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On 13 Oct 2004 at 12:17, Dave Hall wrote: > Maybe I meant the Beetle parts rather than system, but it's difficult to compare > without being familiar with both sets of pedal clusters. I'm very much in > agreement - I can't quite understand why the LHD components are the shape they > are, when the RHD looks fine to me. ;-) The LHD parts are simple in that they all mount as a single unit to the side of the tunnel. The RHD assembly appears to need extra parts to support the assembly as it reaches all the way across the footwell. Personally, I think that with a little foresight this could all have been done easier and made the RHD parts just as straightforward as the LHD. > Didn't the Model T Ford have a funny pedal arrangement? Yes, very unusual. But I suspect that it was probably no more unusual than many other cars of that era. > Yes, I'm sure we Brits > could have managed odd arrangements of pedals no problem. ;-) Right, it's just a matter of what you grew up with. I'm sure that Model T owners were annoyed when later cars came along and ruined "a perfectly good system." ;-) > OTOH, I do recall sitting in the National car garage at Newark NJ trying to work > out why I could start the car but not shift it into anything. I had the parking > brake on, but wasn't holding the foot brake down. D'oh! Then when we drove > off, the lights came on automatically, so it took another minute or so to work > out you can't turn them off anyway! This is all relatively new stuff, and I'm old enough that I find it annoying, too. > I guess you guys know that sort of thing from the cradle. However when it came > to 'rotaries', no problem for me, as we have loads of them. Shame everyone > seems to be putting traffic lights on them to ruin the free-flowing traffic they > allow. I guess too many people just can't cope with judging relative speeds and > rights of way. I think some city planners are starting to think about roundabouts (you call these rotaries?) again. I think they are a good idea, but they DO require the driver to think, which is a rapidly fading concept, at least in the US, these days. > The 4-way stop seems to be particularly curious, in light of Brian's question > as to who goes first if a Police car, an ambulance, a Post Office van and you > arrive simultaneously at a 4-way stop. I agree. It just seems like another attempt to protect ourselves against our inability to think while driving. Kind of a CYA, or belt and suspenders, mentality. I still remember my horror at encountering a 6-way stop in the middle of Boston in 1966. We were just passing thru and had no idea of how the locals handled this. It quickly became clear that the only thing we could do was the same as what everyone else was doing: Just make the best of it. It was a mess, and I often wonder if it still is. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~