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

LuckyCharms

(22,351 posts)
14. Well, I'm 67 years old...
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:19 PM
Saturday

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

I'm just guessing though.

chicoescuela

(2,954 posts)
19. I am as well. My 80 CJ 5 had the dimmer switch on the floor.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:34 PM
Saturday

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

LuckyCharms

(22,351 posts)
30. I miss it being on the floor.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:12 PM
Saturday

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

(2,954 posts)
33. I do as well especially when driving a manual transmission.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:16 PM
Saturday

Extra points for four points of contact and two feet.

hvn_nbr_2

(6,782 posts)
45. I had completely forgotten about that.
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 12:24 PM
21 hrs ago

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

(40,276 posts)
4. It's been a long time!
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:12 PM
Saturday

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

(2,278 posts)
5. 1972 Nova SS
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:12 PM
Saturday

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

BigMin28

(1,846 posts)
6. 1973
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:12 PM
Saturday

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

buzzycrumbhunger

(1,819 posts)
7. 1965 VW Beetle
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:13 PM
Saturday

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

(1,819 posts)
16. Seriously.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:21 PM
Saturday

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

(26,400 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, 09:23 PM
Saturday

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

(3,239 posts)
47. My red 1964 VW bug had a gas gage.
Mon Mar 2, 2026, 01:46 AM
8 hrs ago

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

(195 posts)
40. Cool!
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 10:11 PM
Saturday

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

(25,297 posts)
21. What's that? My first car was 1991. I had to roll the windows down manually and
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 08:41 PM
Saturday

I didn't even have cupholders.

Never heard of this floor dimmer .

FuzzyRabbit

(2,206 posts)
25. What are these cupholders of which you speak?
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:03 PM
Saturday

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

(844 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, 09:07 PM
Saturday

walkingman

(10,656 posts)
31. 55 chevy....57 Chevy....back when the US made good automobiles that you could work on
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:13 PM
Saturday

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

FoxNewsSucks

(11,644 posts)
38. 1980 Pontiac Indy Pace Car Trans-Am
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 09:29 PM
Saturday

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

(72,007 posts)
42. The earliest car I ever owned was from 1976.
Sat Feb 28, 2026, 11:07 PM
Saturday

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

(11,648 posts)
44. Not my car. My boyfriend at the time had a 74 or 75 Olds Cutlass Supreme
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 11:38 AM
22 hrs ago

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

(1,228 posts)
46. 1976 AMC Pacer
Sun Mar 1, 2026, 02:18 PM
19 hrs ago

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

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