10 Things Every American Car Had in the 1970s That Are Gone Forever

Push a button. That's how most cars start today — no key, no click, no ritual of any kind. It works every single time, in a second, and nobody driving today gives it a second thought. A car from the 1970s asked more of you than that. It asked you to know it — to pull a choke knob out just far enough, to crank a window by feel, to remember which lighter to use before the ashtray filled up. Cars back then had personality built into hardware, dozens of small physical rituals that an entire generation learned without ever being taught, just by watching a parent do it enough times. Fifteen of those things today. Real features, standard equipment on practically every American car built that decade, and a kid getting their license right now has never touched a single one of them. A couple disappeared because something better came along. A couple got taken away by a law that lasted less than a year, and I promise you've forgotten that one completely. Let's start at fifteen. If you know what a wing window is without me explaining it, you're exactly who this video is for. Hit subscribe before we get going.