Works in the drawer car!
 

Here's a picture from a sales brochure for the 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Notice that the center drawer with the radio and climate controls slides out like a Motorola Quasar set. They had the same idea of making it easy to service and replace parts

This was the first year for the GM Colonnade A body cars, and Olds was the only one that had this feature. This is back when there were still major differences between GM cars. Olds always prided itself as the engineering arm of GM and tried to be an innovator.

They didn't advertise this feature very much. But, they didn't need to...Cutlass became the biggest selling car in the US and stayed there for many years.

Here's a link for the rest of the 1973 Olds brochure: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/stati.../dirindex.html

There were a lot of neat features that some cars had that were never advertised. If you smacked the hood ornament cat in the nose on a late '70s Mercury Cougar, the grille tilted inward. It was supposed to prevent grille damage in the event of a collision. Of course, if it hits the hood ornament, you're pretty much screwed anyway :yes:

I think the 80s cutlasses had a spring-loaded grille. I believe it was to absorb bird impacts without breaking the plastic.

That feature was probably carried over into the 80s. It was actually used in conjunction with the bumper shocks. I followed the posted link to the full brochure and read about that feature on the Ninety-Eight. Those things are sweet, looks like some styling cues were taken from the 1963 Cadillac.

Removing 4 screws on the radio bezel on my '73 mustang and the exact same thing came out, not very innovative, not unique, and except for removing the radio... not very helpful as the items most prone to need service related to any of those controls is still buried way behind the dash on the metal heating ducts that were all one piece and ran the length of the dash in unreachable places..... 70's cars were no fun at all if you had a problem under the dash....

No...it was not the same as the '73 Mustang. But, that's ok squirrel boy, keep the lid on your mind locked down tight so no new ideas can get in there.

Not to "cheapen" the 1971-73 Mustang, which so many pack-following muscle car enthusiasts just love, but their radio/climate control bezel looks very much like the one in the 1984 Lynx w/o electronic stereo. Nothing bolted to it though. When I was searching Ford 8-track stereos on eBought, I noticed that a lot of sellers would stick a fitting, but still incorrect stereo in a 1971-73 Mustang bezel, and of course apply the Mustang name to the stereos, and usually turn a good profit from them.

Well, my first car was to be a mustang, I looked at tons of them, just ended up with the '73. And yes it was a cheap car, by the time it rusted away I was quite disgusted at the way it was made.... Between me and my brother we had a '71, 72, and '73. The ones with A/C had a slightly different setup because of the center air vent above the radio as I remember.... and different heater controls. But they easily came out right after the radio, Mine came out with the radio, who knows if it was original or not. And they were pretty much the same for lots of fords... Like the GM ones, The sliders came out not much further than in that Olds pic above, the rest was cabled over to the vent doors... There ain't no open or closed mind about it, cars were made with interchangeable sub-parts, and by that time it was pretty common that stuff like the radio and climate controls were clustered together. And most ford stuff fit several models, like gm stuff fit several models. Same controller with cables to the different placement of vent doors... Easy...

My tv repair boss had a '69 cutlass and his brother-in-law had a Buick skylark which he killed the engine in right there at the shop. One weekend they completely switched the interior, everything, the olds was ratty inside, but the buick was nice, when they were done, it was Olds on the outside, Buick on the inside.... From bucket seats, to bench seats... Only thing they left was the Olds steering wheel.... They were nuts... That was the service call vehicle, I drove that thing a lot, nice car, rocket v8, very fast.... When they closed the shop they sold it for $150. I missed the bucket seats, and the bench had a butt dent a little off when they moved it to the Olds from the Buick.

My 1st car was a '74 Gremlin w/an Angel Modulation radio, 232 6, auto, & not much else. It had little power, but fortunately it got kinda lousy mileage, too. Couldn't cuss a cat in the back seat, a log truck rode better, & a pig on ice handled better... I got a '76 Cutlass Supreme Brougham, w/the "Soft Pillow" interior, 350 V8. It handled a LOT better than the Gremlin, rode like a cloud, I took the pollution shit off it, so it ran pretty good..Still couldn't cuss a cat in the back seat, it was so tight there, but there was 3' of dead space under the hood... It was a MUCH better car than the Gremlin, but compared to today's cars, it was still a POS in a lot of ways..

My sisters Camaro '82 with v6 had a lot more than 3 feet up front, I think the cowl around the cooling fan was 3 feet long cause the engine was so far back.... I think most of the nose was dead space..... Could have been a Pacer if they cut the nose off....
I had a few friends with 76-77 cutlasses

I painted my '73 mustang Fresh Plumb Metalic, it was a Gremlin color, then in '95 it was used on ford pickups.....

All 70's -80's cars were love'em/hate'em things.... They looked way cool, but they really were POS's all of em....

Whaaa? You're calling a '76 Cutlass a POS in comparison to today's road-dominating amount of Jap scrap, in which the only protection is close to a dozen airbags?

The Honda Civic is the top of the heap as far a small car safety champ this year because of recent offset test crash. And most cars keep you safe with the use of a dozen air bags.... And 70's cars don't even rate in the safety department. You know that right......? 70's cars were mildly dangerous just driving at 55, by today's standards anyway....

As much a fond memory my mustang was, it was made poorly, stopping distance was long, handling needed improvement, weight balance was way off, and after several year run, the springs were still mis-matched to weight. And if you were to hit something you would hit the steering wheel.... That car needed a dozen air bags.....

Back in the 70s though, one did not have to wear a seat belt.

I'm familiar with the stopping distance of the Mustang for sure, thanks to the original Gone in 60 Seconds. ABS existed then but wasn't widely used.

One thing that really needs to be changed about Hondas: the horn. Way too loud and shrill. If one goes by me while the driver sounds that horn, well, ouch! That being said, I can easily tell that a vehicle is a Honda without even looking at it if I hear the horn, say, when its owner arms the alarm.

ABS was developed and installed in trucks first as I remember. Stopping distance and movie effects are two different things. And yes, Honda's seem to be very distinctive in the sound of their horns, like them or not....

I was pretty unhappy with the laws mandating seat belt use when they came out, now that it seems drivers have at their disposal so many things to play with, and do while in the driver's seat, I am now quite happy that I now use them regularly.... Besides, the fact that safety devices are greater in number inside each car now, than in the 70's does not change the fact that 70's cars were unsafe in other ways.... Poor visibility, doors that offered little or no protection from side impact, seat belts that often did more damage than prevented, the lack of energy absorbing crash zones inside and outside of the cabin.

I still think most of the older cars looked better, but I would not trade my '89 prelude for a dozen 73 mustangs that I need to depend on for reliable transportation, or drivers safety. And the newer stuff even beats the prelude.... (not in looks though, or coolness) Prelude = My new mustang

I don't think much was done in terms of effects for the original Gone in 60 Seconds. For example, that part in which the Mustang spins out and takes out a light pole, bending the driver's side fender close to 90 degrees; not only real, but unscripted.

The super-loud MEEP made by a Honda horn sounds like the roadrunner on crack. Got another blast today, but I was about 40 feet away. I suppose it wouldn't bother an older person with hearing that has lost acuity with time, but it bothers me plenty. If I get many more ground-zero blasts though, my hearing will be like yours in the not-too-distant future. At least with ambulance sirens I get a warning and can cover my ears as they go by. Next worst offenders are fire trucks; police cars, not so bad.