A Customizing Trend I Predicted Over 10 Years Ago Seems To Finally Be Happening

I’m not necessarily someone whom I think people should listen to when it comes to making predictions. I’m no Nostradamus; I’m pretty sure there’s records of me insisting that we’d have lunar colonies by 2005 and that a sentient frankfurter would be America’s greatest sex symbol by 2010. I wouldn’t trust any prediction I’d make. And yet, at the same time, I  found that there’s at least one bit of evidence that a car customizing trend I called for way way back in 2013 has now become car customizer reality.

Well, so far all the evidence I have is that it has become custom truck reality, but that’s good enough for me! The trend is the use of trafficators or semaphores – those little electromechanical arms that pop out of some old cars (think old Volkswagen Beetles, old Morrises and Austins, and many more) to indicate a turn – on more modern cars and trucks.

You know the sorts of things I’m talking about, right? These things, which you can see here delighting and amazing my spirit Muppet, Gonzo the Great:

Here’s how one would maintain their trafficators:

…and here’s one featured on an old magazine cover:

You get the idea! They’re fantastic, wonderful, whimsical things, one of the most charming ways a human can indicate a turn. Back in 2013, I wrote at The Old Site just how much I’d love to see these become a trend among car customizers:

They’re goofy and charming, and I think it’s absolutely time to integrate these into some modern custom car designs. As long as they flash an amber light, I believe these are still legal, so let’s not let that stop us. What makes them exciting is the element of surprise. They could be completely hidden into the bodywork of the car unti activated and then, whammo, it’s like a little blinking orange party right there on the side of your car. The turn complete, the little arm hides back into the bodywork, ready to delight anew.

I still think this would be a wonderful detail to add to modern custom cars, so imagine my delight when I came across this Instagram reel of a minitruck that features fully-functional semaphore indicators! These seem to be the same kind used on old Beetles:

 

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A post shared by Chris Davern (@driven60vw)

It’s brilliant isn’t it? I don’t even feel like it seems too anachronistic, because it’s so novel and unexpected. There appears to be another truck that uses traffictors/semaphores as well, this one via TikTok:

@aircooledvintageworks

Semaphore turn signals on the oldest known VW barndoor single cab. #vw #vwbug #volkswagen #aircooled #aircooledvw #aircooler #kafer #classicvw #oldcar #slugbug #volks #classiccar #vwbeetle #vintagevw #hotvws #fuchs #fuchswheels #patina #vwrestoration #vwbus #barndoorbus

♬ original sound – aircooledvintageworks

I’ve yet to be able to find more complete information about either of these trucks, so if anyone has more knowledge of the minitruck community, I’d very much appreciate knowing who actually built either of these trucks, and would love to see the entire machines, too. Another version of the first truck video seems to have shown up on the Muscle Cars of Trinidad and Tobago Facebook page, but I don’t think the truck is from Trinidad and Tobago, necessarily.

I’m delighted these creative truck builders took it upon themselves to incorporate such a wonderful and functional detail. I doubt my old post was any sort of factor here, but I’m still happy to remind everyone that this was a concept I was hoping to see over a decade ago, because why not?

Any time we reference trafficators and semaphores here, I feel like I need to embed this video, because it’s just one of my favorites:

Again, if anyone has a clue as to who made these trucks, please let me know!