Out of stalk
My first car, a mid-60s Chevrolet, had one stalk sprouting from the steering column: a flimsy little stick on the left which worked the turn signals. As I recall, the signals would almost always cancel properly if I turned right, and would almost never cancel properly if I turned left.
In later years, I adjusted to multiple stalks. Gwendolyn has a pair, the left side working the turn signals, the lights, and the fog lights, and the right side handling the windshield wiper/washer combo. And I vaguely remember a rental car that had the horn on a stalk: you’d push in on the end of the left stalk.
The next step, if you believe Ferrari, is no stalks at all: the Italia 458 steering wheel incorporates all those functions. The only protrusions from the column are the shift paddles for the seven-speed dual-clutch sort-of-automatic.
I think I’d have trouble with those turn signals, mounted at nine o’clock and three o’clock. Then again, nobody’s going to lend me a Ferrari to verify this.
unimpressed »
12 January 2010 · 6:50 pm
In the mid-80s, I was driving a stick with the floor-mounted bright/dim switch. It was unsafe, at times, to operate. My dad bought a pickup around that time (also a stick) and I found that I -much- preferred it on the column because even if I had the left foot busy holding in the clutch, I could easily make the change. My dad hated it but I think it was more “not what he was used to” than anything else.
I don’t know if I’d like -all- the controls on the wheel as this is and, like you, doubt I’ll ever get the opportunity to test it. Motorcycles have all the controls on the hand-grip mounts but the ones I’ve owned and/or ridden all had a three-position turn-signal control on the left. I’ve seen turn signal thumb-switches by each hand but I’ve not actually used this method, therefore I have no idea as to which method I’d prefer.
CGHill »
12 January 2010 · 7:34 pm
My ’75 Celica (five-speed stick) had the high-beam switch built into the turn-signal stalk — but the actual headlight switch remained on the dash.
Charles Pergiel »
12 January 2010 · 8:42 pm
Don’t be so negative. What’s that old saying? Ask and you shall receive? You should ask your local Ferrari dealer. Who knows, they might let you borrow a one. And if they are rude about it, you can blast them right in this here blog of yourn.
CGHill »
12 January 2010 · 8:52 pm
The “local” Ferrari dealer is in Dallas. After a major oil bust, the dealership that carried everything from Maserati to Rolls-Royce dumped all its lines but one: BMW. (Which now includes MINI.)
Of course, the market for hyperexpensive cars around here consists of a handful of oil barons and a dozen or so NBA players. (And Kevin Durant drives a minivan.)
Dick Stanley »
13 January 2010 · 3:59 am
I think it was the old Plymouth Fury that had the auto trans shifter on the dashboard. I thought that was remarkably stupid. Then the Honda CRV did it. I like the way the CRV has the high beams in the left (turn-signal) stalk.