Wing windows
Posted by Pepper_Pfieffer@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 36 comments
Does anyone else miss them? The A/C went out in my car last year. I don't want to be saddled with car payments again but my car is nearly a teenager now and my mechanis says it's going to be $1,000. Wing windows would solve the issue .
MidwestAbe@reddit
$1000 is way cheaper than a new car. Figure any car payment now a days is $350 and way up... the new AC is paid for in 3 months.
Ok-Rock2345@reddit
Right, but past a certain age / mileage a car becomes a ticking time bomb, or even better a game of whack a mole. Fix one thing and another breaks. Not to mention all the maintenance expenses like brakes and even worse timing belt.
Sad-Corner-9972@reddit
I tried leasing for the first time couple years ago-didn’t like worrying about going over on miles.
MidwestAbe@reddit
Entirely untrue. Modern cars are exceptionally well built. So what in 2 years if you have to put on new shocks or struts or a wheel bearing. Again it will be 2 months of a car payment. Every thing needs maintenance - and since the brakes on one of my vehicles are still going strong with 170k miles on them - I think i can absorb the cost of new pads at some point.
A solid car that has say 130k on it and needs $5k of work over the next four years is the best value on the road.
Go look at what the average new car price is
Ok-Rock2345@reddit
Right, but the OP stated his car is over 13 years old.
And I agree that if you have a dependable car it's better to keep it. I kept my last car for 22 years, but eventually there comes a time when it's just not worth to upkeep it anymore.
Also cars these day are built so you almost have to take it to the shop for even minor things, like for example, changing a headlight. Sure a mechanically inclined person can do it, but your average driver probably can't. And Autozone will not save you either.
MidwestAbe@reddit
Thank you for agreeing with me
Ok-Rock2345@reddit
The catch is not all cars can last that long. Volkswagen for example are notorious for having one thingbfail after another past a certain point.
Phobos1982@reddit
What is a wing window?
Free-oppossums@reddit
The triangular window on the car door near the side mirror. It could be opened without having to open the whole window...and mess up my mom's hair🙄
My dad was a chain smoker so I thought it was a "smoker's window" when I was little.
Sad-Corner-9972@reddit
With requisite burn marks on vinyl by said vent.
robertwadehall@reddit
Vent windows is what I called them.
CommunicationNew3745@reddit
Man, once upon a time, for sure . . . reminds me of warm summer nights as a kid, riding home, falling asleep w/the airflow coming in cooling your face . . .
Burner70820@reddit
Real ones know that vent-i-plane windows plus the under dash fresh air vents- like the ones in my ’83 Ram pick-em-up truck- were where it’s at.
PahzTakesPhotos@reddit
I have a four-door pickup truck. I have one of those sliding windows in the center of the back window. I can't reach it from the driver's seat. A passenger in the front couldn't reach it. The only person who sits in my back seat is a grandgoblin and she's in a car seat. (she also doesn't ride with me all that often).
I would LOVE the wing windows in my truck.
MidwestAbe@reddit
Best thing ever is the entire rear window sliding down in Toyota trucks and some SUVs.
PahzTakesPhotos@reddit
See, that makes sense. My truck is a 2012 Chevy Colorado and it was the year before they made useful upgrades. I can’t even connect my phone other than to use for phone calls (which I do though my hearing aids).
krebstorm@reddit
Had em on my beetle
Gudakesa@reddit
I had a ‘73 Super Beetle. They were the only way to get the windows defrosted while the heat vents along the floorboards melted the soles of y tennis shoes.
Full_Security7780@reddit
$1000 is considerably less than what you would pay on a new vehicle. If your car is in good shape and you intend to keep it a while longer, fix the air conditioner.
Fulghn@reddit
I had those on an old 1970s Chevy Van I drove in high school. The air was nice but you could break into the vehicle with a butter knife.
Modern automatic wing windows that tilted or better yet rotated up into the windshield pillars would be great.
TheJokersChild@reddit
Ford had power ones that slid down on some of their '70s cars. The Panther cars (LTD Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis) wore them well, and offered them until 1991.
robertwadehall@reddit
I remember those. My Dad’s 80s Town Cars had them IIRC
robertwadehall@reddit
I don’t really miss them. Rarely ever opened them when I had a Bronco with them in the 90s.
wwhijr@reddit
My wife's 95 F350 has them and I am jealous. My 99 chevy doesn't
Immediate-Rub3807@reddit
Bought a 76’ Ford F100 back in the day for $1800 and no AC but had a back window I could slide open and 2 floor vents as well as the tilt small side windows. Drove that truck for over 10 years and maybe put 1k in repairing it over that time..loved that truck.
CollectsTooMuch@reddit
2-60 air conditioning. Just open those two windows and drive 60 and you’re good in a summer day in Texas. At least I was.
longipetiolata@reddit
Living the highlife. I only had 2-50 AC
brandrikr@reddit
Oh, I miss wing vents so much
karma_the_sequel@reddit
So would opening the regular windows.
GermanSayingSquirrel@reddit
That, plus the manual floor vent where you pulled a pin just in front of the door and got fresh air blasting in from below.
That really was a thing and I didn’t dream it, right?
TheJokersChild@reddit
Mom had a '74 Olds with those vents. Only part of that damn thing that worked right.
Affectionate-Map2583@reddit
We called them vent windows. My last ones were on a 1985 F-150 I sold in 2002. It also had foot-operated high beams.
ExtraAd7611@reddit
I was just thinking about this yesterday as I was following an old VW bug with its wing windows set to maximum exposure.
Stillmaineiac88@reddit
Wouldn’t that be a nice option?
Pepper_Pfieffer@reddit (OP)
Many cars had them until A/C in cars became common.
Deckard_SG@reddit
My 72 Nova had them. We called them screamers