You Want Me To Put Them WHERE: Cold Start

Cs Suitcasestaunus
ADVERTISEMENT

This 1957 Ford Taunus (that’s Ford of Germany, but the brochure is Dutch) brochure illustration is really a wonderfully-rendered bit of mid-century advertising art, with the car rendered with a style that’s somehow both loose and precise. I love it. I also love the way the suitcase-laden dude back there has the perfect stooped, slack-jawed, gibbon-armed look of someone who has just been hauling a lot of heavy-ass suitcases and has just been told that, no, actually, you can’t drop them here, you need to go up that spiral staircase 16 floors and then up two ladders to find where you can finally set those down. Thanks!

Also, this brochure is one of the only ones I’ve ever seen to actually feature and illustrate one of my favorite bits of lighting equipment: the bi-color parking lamp:

Cs Parkinglight

Look how nicely that explains what these things are for: to keep your car from getting smacked into when it’s alone in the dark. Isn’t that something we all want, deep down?

19 thoughts on “You Want Me To Put Them WHERE: Cold Start

  1. This Taunus P2-model sports a rather unique detail: When a side window is completely lowered a chromed cover flips (by means of a spring mechanism) over the slot, thus protecting the inside of the door from dust or rain or sweat from your armpit or whatever.

  2. My 1979 Ford Taunus also had that Turn-the-damn-indicator-off-before-turning-the-car-off-you-moron-or-the-punishment-will-be-a-drained-battery function. Didn’t like it much…

  3. My current BMW (and all of them over the last 20 years) have had the parking light feature which allows you to turn on the front and rear light on only one side of the car; you’re suppose to light the ‘street’ side, obviously. I don’t know if the lights get a reduced voltage to reduce draw but I would believe that they would easily last several hours.

  4. “You rented this piece of shit? I carried all this crap out to this piece of shit? I SPECIFICALLY SAID NO WHITEWALLS!!! That’s IT, we aren’t going anywhere. Oh, wait, how did we get stuck in this void? Where did the world go? Am I having a stroke?*”

    *I hear stroke jokes are all the rage in America these days.

  5. Actually these little lights are quite common on European cars even today in a modified form. They perform the function they were designed for perfectly. There are some very narrow streets in Germany where they are much desired.

    As to current draw, I can’t comment on the math but I drove Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, VW and a Citroen and used these lights and never had a problem with starting.

    Bottom line? Don’t always assume something different is stupid because you don’t understand it!

    1. Worst thing about using these lights (in countries where the practice is not common) is that well-meaning people will chase you down or come looking to tell you that you’ve left your lights on.

  6. Google is by and by paying $27485 to $29658 consistently for taking a shot at the web from home. I have joined this action 2 months back and I have earned $31547 in my first month from this action. I can say my life is improved completely! Take a gander at it what I do…..

    For more detail visit the given link……….>>> http://Www.onlinecareer1.com

  7. My U.S.-model 1970 Renault 16 had a little two-tone lens on each front fender, which did nothing. I found an empty bulb socket behind the lenses, wiring, and a blank switch on the dash. The wiring was connected to plastic plugs.

    After finding an appropriate switch, removing the plastic plugs, and finding the right bulbs, I had a pair of nifty functional marker lights. I left them on when I parked the car on the street at night. Not much of a drain on the battery, as far as I could tell.

    I was all about those richtingwijsers….

  8. So I can only kinda-sorta understand written Dutch but together with the illustration I think the text is saying that the B-pillar lights also function as indicator repeaters. Specifically on cars sold in The Netherlands at that, which must have something to do with legislation in Germany not allowing that but Ford having a better idea.

    (In reply to eggsalad, I’ve often wondered this myself. It was just the one 3 watt bulb, though, hence the midship mounting and double lens).

    1. I know I’m a bit late to the party here but here is what the text says: “Three turn signals on each side. The advantage of the roof mounted lamps in The Netherlands is that they work as turn indicators. So, turn indication happens in three directions: front, middle and rear.”

  9. Okay, Autopians, help me understand this bit about Europeans leaving marker lights on all night long to prevent being hit while street parked. I dunno if these cars were 6v or 12v, but I know they mostly had 25 or 30 watt generators, maybe alternators later. But to leave a handful of 3 watt bulbs on all night and expect the battery to crank the car over in the morning…?

    1. In Europe we don’t have miles and miles of space for roads that are 3 miles wide. The roads started out as footpaths, or maybe used by horse drawn carts so the buildings are much closer together.

      Despite the wars that happened last century, this is still pretty much the case.

Leave a Reply