Apropos of nothing, I suddenly had to know the history of Little Tree Car Freshners (not fresheners, it’s freshners) and that got me thinking about today’s Autopian Asks question – though I gotta say, it’ll be hard to beat Little Trees as a truly iconic car accessory. Especially if we’re thinking about accessories that go beyond the items car people clamor for (or used to) such as Recaro seats, Holley carbs, Nardi steering wheels and such.
The true icons, to me, are those car accessories that even “normies” know about and purchase. Like my college buddy who didn’t know beans about cars, but he knew a foot-shaped gas pedal was cool, and by gum, he had one. What qualifies as such a thing today? Perhaps a skull shift knob? Chain-link license plate frame? Stick-on fender vents? I don’t know, you tell me.
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Oh, and back to Little Tree Air Freshners real quick, in case you were wondering:
In 1952, a milk truck driver in northern New York complained to Julius Sämann about the smell of spilled milk. To address this issue, Julius combined exceptional fragrances with specialized blotter material and invented the first car air freshener. He gave it the shape of an abstract evergreen tree in honor of his years extracting aromatic oils in Canada’s pine forests.
These air fresheners proved an efficient, high-quality solution to a common problem and soon they were flying off shelves. Orders started rolling in from all over the country and quickly gained a strong international following. Julius’ pioneering product has become a global symbol of freshness and quality.
Now you know! Let’s get to it in the comments: What Are The Most Iconic Accessories For Cars?
Top graphic images: Little Trees; Curboom via Amazon
Not all that iconic but common enough (and in the realm of “I don’t get the appeal”) are the fake bullet holes and scratches decals.
Iconic? Gotta go with the Baby On Board sign. A massive thing started by what effectively was an urban legend. Lives on to this day.
Bumper Stickers/Window Decals
I owned a 1960’s lowrider with a tiny chain steering wheel. It was cool looking, I guess, but wasn’t comfortable to handle at all.
I swapped it for a white-rimmed wheel from Mooneyes.
Showing my age, but rear window louvers.
Honorable mention: LeBra
Louvers are back! I’ve seen them on the usual muscle cars, but also on a lot of Camries for some reason.
I complimented a younger guy in a Mustang for the “retro look” and he looked at me like I was insane for saying that.
At least Mustangs have the appropriate fastback-esq rear for them. So many people associate them with muscle cars that they frequency pop up in less visually appealing applications like Chargers and Challengers with much more vertical rear glass.
A really crappy Bluetooth FM modulator that you can hear alternator whine on. (For old POS cars only)
The most iconic car accessory you say? Saint Christopher of course!
Buddy Christ might disagree.
Suction cup window Garfield.
Ooohhh, yes.
Also, suction cup “Chubby Guy mooning the car behind you” powered by a 10′ pneumatic hand pump.
I guess there was a time before road rage and armed drivers was a thing.
Also seen in Falling Down
A K&N air filter, usually in an aftermarket setup that replaces the stock filter box and tries to look the cold air intake part but really isn’t doing much.
These are such a scam. Sure if you tune the engine they might make some kind of difference but just popping one on does nothing. They also save you no money. The filter cost and the cost of the kit to refresh it will give you several years worth of oem paper filters.
I’ve enjoyed them and they have paid for themselves a couple times over, but it takes 100k+ miles to say that. Plus you have to keep a paper filter around for the day you have to clean, dry, and re-oil it (assuming you want to use your car that day!).
Detachable face radios, or the full pull out radios.
Oh man. Popping that face off and carrying it with you to class was a badge of honor in highschool. I was a skater but became friends with the Mexican low rider guys when they found out I was into custom stereos.
My protip was just to remove it and stash it in the glovebox. A passerby thief probably wouldn’t break the window, they’d just assume you had taken it with you. But yeah, I had 3-4 of those in a row in the late 90s/early 2000s.
“You find one in every car. You’ll see.“
[Profane yet fairly incomprehensible rant] Rodriguez brothers!!
I miss Yosemite Sam mud flaps. I had a Mazda pickup 20 years ago and wanted them but couldn’t find except on eBay for insane prices.
Motometer.
The goose radiator cap on a Ford Model A.
Fuzzy Dice on a 1950s car or an older “kustom” done in the 50s style.
For a specific make…Coco floor mats in Porsches.
Has the ability to make every Porsche look a little early 70s Southern California (in the best way) inside. Porsche even offered them as an option in the past.
I have Coco Mats in my Mercedes.
They’re just cool.
(Did you know they’re made in South Carolina?)
https://cocomats.com/
I have Cocomats in my NA Miata (Calico pattern) and my Kia Forte GT (red and black checkerboard). They’re spendy but soooo good.
We have Coco Mats in three Mercedes cars. My friend put them in his MGB & Spitfire.
I LOVE the packaging- brown bag with stencils of the silhouettes of many classic cars. I didn’t want to throw it away.
Here’s an unboxing video which shows the awesome Coco Mat packaging with the outlines of classic cars:
https://youtu.be/ayijTMfEZkM?si=KMqXu1570UJiwAkD
The brown & tan look great on an MB with cream beige seats, brown dash & burl wood.
I just don’t get air fresheners. I’ve never had a car that smells bad (not even the convertibles with leaky roofs). I also can’t bear to have something swinging from the rear view mirror.
Even if a car interior stinks, adding some bullshit fragrance on top of it just worsens the miasma.
(The same goes for scented plastic garbage bags – you’re not making anything better!)
A buddy of mine who smokes has one of those canister air fresheners in his car at all times. Honestly I’d rather smell the smoke.
