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What was your last car that had the dimmer switch on the floor? (Original Post) DURHAM D Feb 28 OP
1972 Pontiac Catalina. n/t LuckyCharms Feb 28 #1
What percentage of DUers do you think even know what we are talking about? nt DURHAM D Feb 28 #2
I would say at least 75%! LuckyCharms Feb 28 #10
Really? DURHAM D Feb 28 #12
Well, I'm 67 years old... LuckyCharms Feb 28 #14
I am as well. My 80 CJ 5 had the dimmer switch on the floor. chicoescuela Feb 28 #19
I miss it being on the floor. LuckyCharms Feb 28 #30
I do as well especially when driving a manual transmission. chicoescuela Feb 28 #33
65 Impalas were sweet. We had one when I was a kid. chicoescuela Feb 28 #34
I had completely forgotten about that. hvn_nbr_2 Mar 1 #45
85 CJ7 Shellback Squid Feb 28 #3
It's been a long time! Diamond_Dog Feb 28 #4
1972 Nova SS Dave in VA Feb 28 #5
Interesting - I have never seen one of those. DURHAM D Feb 28 #9
It was something that we picked up at an auto parts store Dave in VA Feb 28 #13
1973 BigMin28 Feb 28 #6
1965 VW Beetle buzzycrumbhunger Feb 28 #7
I had a '62 Beetle. DURHAM D Feb 28 #11
Seriously. buzzycrumbhunger Feb 28 #16
My dad drove a red VW Beetle and I learned to drive when I was in high school..graduated in '65 so don't know what year Deuxcents Feb 28 #36
My red 1964 VW bug had a gas gage. love_katz Mar 2 #47
1969 Dodge Dart Sport Onthefly Feb 28 #8
'69 Ford Galaxy SheltieLover Feb 28 #15
'74 dart indigoth Feb 28 #17
Still have this car! ABC123Easy Feb 28 #18
My 1st car was a '68 Mustang. SheltieLover Feb 28 #27
Cool! ABC123Easy Feb 28 #40
1952 Chevrolet Bel Air WmChris Feb 28 #20
Sounds sweet chicoescuela Feb 28 #35
What's that? My first car was 1991. I had to roll the windows down manually and IcyPeas Feb 28 #21
What are these cupholders of which you speak? FuzzyRabbit Feb 28 #25
Your trip down memory lane makes me smile. nt DURHAM D Feb 28 #32
1958 Ford Fairlane 500 - 292 gab13by13 Feb 28 #22
1981 Toyota pickup. FuzzyRabbit Feb 28 #23
1986 F150 Bavorskoami Feb 28 #24
1970 C10 Chevy Suburban. I can see it from here in my driveway. School bus yellow. Thing of beauty. FadedMullet Feb 28 #26
1941 Chevy.. Permanut Feb 28 #28
I think a 1974 Ford Bronco. nt doc03 Feb 28 #29
55 chevy....57 Chevy....back when the US made good automobiles that you could work on walkingman Feb 28 #31
1976 AMC Hornet Eugene Feb 28 #37
1980 Pontiac Indy Pace Car Trans-Am FoxNewsSucks Feb 28 #38
70's Chrysler Newport duckworth969 Feb 28 #39
1970 Olds 442 W30. kacekwl Feb 28 #41
The earliest car I ever owned was from 1976. Aristus Mar 1 #42
1967 Jeep CJ6 justaprogressive Mar 1 #43
Not my car. My boyfriend at the time had a 74 or 75 Olds Cutlass Supreme Niagara Mar 1 #44
1976 AMC Pacer LogDog75 Mar 1 #46
Some cars had the window washer squirter on the floor too. hunter Mar 3 #48
I forgot all about being able to start a car DURHAM D Mar 3 #49

LuckyCharms

(22,509 posts)
14. Well, I'm 67 years old...
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:19 PM
Feb 28

and I think a significant percentage of DUers are older than me.

I'm just guessing though.

chicoescuela

(3,022 posts)
19. I am as well. My 80 CJ 5 had the dimmer switch on the floor.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:34 PM
Feb 28

I had others prior to Jeep also with floor dimmers
Another lost art

LuckyCharms

(22,509 posts)
30. I miss it being on the floor.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:12 PM
Feb 28

Before the Pontiac, I had a '65 Chevy Impala and a '66 Ford Fairlane that both had floor switches.

I can't even figure out the lights on our 2 current cars.

chicoescuela

(3,022 posts)
33. I do as well especially when driving a manual transmission.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:16 PM
Feb 28

Extra points for four points of contact and two feet.

hvn_nbr_2

(6,788 posts)
45. I had completely forgotten about that.
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 01:24 PM
Mar 1

I'm 78 and I don't even remember when they changed it.

I do think it's a good idea not to put other controls close to the gas and brake pedals.

Diamond_Dog

(40,393 posts)
4. It's been a long time!
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:12 PM
Feb 28

My present car has the dimmer on a lever (my son says proper terminology is “stalk”) and since I use the one on the left so rarely I always forget which way to push it. It goes up, down, and towards me. I’d be happy if they put it back on the floor.

