Why did they make cars with only one side mirror back in the old days?

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by JR_C

I have a 64 Fairlane wagon, and it has mirrors on both sides. But, I don't know if they were original.

Speaking of things that we take for granted that weren't always standard... my car doesn't have back-up lights. They were an available option--most of the tail lights I see on ebay have the back-up light in the center.

Oh, and the dash is not padded.

Yeah, I am thinking that back-up lamps were optional on most cars until 1965-66 before they became standard, which I think was about the same for padded dash panels, but I think padded dashes were standard on many upscale cars starting in the late 50s and expanded to more models as years went on and by 1966, most (if not all) had padded dashes.

[momof2dfw]

Our 68 Camaro Convertible has no right side mirror. It is a completely numbers matching car. Meaning that the engine and everything under the hood is the same equipment it came off the assembly line with. We have only replaced to ORIGINAL SPECS a few interior items. At first not having the right side mirror bothered me but I got used to it quickly as I always turn my head to look.

If you don't know if the side mirror or anything else on your car was original or after market you can look it up by the VIN number. Every single letter & number means something down to every single option there was and how that car was built. If your lucky the build sheet might still be under the back seat. If you have that you hit "gold". You can buy books online or even at Barnes & Noble that detail the entire VIN numbers and options and some websites have this info.

And yes, I remember having to roll down the right side window to adjust the mirror as a passanger and a driver. PITA!

[Fleet]

Right (passenger) side mirrors were standard on the Cadillac Fleetwood 9-passenger sedan and Limousine series starting from 1968.

[OldSkooler]

That's me posing next to dad's spanking new 1946 Nash Ambassador. According to dad, it came with both left, and right mounted mirrors. The one option not yet installed in the photo, was the big metal sun visor that the dealer had yet to install. Sun visors were the cool thing at the time, and were available for most medium to upper scale cars of the time, as pictured in this shot of a restored '47 Nash. Starting in 1945 (just in time to see the flash of the first A- bomb test in our 1938 Ford) we'd make that trip on Route 66 each year driving from L.A. to gramma's place in K.C. I could write a book about those trips, believe me, driving cross country back then was an adventure.