No, the canister is really useful to put your cigarette butts…
DialMforMiasma?
I call the classic pine Little Trees scent “Used Car Smell” because I’ve never been in a used car being offered by a dealer that didn’t smell of it.
The family stickers on back window, lots of versions now.
My wife opted for the life cycle of an Alien. Much better
I bet you wanted yours to be a Colonial Marine…but, game over man.
Wow. No “Baby on Board” mentioned yet?
When the Be Sharps make a song about you, you know you’ve made it.
Rooftop concert at Moe’s!Which also made me wonder if Paul and Linda’s little meditation garden was still up on the roof of Kwik E Mart or if Apu had stopped taking care of it.
huge roof racks and/or roof tents so everyone will know your outdoorsy. They never take them back off when not in use. Gotta permanently knock several mpg off their fuel economy.
And those plastic external fuel/water cans/traction boards….you’re driving around a major city.
But overlanding cosplay is so fetch right now!
How about my 80s favorite, the trunk mounted luggage rack?
I don’t think I ever saw luggage strapped to any of them…if anything, they usually served as a sorta/kinda spoiler looking thing, esp when companies like Pontiac started blacking them out.
Stop trying to make fetch a thing, Dead Elvis! – It’s never going to happen
I pass someone’s Tundra cosplayed-up every day on the way to work. Suburbia West Chester OH.
The ones that get me the most annoyed are the Outbacks. The crossbars just fold. You don’t have to store them or anything. Why do people think they need them deployed full-time?
Wheel skirts in the rear…. My 59 Edsel didn’t come with them originally, but it came with some old school JC Whitley aftermarket skirts and it just makes the whole damn car
I don’t know about ‘iconic’ but I get a bit of a nostalgic rush whenever I see a car has one of those steering wheel locks on it… maybe a popular brand was called “The Club” though in the 70s/80s my dad always referred to it as ‘the crook lock.’ I’m sure they pose little trouble to any experienced car thief, and one quick cut of the steering wheel would remove it if the lock itself couldn’t be cut/jimmied. I think there are a couple in my garage somewhere, but I never bother to use them, relying instead on my cars having manual transmissions as the primary theft deterrent. Plus, my cars are old and less stealable, though I do worry about the hardtop on the Miata, since those fetch a pretty penny these days.
Had one in the 90s for my Beretta. And the real deal, The Club in the classic red. It was quite substantial, and the simplicity was a big selling point. I even remember the distinctive large trapezoidal key now!
I remember seeing lots of Berettas and Corsicas in my junior college parking lot back in the day! 🙂
Remember the next-level version, which attached the wheel to the brake pedal? They were a lot more complex, and not always visible as a deterrent.
The attempted thieves just cut the steering wheel in my 90s Civic to get rid of it. Then they opened the hood and pulled the siren from the alarm. Couldn’t get it started though.
Then as now, Civics attract felonious attention more than GM sportcoupes for sure!
Radio antenna balls (76 ball, Jack-in-the-Box head, etc).
Curb feelers
Necker knob
Yes, I’m old.
We used to put a Hardee’s Star antenna thingy on my wife’s old green Intrepid, because there were three in the parking lot where she worked. Every time we lost one, we’d have to go on a Hardee’s hunt.
The Double Wiper setup was pretty iconic nineties stuff. A bolt on wing was also pretty prevalent, but still happens these days.
Aftermarket Fog lights switched over to the annoying Lightbar, but thankfully those are more often than not a Jeep or Brodozer thing anymore.
PLEASE BE PATIENT
STUDENT DRIVER
I’ll be honest, I saw these about once a year until 2020 or so, now they’re everywhere. I would have been mortified if anyone had forced (or asked) me to self-identify as a Total Noob when I first started 🙂
Right? It seems like overnight that went from something only seen on a beat up Corolla with two brake pedals and a driving school ad on the side, to slapped all over seemingly about half the cars on the road. Almost never is the driver a teenager sitting 2″ from the steering wheel with a “coach” parent next to them, it’s just some random NPC adult watching Tiktoks at a stoplight. Do they think it’s a “get out of a ticket” sticker or something? Sorry for my shitty driving officer, I’m just a noob!
Had these when my kids started driving. It’s tough teaching a kid to drive in a large congested city. All the other drivers are impatient assholes, especially when your virgin driver is bit gun shy on lane changes/merging/4ways.
Saw one the other day that said ‘student driver, be very very afraid’.
It’s like every other car now…
I think they might just be standard equipment on the Rogue.
The only clearer indicator of a terrible driver is those pink license plate frames that AutoNation puts on their cars “because breast cancer”. Either you don’t care enough to remove it or you actually like having it on there. Either way I’m giving you a wide berth.
I’ve actually only ever seen these on, like, driving school owned vehicles. Not on a car that appeared to be owned by an individual.
https://youtu.be/9R2hOlVqqek?si=0mg2GgB0QWJ7yeFE&t=40
The whistle goes WOOOOOOOOOOO!
Bubb Rubb!!
Living in Oakland I can say this is no longer a thing. You are more locally to see (or hear) a side-show.
I was living in San Francisco when that silliness was going on.
Beaded car seat cover, or if you were an Australian woman in the late 1990s, Tweety Bird car seat cover for your Hyundai Excel
I went on a date with a woman who had a whole lot of Tweety Bird stuff on her Matrix. Maybe she was secretly Australian. Although she mentioned she had never been on a plane before.
Those beaded seat covers are a gift for those of us who sweat like a whore in church, regardless of how good the AC is.
That’s noice, really different and unusual…