161747-1954-mercury-monterey-coupe-dashboard.html
see post #39
‘54 Mercury Monterey.
We tried. LOL
That tall chrome rod with the big knob was a “Moon” shifter for the “MercOmatic” trans.
Looks like a Nash Metropolitan. A friend of mine had one up in Portland, and she took practically religious care of it. It looks almost identical.
No idea, but those dashboards are pretty in a primitive sort of way. You can’t even see where the music and/or radio plugs in. And by the way, where are our flying cars? With our technological innovation, we should have had those fifteen years ago.
Reflector for viewing overhead traffic lights. Saved you from having to crane to look up at them. Apparently was a fairly common option back then, and IMO would be pretty handy even today.
Now there's a phrase I haven't heard for forty years or so. Little before my time, but I knew what they were, back in the day.
My aunt had that in her Dodge, plus giant multi-color tail fins, but I can't recall the model type.
I would push button downshift into red lights, then 1-2-3 upshift and zoom away on green.
You always had to be ultra-careful not to hit the Reverse button which was mixed right in with the rest of the gears.
Now, I’m not so sure. I googled images of early 50’s Chrysler products and didn’t see anything that looked like that. But it sure smacks of Chrysler to me. And I was talking about the knob underneath the gearshift lever when I mentioned vents.
Only later did I notice the four levers on that odd shelf-like contraption. Gee, I can only think they had to do with the heater. I fancy myself a pretty good authority on fifties cars, but I’m stumped on this one.
It’s Speed Racer’s Mach V. The levers control the saw blades that cut through trees when driving through densely wooded areas.
Ramblers were very small cars in the ‘50s.
I think the first one was in ‘56, and the instrument cluster was stuck on like an after thought. It was just a little round “torpedo” bulge on the dash.
Man, do I remember that experience. It really was like magic, compared to what we were used to.
Power brakes were another story. I had a helluva time adjusting to them after learning to drive in cars with standard hydraulic brakes.
>> “You always had to be ultra-careful not to hit the Reverse button which was mixed right in with the rest of the gears.” <<
.
No danger.
The iron case torqueflight was governor controlled, and didn’t feed any control pressure to the rear band port if there was any governor pressure. (in motion in other words)
We had a 53 or 54 Ford product with exactly that color. Maybe it was a Mercury?
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