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>full mechanical linkage.

Not even hydraulics?



Driving such a vehicle is not entirely fun. My first was a Kaiser 1967 Jeep CJ-5, the short wheel base version, before they started the safety etc. updates with the CJ-7 (the -6 was a contemporary with of the -5 a longer wheel base).

Note also this was a light vehicle; turning the wheels was quite hard unless you were moving a bit, and the brakes required a tremendous amount of force, it took me a long while to not hit contemporary '70s power brakes too hard.

What else: the windshield wipers were powered by engine vacuum, and slowed down when you accelerated (this one had a V6, so it was pretty powerful, and pretty zippy 0-30 MPH, only 3 gears forward so it lagged after that). Oh, yeah, see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11919653 cars thought that era had electro-mechanical turn signals. In the case of this Jeep, the turn signal control was kludged onto the steering wheel, there was a little rubber wheel which contacted the steering wheel shaft to disengage it after you'd turned.

And not entirely reliable, 10-12 years old when I drove it, it had a towing hitch on the front, which was used more than once.


I drove a car with a manual transmission and no power steering in the early 1990s, a Honda Civic of some kind. Primitive, but it was also a bit of a delight. A very physical and mechanical thing. The lack of power automation was rarely a problem. However, it asked more of the driver them I amused to nowadays, and would be extremely unpopular if they even still made such a thing.


You have just described a car like a Suzuki Mehran (manufactured today in Karachi, Pakistan) and similar small cars manufactured in India. They're immensely popular in the developing world because such cars are frequently the first proper enclosed, 4-seat vehicle a newly middle class family can afford.


I'm in love with my Honda, it's a 2000 though. I intend to keep it as long as possible, newer cars just don't "feel" right to me.


Really I just don't want to fly by wire. Analog control would be fine with hydraulic assist for steering and brakes.


Works for drum brakes.




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