Random Musings

As I was driving to work yesterday, I saw this amazing car, a Sera, which seemed to have glass almost all over it. There was just this bit of metal, at the door and below, but otherwise, all over, it seemed as it there was only glass. A massive windshield and back glass and windows, all of which seemed to go right to the top of the car and meet there. It was quite interesting. And due to that construction, I could see all of the inside, the dashboard, the seats and everything.

And that led me thinking about how cars, and especially its glass structure has changed in India, over the years.

I remember the Fiat (old Fiat.. that is Premier Padmini types) and Ambassador cars, where the windshield glass was high up, and just enough to see the road ahead. And I remember how short persons had to almost tiptoe as they were driving, so as to be able to see out of that glass. And if you were standing on the road, and such a car went by, you would barely see the person inside, and nothing more.

And then sometime in the 1980s, my Mama got a Toyota Corolla. The period was very different from now, so a foreign car was a true rarity on the roads of Bombay (yeah, it wasn’t Mumbai then!). And besides other things, the one fact that was really striking was this huge front glass. When you were inside it appeared as if the whole world outside was suddenly visible to you. And when we were driving in it on one of the early days, and I was sitting on the back seat, and we passed this girl who stayed on the same street as I did. And I was so sure that she saw me, inspite of my being on the backseat (and I wanted so badly to impress her thus!!), thanks only to the big glass in the front (P.S. Her reaction to me did not change – she still ignored me, so either it did not impress her to see me in that car, or she really did not see me yet!).

Now of course, we have even the simple Santro with this huge front glass, giving extremely good visibility.

Interesting changes in the way cars have been built, and this is one change that really helps the driver.

Like I am also so impressed with that little foot support that they have in the Hyundai cars, next to the clutch pad. While we can easily take it for granted, but you realise that its still not there in many cars, and here is a small change that shows that Hyundai really thought about the driver. When your foot is off the clutch, like it is most times, the foot can rest easily on this support. Its neat.. thanks Hyundai.

They have not figured a real solution to the left foot going off to sleep in an automatic car, have they? With nothing to do, it just sits there, while the right one does all the hard work going back and forth between the brake and the accelerator. Can they find an answer to this problem?