Dave in VA

(2,283 posts)
5. 1972 Nova SS
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:12 PM
Feb 28

instead of the little button it had a chrome piece that looked like a foot print! 👣

BigMin28

(1,854 posts)
6. 1973
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:12 PM
Feb 28

Gold Plymouth Duster. It died in a flash flood on Halloween 1981. It was sad to see her go, but I made it.

buzzycrumbhunger

(1,885 posts)
7. 1965 VW Beetle
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:13 PM
Feb 28

This was in like 1985. The ragtop was duct-taped because the wood across the front had warped and because I lived in Iowa (heavy salt on the roads in the winter), the floorboards were rusted out and we could see the road whiz by our feet. Eventually, I had pressed the dimmer switch and it went straight through the floor.

Finally retired it. A guy from a monastery bought it off me for like $150 and they repurposed it into a garden tractor. Thought that was a pretty cool retirement!

buzzycrumbhunger

(1,885 posts)
16. Seriously.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:21 PM
Feb 28

I learned to drive in a ’63. My dad parked us up a hill out in the country and made me switch seats and get us out of there. Quickly grew to love a stick and miss those cars a lot--though my Hyundai is a manual, too!

Deuxcents

(26,583 posts)
36. My dad drove a red VW Beetle and I learned to drive when I was in high school..graduated in '65 so don't know what year
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:23 PM
Feb 28

But the dimmer was on the floor, had a manual transmission and no gas gauge..it had a lever that was actually a reserve of fuel so when the car needed gas, ya just turned the lever and had plenty until ya filled up. Had to remember to turn the lever back so the whole tank got gas!

love_katz

(3,249 posts)
47. My red 1964 VW bug had a gas gage.
Mon Mar 2, 2026, 02:46 AM
Mar 2

The 1958 VW bug that was its replacement didn't have a gas gage ( it had the lever for the one gallon spare tank), and it also had the split rear window.
It was a fun car to drive. I learned to keep a notebook with records of fill-ups, number of gallons and gas mileage because the one gallon of spare gas was helpful, but you didn't want to push it too far.

ABC123Easy

(246 posts)
40. Cool!
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 11:11 PM
Feb 28

My first car too!



6 cylinder 200 cubic inches. No power steering or brakes, haha. Those vent windows in the front took care of the "air"

IcyPeas

(25,365 posts)
21. What's that? My first car was 1991. I had to roll the windows down manually and
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:41 PM
Feb 28

I didn't even have cupholders.

Never heard of this floor dimmer .

FuzzyRabbit

(2,208 posts)
25. What are these cupholders of which you speak?
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:03 PM
Feb 28

Does your car have ashtrays? How come cars don't have ashtrays anymore? They were a handy place to put candy wrappers.

And wing windows for ventilation. And bench seats. Dating was a lot more fun with bench seats where your girl friend could move over next to you.

FadedMullet

(872 posts)
26. 1970 C10 Chevy Suburban. I can see it from here in my driveway. School bus yellow. Thing of beauty.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:07 PM
Feb 28

walkingman

(10,742 posts)
31. 55 chevy....57 Chevy....back when the US made good automobiles that you could work on
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:13 PM
Feb 28

and weren't made out of plastic and who knows what....

FoxNewsSucks

(11,667 posts)
38. 1980 Pontiac Indy Pace Car Trans-Am
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:29 PM
Feb 28

That was such a fun car, until the turbo totally fucked up around 40k miles.

I'm used to it on the turn-signal stalk since then, so I probably wouldn't change it

Aristus

(72,085 posts)
42. The earliest car I ever owned was from 1976.
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 12:07 AM
Mar 1

I don’t remember it having a floor dimmer switch. I’m old enough to know what they are, though. They used to make after-market novelty metal feet to put over the dimmer switch. Just a fun little add-on. My grandfather had one of those in his car.

Niagara

(11,734 posts)
44. Not my car. My boyfriend at the time had a 74 or 75 Olds Cutlass Supreme
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 12:38 PM
Mar 1

He let me drive his spare car all the time even though I had my own car. This cars interior had a permanent smell of coconuts. Even as I type this I got a whiff of the car while reminiscing about it. The last time it was operatable was in the fall of 1994 and an unfortunate tie rode incident happened. I don't remember what became of that car.


It looked like the one in this photo, only it wasn't a pristine cream puff.




In my older phase of life, I would prefer a dimmer control closer to my hand instead of my foot, especially my left foot. The car I have now has a Activsense HBC system setting for automatic dimmer/high beams but I turned that setting off because it was in fact high beaming other vehicles.


P.S. That now ex-boyfriends main car was Plymouth Duster and the interior didn't smell like coconuts.

LogDog75

(1,261 posts)
46. 1976 AMC Pacer
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 03:18 PM
Mar 1

Yeah, I had the Moon Mobile and regardless of anyone else's opinion, I enjoyed that car.

hunter

(40,638 posts)
48. Some cars had the window washer squirter on the floor too.
Tue Mar 3, 2026, 10:13 AM
Mar 3

The pedal was the pump, it was not electric, your foot provided the motive force.

I remember driving cars like that but I don't remember the models.

Volkswagens had a water tank with a tire valve on it. After you refilled the washer fluid you pressurized the tank with air. You could use a small bicycle pump (my dad kept one in his VW van) but mostly you used the handy water and air hoses that every gas station kept next to the pumps. You didn't have to drive to the corner of the lot and put a quarter in some machine to get air or water; machines that are often out of order.

Ha, ha. I've turned into my grandpa. Thankfully I didn't have to start my first car by turning a crank on the front, but I did have to push start my cars occasionally which is no longer an option with modern cars.

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