AutoPuzzles - The Internet's Museum of Rare Cars!

Pro time.

Is it just a primitive way of getting cool air to the feet?

No. It's meant to solve a problem that has only been taken care of in the past by another device, but is sadly forgotten by present automakers.

Is it supposed to fit something through that hole?

No.

Was that intake for the passage of something else than air?

Yes... I would hardly call it a "thing", but from a scientific point of view it is not false.

Was it meant to let some light into the footwell?

Nope, but light has to do with it.

Quote from: Ray B. on June 22, 2009, 08:10:36 AM
It's meant to solve a problem that has only been taken care of in the past by another device, but is sadly forgotten by present automakers.

Quote from: Ray B. on June 22, 2009, 04:32:21 PM
light has to do with it.

To get rid of finished cigarettes?  ;D

Was that slot only on the co-driver's side?

..or was it a sort of 'window' ?

Is it to see the curb, while parking?

No, there's no such slot on the driver's side. Yes, it's a sort of window.
And yes, the idea is to see the curb while parking. Guessing that detail, being the true purpose of this device, will award the point to metalshapes if...
- he adds why it's necessary to see the curb.
- he tells us what completes the device (something that shows on the pictures and no one noticed).
Locked for metalshapes.

It looks like there is a light mounted just over the slot that points down at the curb.

Is it used to trip something?

Quote from: Paul Jaray on June 23, 2009, 02:49:46 AM
..or was it a sort of 'window' ?

That was my idea... :-\

Quote from: Paul Jaray on June 23, 2009, 04:40:58 AM

Quote from: Paul Jaray on June 23, 2009, 02:49:46 AM
..or was it a sort of 'window' ?

That was my idea... :-\

That is true...

Paul posted that before I posed my reply.

All right, you noticed the lamp designed to throw some light on the curb. That's the second point.
The first one is not to trip anything, but addresses a much more common issue.

@Paul Jaray: sorry Paul, I know, but I had to decide: you described only what it was (although Allemano's slot was equally correct) , but metalshapes came up with the "what for", to see the curb, and that is the question. He has to refine his answer though.

Don't worry, you wrote directly and in better words what I had in mind.

So you wont scuff the tires at the side of the curb?

( in other words, to help you get it close to the curb while parallel parking, without touching it )

You got it! And believe me, having driven for a long time cars with wide whitewall tires, that is a problem! Nothing bothers a car collector more than a dark scuff on a whitewall.

I know...

I gave up on whitewalls, I had them on this Model T.

But that was the last one...

what you gonna do on one-way streets parking at the opposite site of the road.... and your mirror is broken and you window doesn't open either ???

Could you please tell me one of the cars that had this device?

The puzzle car shows just a modification by its owner. But in the 1980's, when I was into the old car craze, I've known a common accessory that you can see in the second pic, on a 1958 Oldsmobile. Maybe it existed in the 1940's and 1950's, I don't know. It was that thin steel rod fixed to the bumper. It would act like a spring and emit a "ping" when coming in contact with the curb,  warning  the driver that it was close enough.

That model T rod parked by a saguaro looks perfectly nice, metalshapes. I understand that you can do without  whitewalls on a rod (although on this one it would have been a shame), but on a 1940's or 1950's american car, there is just no way.

Some cars just absolutly need them.

Wouldn't look right with blackwalls.

I just didn't realise how quickly they get dirty, untill I owned a set...



Curbing a Mag wheel is at least as bad.

I guess the Self Parking Lexus is the first sollution since the curbfeeler...

I agree about curbing a mag wheel: the guilt lasts even longer. And thanks for reminding me of that word "curbfeeler".