In decades past, cars didn’t have the dead-simple features many drivers take for granted today. I’m not talking about radar cruise, but real basic stuff like cupholders and storage bins. But don’t worry, because the aftermarket has your back. Or, so you’d think.
This morning, Jason wrote about how old cars didn’t have real cupholders, but just indentations in their glovebox doors for dining in your vehicle while it was stopped. The aftermarket stepped up to the plate to offer accessories for cars that didn’t have them when stock, but they weren’t always great. James Mason explains:
Good riddance to the awful driveshaft hump hugging aftermarket plastic cupholder caddies (with slots for your change, cassettes, and two cups). Those also gave the illusion of being secure until you took a turn too hard and the whole works would fly and tumble across the floor, scattering coins, a couple Def Leppard tapes, Executor key fob sound effect thingy, a broken switchblade comb, and releasing whatever remained of your super-sized Coke onto your coffee-stained and cigarette-burned carpet.
My childhood was filled with these kinds of aftermarket cupholders:
Sure enough, they never stayed put, spilling your $1 large McDonald’s Hi-C all over the place!
This morning, Matt wrote about how Lucid is technically losing $341,604 per car. While it’s not like Lucid is instantly burning that cash the moment you buy a car, this thought from Hugh Crawford still makes me smile:
Dear lucid:
Leave $100,000 in used $20 bills in a yellow duffle bag behind Bob’s Convenience and Lotto or I will buy one of your cars”
Today, David wrote about a Miata at SEMA that, despite so many headlines, doesn’t actually have a Lamborghini V10. LTDScott wasn’t surprised:
Wait, you’re saying a vehicle on display at SEMA is deceptive and not what it claims to be? Well I for one am clutching my pearls.
Finally, ADDvanced is here to remind you how awesome the first-generation Honda Insight is:
Imma be a broken record.
First gen. Honda. Insight.
Aluminum chassis, basically impervious to corrosion
50mpg without trying
5 spd manual
Collector plates, so insurance is $200/year
I’m at almost 300k with mine. Bought it for 3k with 180k on it, so far I’ve added a grid charger, done front control arms, a wheel bearing, and a temp sensor on the engine. That’s it.33,000 miles with gas at $3/gallon:
36mpg: $2750 in fuel
55mpg: $1800 in fuelAt this point my Insight has paid for itself in fuel savings like 4-5x over the price of the car. It’s literally the cheapest car you can drive/mile, I think? A used prius is up there as well… but they rust out, and the MPG isn’t as good.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
The Dodge Shadow/Plymouth Sundance had one huge Super Big Gulp/Big Burp sized cup holder in front of the gearshift. As a medical courier in the 90’s I would adamantly INSIST on any of these corporate twins to drive if available, no matter what condition they were in at the time, especialy in the Summer, as my first stop was at a local convenience store where I would buy the largest cup I could fit in the holder and fill it with Gatorade.
I just used to get drinks in those cardboard drink carriers and leave them on the passenger floor of my XJ. I was often tasked with the coffee run in my college days working at the local computer shop.
I always tucked my drink in between my hip and the seatbelt. Worked just fine. I think I was 26 before I ever owned a car with a cup holder.
I had a 98 LeSabre that needed an aftermarket plastic cup holder.
It also liked to slide all over the place.
I fixed it by sticking velcro strips along the thin plastic edging so it would dig into the carpet. It worked brilliantly
ADD does not mention the collector plate limits miles available to be driven annually, but I digress.
My brother and I were not allowed to eat or drink in the car as children. Nor did our parents do so. Problem solved.
Same, and oddly my parents cars were not stained or disgustingly dirty. Neither are mine today.
Funny how that works out.
Odd, isn’t it? Baffles me why parents let today’s children ruin their cars and houses. As children, our crap was NOT spread all over the house.
I do drink and very occasionally eat in my cars (but I would very much do the same as parents if I had children). I am not one to spill things, and if I do, I clean it up immediately.
Baffles me why parents back then would not take the time to teach kids not to be slobs. They just forbode certain things instead of taking the time to teach them to do it in a proper manner.
LOL – young children are GOING to be slobs no matter what. The only solution is to not give them the opportunity, when it comes to messy things like eating and drinking. I agree when it comes to things like putting toys away.
What about those cup holders that hung from door, secured with a little piece of plastic that wedged into the window well?
