What technologies could have been in cars 30 years ago but weren't?

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by HappyRider

I remember the all-digital speedometer was a flop initially.

First one I recall seeing was on a Z-24 owned by my buddies sister in law. Rough guess it was about an 85. I had one on early 90's Regal, looked out of place. It may have looked futuristic at the time but the fact is they were ugly.

[Mick St John]

Without a doubt it would be a transmission with an overdrive or highway gear. My 1968 Chevelle 4-speed was turning around 3000 RPM at 60 MPH. No wonder the 396 could only reach 15 MPG on the highway. The differential ratio was 3.31 to 1, so I didn't have high performance gearing. I would have loved to have a fifth gear for highway cruising. I finally got this with my 1985 Mustang 5-speed. The Mustang gave me a 4-speed driving experience with a highway gear when I needed it. Of course, my current Mustang 6-speed is even better.
Transmissions today, both automatic and manual, are so much better than what we saw in the 60s and 70s. They should have been available so much earlier.

[Pilot1]

Originally Posted by HappyRider

I remember the all-digital speedometer was a flop initially. I think it came out in the late 80s, then it went away and came back again but as a supplment to the analog gauage. Now we have the faux analog gaugaes that look like they came out of an arcade machine on the boardwalk.

I hate that. I like real gauges, not video game gauges. Give me a good Smith or Jaeger set of gauges any day, and I am happy.