THE "UNCOOL" KIDS ROOM. - Page 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourland 

Today as I was driving my stick shift, manual windows, standard steering pick up with the windows down in 95 + degree heat I questioned whether I am uncool or just stupid and irretrievably set in my ways. 

 

Can you still buy a vehicle without automatic windows?

I still have my little all manual hatchback from college days. Has been getting 35 mpg for almost 25 years. Hubby drives it to work over very bumpy rural roads. No sense rattling a new car to pieces! The old one works great. They don't make 'em like that anymore!

Don't know if you can still get manual windows, but now that I have reached a certain age, I do prefer driving in air conditioned splendor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orpingtons4U 

thanks we only had one chick and a Guinea keet  die from the heat but the rest are fine and running around being brats :P  flying onto my back   wanting food LOL and we got a new Silkie Rooster to go with our other 6 :P  he is a paint i have to get good pics tomorrow we named him Dakota or Koda  for short :)

 My DD's name is Dakota. I used to drive a Dodge Dakota pick up and when she was born and I named her Dakota Rayne, everyone started saying I named her for my truck and the fact that I wish we would get rain.   I just thought it would be a pretty name for a girl! She told me a few months ago, when she turns 18, she wants to change her name. I told her I picked it out because she was special to me and I wanted her to have a special name. But if she wasn't happy with it, when she turned 18, she could change it. It broke my heart for her to tell me she hated her name.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wishing4Wings 

I still have my little all manual hatchback from college days. Has been getting 35 mpg for almost 25 years. Hubby drives it to work over very bumpy rural roads. No sense rattling a new car to pieces! The old one works great. They don't make 'em like that anymore!

 

Don't know if you can still get manual windows, but now that I have reached a certain age, I do prefer driving in air conditioned splendor.

yep!! air conditioner all the way!! When I was younger, I drove with a 255 or a 455 air conditioner...depending on which vehicle I drove. Now lets see who can remember what that was???!!!! 

I had one of those 255.  Role down 2 windows and drive 55. 

Roll not role.  DUH!  Such a idiot sometimes.

 I'm not the only one that knows what it means!!!!  

I have a 1999 Ford Ranger. Manual transmission, hand-crank windows, no A/C. I bought it used in 2001, and plan to keep it going as long as possible, not just because it's a great truck and Ford stopped making Rangers last year, but also because I REFUSE to buy a new vehicle unless it has hand crank windows.

Automatic windows are a hazard, IMO, because if something goes haywire with the electrical system, then you can't get the windows open. That's just too risky in an emergency.

The more a vehicle depends on electrical and computer junk, the more that can go wrong. I absolutely HATE that I have to deal with computer chips for so much of my truck's operation, even a '99. The chip went out on my door sensor system, a few years ago, and I had to remove the cab dome lightbulbs because they won't go out now -- the sensor chip costs over 100 bucks, but without it my truck "thinks" the "door is ajar" and hence the "door is ajar" light stays on and the dome lights stay on even when I try to turn them off with the switch. It's a pain in the butt! Same with the tachometer and other stuff --- all use computer chips and when the chips go, even though there's nothing wrong with the vehicle, you lose the use of the tach, etc. Hate that but I will not buy new chips that don't have an essential purpose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GardenerGal 

I have a 1999 Ford Ranger. Manual transmission, hand-crank windows, no A/C. I bought it used in 2001, and plan to keep it going as long as possible, not just because it's a great truck and Ford stopped making Rangers last year, but also because I REFUSE to buy a new vehicle unless it has hand crank windows.

 

Automatic windows are a hazard, IMO, because if something goes haywire with the electrical system, then you can't get the windows open. That's just too risky in an emergency.

 

The more a vehicle depends on electrical and computer junk, the more that can go wrong. I absolutely HATE that I have to deal with computer chips for so much of my truck's operation, even a '99. The chip went out on my door sensor system, a few years ago, and I had to remove the cab dome lightbulbs because they won't go out now -- the sensor chip costs over 100 bucks, but without it my truck "thinks" the "door is ajar" and hence the "door is ajar" light stays on and the dome lights stay on even when I try to turn them off with the switch. It's a pain in the butt! Same with the tachometer and other stuff --- all use computer chips and when the chips go, even though there's nothing wrong with the vehicle, you lose the use of the tach, etc. Hate that but I will not buy new chips that don't have an essential purpose.

The opposite problem with the power windows is a pain too. The back windows in my old car pooling wagon get stuck down if operated from the back seat controls. Have trained the kids to ask me to use the driver's master control, but accidents happen, and in the rain, result in soggy wet students!

I'm more comfortable using things when I understand how they work. Sometimes I feel like such a dinosaur! Does anyone feel like they were born in the wrong century?

Sourland was born about 150 years too late.

Yes, the opposite problem is as much a pain in the butt too. The bottom line being, electrical systems and computer chips have too much that can go wrong. I'm not a Luddite, but I do believe that sometimes it's better to stick with simple mechanics. The day of being able to fiddle with your car, up on blocks in the driveway, are over. For improved fuel efficiency, we've sacrificed mechanical simplicity and embraced "planned obsolescence."

No, I don't think I was born in the wrong century. We just have to be flexible and able to "go with the flow" of change, without losing our roots and foundations in the underlying principles of how to live practically and fully. Like fire, we are in a better position if we harness technology to use as our servants, and not become so dependent on it that it becomes our master. That requires us to keep up and keep educating ourselves to how the new technologies work, so that we're not so lost when something goes wrong with them. It also helps to have a pencil and paper to write a letter if the power goes out, and horse in the barn for alternative transportation when the computer-controlled vehicle is on the fritz.