Just picked up my new MC and it has more than met my expectations.

Some observations:

My dads 1949 Mercury also had a starter button.

My grandpas 53 ford wipers would slow down (vacumm powered) when he slowed his car down.

 

My Mum's 1963 Mini had a starter button, I thought doing away with it and just using the key to crank the engine was a step forward.

 

The old folks may remember the headlight dimmer switch being under the drivers left foot. I have always thought that they should have left them that way since my left foot is usually doing less than my hands.

 

Didn't the old wipers slow down when you accelerated?

 

I had vacuum wipers on the car I learned to drive in (my parent's AMC Hornet). Although the MINI's slow at a standstill, they are nothing like the Hornet's crash-inducing vacuums that would slow as I went FASTER! In fact when I let up on the gas then they would go like crazy. Stupidest things I've ever had in a car.

 

Manifold vacuum will decrease as you open the throttle to accelerate, and increase when you back off the gas pedal. Can't see where you are going? The natural tendency is to slow down, that would increase vacuum and cause the wipers to go fast.

In around 1964 my Dad had a Citroen DS19. On the San Diego Frwy in Los Angeles, in the rain (yes it did happen in Los Angeles sometimes), the electric wipers quit. Citroen must have known they were unreliable because there was a lever you could pull out from the dash and work them by hand. So, I powered the wipers.

 

I had a Mustang that had a left foot pedal that you pumped to spray the windshield washer fluid and wipe it clean, as well as a left foot bright headlight switch and maybe a left foot parking brake too. I had plenty to do with my left foot, clutch included.

 

In the 60s, a friend of mine had an old Studebaker with a "hill holder" clutch. I was told then that the feature dated back to the 1930s. The Mini is more retro than we think.

 

all those pedals just sound like an accident waiting to happen. maybe its just living in Florida, but all those pedals seem dangerous.

The Florida comment was in reference to all the old people who mistake the gas for the brakes and run into houses, restaurants, stores, really any occupied dwelling.

 

My '54 Chevy had vacuum wipers. If you floored it the wipers would slow down, however driving along normally the wipers did work faster than they did at idle (more vacuum running along than at idle).

 

Yeah so there I am at 16 trying to merge onto the highway and the wipers are barley moving and I can't see a frickin' thing. Then I slow down a little into traffic and they are going so fast I think they're going to fly off.
Let's hear it for AMC cars!