There was another plywood car called the Africar built in the '80s.
It was conceived to be built in Africa and was designed specifically to deal with African conditions. It’s a fascinating story of a really well thought out design very nearly succeeding, but alas not quite.
There was a Channel 4 documentary series made of it at the time some it looks like it’s available on YouTube.
There was also a related book published and I managed to pick up a copy of it on eBay a few years back.
IIRC his cowriter explained that with the royalties from the hits he bought the central London flat he still lives in and Adam bought a rake of identical Harleys…
Bipolarity sucks.
The single indicator switch is kind of normal really. Cars generally have a single stalk that swings clockwise/anticlockwise (if only they could agree which side the stalk should be on).
And almost all motorcycles have a left/right/cancel switch operated by the rider’s left thumb (The rider’s right hand is already busy with throttle and front brake. In this sense, all motorcycle riders are left-handed.)
BMW motorcycles favored a switch on either side (I don’t know if they still do). This setup was apparently liked by BMW riders put almost universally despised by anyone used to the more conventional setup.
I’ve never seen a left-hand drive car with a rightward-pointing turn signal stalk. Is the reverse a problem in the RHD world?
That being said, on my UK visit, I more than once turned my wipers on when trying to signal a turn… but it kind of makes sense to have the turn signal lever pointing outward.
At least the pedals are consistent. I would have really freaked if they’d been switched. Left-hand shifting took some getting used to as well, even though I’ve driven a manual for decades.
It actually felt weirder to be a front-seat passenger than to be the driver.
There was a time when I frequently borrowed a Honda Jazz and occasionally borrowed a Honda HRV (I think that’s what it was called) to find that the indicators were on different sides!
I mostly travel by motorcycle so the interface is fairly universal even if you have to swap on which side of the road you drive. When I was a courier I got in the habit of removing the inside mirror on all my bikes so as not to come into conflict with stationary vans that I was overtaking. I still do this, so when I travel abroad, I swap simply swap the mirror to the other side as a way to remind me which side I’m supposed to be on.
On the few times I’ve driven four wheel vehicles abroad I habitually mash my left hand into the drivers door as I go to change gear.
Sure but they are buttons on a steering wheel - something that’s often moving around versus something that’s typically in a static location. It’s just stupid engineering. These aren’t F1 cars FFS.
