Cars are ridiculous things. That’s why I love them so; they way we’ve developed cars, the way we deal with cars, our relationship with cars, none of it is rational, not by a long shot. All of this irrationality, injected with a weapons-grade dose of nostalgia, is why these things I want to talk about today exist at all: power window switches, made to look like roll-up window cranks. Or, sometimes, switches that can repurpose the existing roll-up window cranks. On the surface, these things seem kind of absurd and part of me feels they should be mocked, but another part kind of understands and even appreciates them. And then yet another part even thinks that their design makes actual, logical sense!
There’s a lot to unpack here. These seem to be primarily targeted at (likely) Boomer-aged or perhaps Gen X muscle car/hot rod owners and builders, the demographics most likely to have some sort of positive nostalgia associated with roll-up windows. I mean, I know I still like having roll-up windows on my cars – some days, that’s all the actual exercise I get, after all.
But how do I feel about a power window switch masquerading as a manual window crank? That’s the question here. Here’s one of these setups in action, if you’re curious.
Car power window switch disguised as an old-timey manual crank window handle.
by ingifs
Looking at that video, I’m struck by something, something I wasn’t exactly expecting: just from a pure human-machine interface standpoint, that’s actually a pretty damn good power window switch!
I mean it, even if we remove the nostalgia from the equation, which is asking a lot, I realize, and just think about the window crank as a handle for an electrical switch, I think the form and shape actually lends itself extremely well to raising and lowering a window. I mean, when you compare it to a conventional window switch, it’s a lot easier to find by feel, and, being a lever that allows for some up/down travel, I think it actually is a lot more intuitive than most conventional window switches.
I mean, just look – there’s a pretty conventional driver’s door window switch setup, and then below that there’s a normal window crank setup. On the normal window switch setup, the motions of the switch are generally forward/back, which translates to up/down, with forward usually meaning down, and back meaning up. Some switches are a sort of push/pull and are a little closer to actual up and down, but I don’t think either setup is as fundamentally intuitive as the switch-adapted window crank, where pushing down sends the window down, and pulling up moves it up. It really couldn’t be easier.
So that’s what’s really getting me – this seemingly ridiculous adaptation of an obsolete method and interface of window lowering/raising actual seems to work great for a completely different method of window raising/lowering! It should be just some silly nostalgic affectation, but it’s somehow not.
I’m actually pretty happy about this realization, too, so I’m not inclined to question it too much. I’m in the sort of mood where I think I’ll just let things that feel good, for whatever reason, exist without over-examination. But what I do want to question has to do with the window-crank-to-electric-window-switch kits being sold at this place called AutoLöc, specifically their incredibly vast array of car models they sell these kits for.
Here’s a sample of the first three:
Wait – they make these window crank adapter kits for a 1901-1907 Oldsmobile Curved Dash? What the hell? The Curved Dash Olds didn’t have windows at all!
Not just no windows, but no glass at all, unless you count the lenses on the oil lamps there. So what are they selling you? A $400 box of specially-crafted air? I think what’s more likely is that they’re using some sort of absurdly comprehensive database of cars to populate these kits, and doing precisely zero editing of such a list.
Like, are they really selling that many of these kits for 1946-1949 Renault Juvaquatre and Dauphinoises? I’m skeptical.
I saw an Oldsmobile curved dash at the Savoy museum in Georgia fairly recently…certainly the oldest car I’ve ever seen! Yeah, definitely no windows.
My ’92 F350 longbed dually crewcab has BOTH! The front windows are electric, and the rear ones are hand cranked. Door locks electric in front, manual in rear, so at least consistent.
These are awesome. Sorry, but I have to say it: manual windows suck. I guess they’re more reliable than power windows but I’ve never had power windows go out. And I’ll just deal with replacing the window motor if it goes out. Totally worth it to avoid the manual window penalty.
These are amazing since you can still have the classic look without the annoyance of manual windows. And the UX of simply nudging the crank up or when is just pure genius.
“I’ve never had power windows go out.” Then you’ve never owned a Volkswagen.
The A4 Jettas and Golfs had this problem where you’d hit the button and then the entire window disappeared into the door. It happened to so many people that VW had to fix it free for anyone it happened to, regardless of age or miles. At least while I still owned mine through 2016.
…. or anything built by GM between about 1970 and 1995. I can still see the old man standing in the driveway in the rain with the truck door open, palms flat against each side of the driver’s window, trying to coax it up that last couple inches while one of the kids worked the little silver switch.
I agree, I think it functions very well ergonomically and still looks nice.
The only drawback I can see is a relatively minor one, that the driver can only control their window.
This – I appreciate keeping the original look and feel. Intuitive egronomically. You could probably hide a selector switch for other windows somewhere if you really wanted.
I think the absurdity of the old-fashionedness and the flames combined would make one of these the perfect hack to replace the “too future for you” steering wheel turn signal buttons on a Tesla.