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Love seeing that guy SAW his way outta the corners after he's taken a big chunk out of them. Passing what appears to be a Ferrari mostly off track. Gutsy.
 
Basil said:
Yeah I noticed that too.
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Not all that weird. The early, 1933, Rolls-Royce ("20-25") had a shift at your knees between the seat and A-pillar. [a friend has one]
2019-06-19 12.07.40 1933, 20-25 Rolls-Royce.jpg
 
Low'n slow said:
Interesting. Right hand shifter in a RHD car.

Hadn't seen that before.
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Actually, very common for that period in prototype sports cars and F1.
I think only stock RHD cars had center shifters.
 
R-R / Bentley had the shifter on the driver's right all the way through the R-Type (1955). I believe the only reason it went away was that they stopped offering a manual gearbox.

It always puzzled me that RHD racecars had the shifter on the right. Because British drivers can adapt more easily than the Americans on the team??

Or more likely because during that era it would have been much easier to run the shift linkage around the side of the mid-mounted engine and gearbox than to try to go over, under, or through it. (OTOH that doesn't explain why mid-engine LHD cars didn't put the shifter on the left side...?)
 
JHaydon said:
R-R / Bentley had the shifter on the driver's right all the way through the R-Type (1955). I believe the only reason it went away was that they stopped offering a manual gearbox.

It always puzzled me that RHD racecars had the shifter on the right. Because British drivers can adapt more easily than the Americans on the team??

Or more likely because during that era it would have been much easier to run the shift linkage around the side of the mid-mounted engine and gearbox than to try to go over, under, or through it. (OTOH that doesn't explain why mid-engine LHD cars didn't put the shifter on the left side...?)
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working in an area of employment that is somewhat ummm 'tradition bound' it always amazes me how many decisions in so many areas of life are made 'because we've always done it that way. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D (I recall a number of years ago someone wanting to get to the bottim of why Fire Trucks had open cabs for so much longer than any other truck and, yup..... you know the answer.)
 
JPSmit said:
(I recall a number of years ago someone wanting to get to the bottom of why Fire Trucks had open cabs for so much longer than any other truck and, yup..... you know the answer.)
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I was just watching Emergency! the other night and asked that very question! I realize they're in L.A., but surely it rains there occasionally??

My best guess was that it allows people to admire the firefighters as they race to the scene. I'm not sure if that's a dumber idea than "institutional inertia".
 
JHaydon said:
I was just watching Emergency! the other night and asked that very question! I realize they're in L.A., but surely it rains there occasionally??

My best guess was that it allows people to admire the firefighters as they race to the scene. I'm not sure if that's a dumber idea than "institutional inertia".
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I suspect that it even goes back to when the original horse and buggy days (Oh and always loved Emergancy!)
 
I'd suspect that for "Emergency" at least it was a question of what equipment was available to be used as filming props, probably things retired out of frontline service out there. And I read once, most of the non-speaking firefighters you saw on screen were actual Los Angeles firefighters assigned to the studio. Seemed the union rules were that no matter the use all equipment and actual firefighting, even if controlled for onscreen, required actual firemen operate trucks and other equipment. Has made me wonder how much training the guys who were actors ended up needing to have.
 
Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe both went through the actual paramedic training program for the show. Mantooth especially went on to be a very vocal promoter of paramedics after the show. (When asked if he could handle a real emergency, he said "I can call 911 with the best of them.")
 
If I were to guess, fire trucks had open cabs so that a guy in the cab could see the ones climbing a ladder.

A couple of years ago, there were some firemen down the street doing some training while I was walking our dog. I stopped to ask a question that I had wondered about: "What's the difference between a fire truck and a fire engine?"
 
JHaydon said:
Randolph Mantooth and Kevin Tighe both went through the actual paramedic training program for the show. Mantooth especially went on to be a very vocal promoter of paramedics after the show. (When asked if he could handle a real emergency, he said "I can call 911 with the best of them.")
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I always assumed there was some level of actual training for them and the guy who played the captain of the station, as well as the 2-3 other speaking guys, if for no other reason than so during the action sequences they didn't injure themselves.
 
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