I've never understood the automakers' conspiracy against coats and hats. After all, automaker executives at least theoretically go out into the outside world, and you'd think they'd need coats in a Detroit winter. And hats - perhaps the most important reason my father stopped wearing hats was that there wasn't enough headroom to wear his hat while he drove. But, as I wrote yesterday, fifty years later there's still no place to store a coat or a hat in the passenger compartment of an automobile.
Compounding the problem, now that cars have good temperature control it's difficult to ride in them with a coat on. So we're forced to stand in the cold and remove our coat before we get into our cars (I usually put mine in the trunk). And then go out into the cold to put our coats on again. It's such fun in a cold driving rain or a snow storm!
Of course, there's absolutely no reason that coat wearers should have to suffer like this. The photos are of the passenger compartment of a Maybach, a luxury sedan that is to Mercedes as Lexus is to Toyota. For the price of a small airplane it offers every conceivable option, including a pull-out drink service cart. But you won't find a place to store a coat while you ride unless you commission something bespoke.
Why the conspiracy against coats?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A Conspiracy Against Coats
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
It seems coats in cars are now the province of former Soviet leaders advertising designer bags...
Very good, Will! I remember reading somewhere that the Brahmin in Boston neither wears a watch nor carries an umbrella. His driver has both.
I hate having to remove the coat in the winter while getting into the car. So I usually leave it on and the heat off (on sunny days the sunroof is open.) I imagine that in this climate controlled world, the coat, like the hat, will just fade away as a necessity.
I suppose we're all to be eventually driven underground. Into garages -- not as a coat and hat wearing, umbrella carrying movement.
Will, there is one car that is still being built to accomodate top hats - the London black cab. The height of the vehicle is almost the same as a SUV but with a normal height floorplan, and for good reason as all London Hackney Carriages (the correct term) have to under English law have enough headroom to accomodate a gentleman's headgear. Last time I was in San Fransico I saw that some of these had been imported. Why not ditch the car, and hail one of these great vehicles instead?
Wow, something I actually have an answer for because I own a few antique cars...
It's one of those historical things that is done simply because it's the way it was always done...
Originally cars weren't weather proof. Some didn't have tops, and heaters were a luxury. Since they were evolving from carriages it was no big deal because everyone was used to bundling up anyway.
In the 'teens they started putting side-curtains on cars to keep out the elements, and owning one of those cars they're more weather-resistant than weather-proof. As for heat, the heaters are called "finger-warmers" because the only heat they give off is enough to warm your fingers when you stick it in front of them to see if it's working. Point is, you still have to bundle up...
By the end of the 20's to the 30's they'd figured out weather-proofing so you have companies like Lincoln advertising that being in one is more comfortable than being in your parlor.
And why would you need to wear a coat in your parlor?
I guess the marketing people back then forgot that there was probably a hall tree to hang coats on...
However, for marketing purposes, wearing a coat while driving wasn't part of their message, and neither was having a place to put them.
I usually put my coat on the back of my seat. The coat keeps its shape over long drives and the pockets are accessible if I need them for any reason during the drive.
These might help, especially if nobody's sitting behind the seat in question.
I do as Mr. Lawrence does with a suit jacket in the warmer months, but the jacket hangar over the back of the seat thing does little for me. My topcoat would still puddle at the bottom and be sort of in the way. Of course, I have two car seats to contend with as well.
Post a Comment