The width of the plastic hanger was not enough to keep the drink from moving back and forth —even in 80s Mercedes diesels, much less in lighter and more nimble cars
I had a tiny Datsun pick up. The cab was so narrow that I hung one of these on the passenger window because it was easier to reach than trying to contort to get to it on the driver’s side.
I remember those all too well!
A buddy of mine who was fed up with those plastic hump things whipped out a drill and some machine screws and went to town. Secured it right to the sheet metal and it never dumped a big gulp again.
I did the same on several cars.
Back in the 80s my wife had one of these in her Impala.
We went to the Gulf of Mexico to do the beach all the time.
It was hot so we stopped at Dairy Queen and bought two huge shakes for the beach.
And put them in that stupid damn thing in the above photo.
We both were beginning to feel the effects of the substances we had taken as we parked the car.
When I reached down to grab my shake, she also reached to grab hers. And somehow we managed to tip both over into the carpet. Like 40 oz. of shakes…
We just began to laugh like lunatics. Got out and enjoyed the beach for about 8 hours whilst the mess cooked in the 100 degree heat all day.
The next morning I pulled all the carpet out and into the dumpster it went.
After I installed new carpet, I screwed that piece of shit drink holder to the trans hump.
Good times. YMMV.
I remember we had one in a Subaru Loyale growing up that the front seat passenger would have to hold on to in every corner as an assumed responsibility, but the one in my Lincoln Town Car was never an issue, partly because you don’t do spirited cornering in those, partly because the carpet was very thick and plush, so the plastic edges sank deep enough into it to grip in place
A key was also finding one that was actually the right size for your transmission hump, they were not one size fits all, too big or too small and it was going to tip over constantly
My 94 Saab 900S convertible. No cup holders of any kind. They were saying in Swedish: you are in this car to drive. So drive and if hungry stop and eat st a restore as my as god (Odin) intended
At a restaurant as god (Odin) intended. Note to self. Edit b4 posting.
My 911 has no cupholders either, as in those days, if it wasn’t related to driving, there was no need for the car to accommodate it. I’m always a little sad it’s not old enough to have cloth seats.
Cupholders in Europe are not a thing. We don’t “drink and drive”.
Appropriate. Plus the food and the food stops are way way better. Now I want a fresh baguette with an espresso somewhere in the French countryside. Near Aix
Europeans are so much smarter than Americans in most things that it isn’t even funny anymore.
Well now they are not so prevalent, but not that long ago, with the prevalence of manual gearboxes, it was even almost impossible to drink while driving.
I’ve owned mostly manual transmission cars, it really isn’t a problem.
After all, even in crowded New England, I can get into 6th gear in my car when I get on the Maine Turnpike by my house, and not have to get out of sixth gear again until I am approaching New York City, with a bit of favor from the traffic Gods That’s about 350 miles of driving. Here at my winter digs in FL, I can get into sixth gear by my house and not have to shift again until the outskirts of Atlanta, GA, damn near 500 miles away,
I wish that were true.
In the UK we have drive through coffee available everywhere now, so there are loads of drivers who have a scalding hot cup in one hand and a phone in the other, steering with their knees.
That’s what you get for living on a tiny overcrowded series of islands. 🙂
No, that’s what we get for allowing McDonald’s in to the country.
Truth
I had one of those cup holders in my gmt400. I took a ratchet strap and anchored it to the bench seat frame
Best cupholder ever: the seam in the split front bench of my dad’s 88 Country Squire. Put a can of Coke in there and it ain’t moving.
The worst: my 98 Contour SVT. So bad Ford started selling a cupholder for the cupholder.
Not a cupholder, but the space between the seats in my old Volvo 144S was the perfect width for a wine box – and the floor dropped off in back to fit a small disposable cup under the rear-facing spigot…
My that-era Mustang also has the cupholder insert that goes into the cupholder. At least by then, it came standard.
I have one of those cup holder center consoles in my Eagle, and it works great!
It *may* be self-tappered to the tunnel, but hey, it works, and the car is just a Gambler anyway.
Yay! My first COTD!
Oh! It’s my fifth COTD, do I get a 5 Timer Jacket?
Maybe like this?
https://www.jacketsflix.com/product/snl-5-timers-club-jacket/
Just leave it in a yellow duffle bag at the NAPA store.
Actually that would seriously be a fun thing