Cars today are just a mish-mash of bits and pieces
IWAS chatting about standardisation in a recent column and happened to mention that, by and large, car controls had at last been standardised. Not so, says James, who sent me an e-mail pointing out the differences between Europeanbased cars and those produced in the Far East. I think he’s referring specifically to the levers operating the lights and windscreen wipers.
“European cars have their controls on the opposite side to the Asiatic ones,” he says.
“What makes it even more exciting is driving two cars from the same manufacturer where one car is made in England and the other in Japan/India. In this case it is Honda CRV (England) and a Brio (India). Just to complicate matters even further, the CRV models which were manufactured in different countries also differed, at least when mine was purchased.”
It made me think how different motoring was when I started driving more years ago than I care to confess.
Farming motorists in the Karoo almost all drove American cars – Fords, Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Dodges, Plymouths and Studebakers. Rich racehorse breeders travelled in Cadillacs.
Some town drivers had English cars – Austins, Morrises, Singers, Wolseleys, Humbers and Rileys. Rich city stockbrokers drove Jaguars.
British cars fell apart rather quickly if they were driven on Karoo gravel roads. American cars, with their big tyres and squishy suspension, fared much better.
Not many people drove German cars because it was too soon after the war and many wounds were still too fresh. Very few had heard of French cars.
As far as I remember the basic difference between British and American cars was that American cars had all their bling on the outside – fins, chrome strips, fancy bonnet ornaments and white-wall tyres.
British cars kept their flashiness to the interior of the vehicle in the form of hand stitched leather upholstery and polished walnut dashboards. Subtle elegance.
I always thought this was rather symbolic of the two countries. The brash “Look at me!” Americans and the conservative British who hated outward flash but appreciated fine old-fashioned craftsmanship.
Today it’s almost impossible to tell where a car comes from. The body may be built in Brazil, the gearbox in Korea and the engine in China, with all the electrical fittings coming from India.
It hardly seems worth having so many models on the market. It must make life very confusing for the people who provide spare parts. “Do you want the carburettor for the Japanese model with the Indian engine or the Korean model with the Chinese engine?” Under that very flimsy exterior shell it seems all cars are a mish-mash of bits and pieces from all around the world.
I suppose this is what is known as “globalisation”.